Award-Winning African Peanut Stew

Once you make this dish, you will wish you made an even bigger pot. And when that pot is gone, you can't wait for African Peanut Stew night again! You may remember the African Peanut Soup I blogged about back in Nov. This one is much heartier, yet still can make a kick-ass summer night meal when you're kickin' back some cold ones! Definitely one we will be cooking at the Spring and Summer festivals!

What award did this win? Mine! It's the kick-ass pot-luck award! I brought this to a pot luck at my friend Amy's house a few weeks ago and it was gone within the first two hours! All that was left was some shriveled up ol' beans and a crusty crock pot! I wished I'd set aside some to come home to, but instead I made another even bigger pot. We ate the stew with cornbread at the pot-luck, but I bet biscuits or a crusty loaf would be good too!

African Peanut Stew

• 2 Onions, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 Carrots, sliced
• 1 Sweet Potato, cubed
• Collard Greens (about 5-6 leaves), chopped roughly
• Spices: 1 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp cinn.
• 1 can Chic Peas
• 1 large can chopped Tomatoes
• 2 Tb Peanut Butter
• 1 cup veg. broth
• 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 cup Edamame (Soy Beans) or use any bean you'd like
  
• 1/2 cup Peanuts

1. Saute onions, sweet potato, carrots and 1/2 tsp salt in 3 Tbsp olive oil for about 10-15 minutes, until soft.
2. Add chopped garlic, and collard greens. Continue cooking 10 minutes more, stirring frequently.
3. Stir in spices, allow to cook 2 minutes.
   
4. Add chic peas, tomatoes, peanut butter, vinegar and veg stock. Bring a boil and cook 15 minutes.
5. Add Edamame and cook 5 more minutes. Stir in peanuts and serve.

For her wee Bum

My dear neice celebrated her 2nd birthday last week. I can't believe it myself! My dad made her a wooden table and ordered matching chairs. I decided to make her some little seat cushions and make it a family affair.

I bought 2" foam from Joanns. We traced around the seat of the chair to make a pattern from an old paper bag. I cut it out and traced it on the foam with marker. Turns out the piece I bought was the PERFECT size!

Next came the cutting. I used the best serated blade I have in my knife collection--this shitty wavy-type knife. It worked, though.

After cutting it out and wrestling with the knife to get thru the damn thing, I trimmed it a bit with some scissors.

Not that our angel of a child ever would, but just in case, I covered the cushions first in clear vinyl so that any spills would easily get wiped away. The outer cover would be washable.

Vinyl is not like any other fabric for sewing. It gets sticky. You can put tissue paper under and above your stitching area to keep it moving, or, go on eBay and get a Teflon foot like I did. Use a long stitch length when stitching vinyl to prevent a perforated edge affect on the seams.

Next came stuffing the vinyl covers. I folded the foam in half and stuffed it inside. Ya gotta keep it squeezed the whole time or it will start to tear the seams. Mine did just a little, but what the heck--it's on the inside and I jsut stitched right over it. Close the seam by pressing the whole cushion down, and moving your needle all the way to the left.

I made the cushions with 2 different fabrics, so she'd have a choice. Also, in case one side gets dirty, my sis can flip the cushion over for one more go before it goes in the wash. I used a pink fabric all around the sides. On one side, I used the matching print from the fabrics we used for her crib set and quilt. The other side is this weird looking mouse print. I wanted this to be easily removed for washing, so I put zippers on the sides. Good thing I checked the pattern once again for the placement of the velcro tabs because I almost positioned those in the wrong place like I did for the zippers!


Ahh well. The next set will be postioned properly. At least Mya can look down and see the print in the right direction when she's sitting at it!

Hmmm. . .

So I've been working on this patchwork skirt for the past 2 days. Just a few hours each day. . . .
Now I'm letting it drop before I hem it tomorrow (it's bias patchwork).

All that hard work and I'm beginning to wonder if it just looks freaking stupid!


ahhhh well. . . .

a much anticipated SEWING post coming up tomorrow folks!!!!