I’m not even going to attempt to mask my deep love for the sweet potato. It’s one of my favorite things to eat. When I go out to restaurants it’s the first item I scan the menu for. If I were stranded on an island, and could only eat one thing, it’s the one thing I’d choose. So when I came across a sweet potato bread recipe here I knew that I had to make it. This recipe is bananas (technically it’s sweet potatoes, but you know what I mean).
This bread will have your home smelling amazing. I mean the smell literally beckons. Beyond the smell, it tasted incredible. My sister, who I consider the resident baking expert in our family tried it and loved it. I got the recipe here. I initially baked the bread to take to a potluck dinner with friends. It was so good that two days later, I baked it again, only this time as muffins, to take to my school’s Thanksgiving pot luck luncheon, and I have every intention of baking it again for Christmas 2014.
Make this bread!
You may want to grab your iPad or a pen and paper and take notes because you’ll want to make this soup. It was so incredibly good, that I can’t wait until I have people over so I can make it for them.
Ingredients:
1 large yellow onion, diced
32 oz of Thai ginger chicken broth
1 15 oz can of fresh cut corn
1 15 oz can of cannelini beans
1 10 oz can of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies
3 cups of shredded Rotisserrie lemon pepper chicken
1 medium sized red bell pepper, diced
Spices (1 healthy sized teaspoon of each):
Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
Rosemary Garlic
Cilantro
Sea salt
Curry
Cumin
Crushed red pepper flakes
McCormick Fiery 5 red pepper
1. Chop all your veggies.
2. Saute your onions until translucent (about 2-3 minutes on medium heat) with a tablespoon of olive oil, sea salt, and cilantro in a big pot.
3. Add your bell peppers and sauté for an additional 2 minutes.
4. Add in the Thai ginger chicken broth.
5. Add in the shredded chicken, turn the heat down to a low to medium heat and cover for 5 minutes
6. Add the spices and cover for another 5 minutes.
7. Add the Rotel diced tomatoes, the corn, and the cannellini beans.
8. Cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
9. Let cool and then serve.
Yesterday one of my cohort members had a small birthday get together at her place. As I was trying to decide what to make, three quickly ripening bananas were staring me in the face. Decision made. Now I just had to find a good recipe. Fortunately, I found a great one online (check it out here) and ventured into the very unfamiliar territory of baking banana bread.
It came out wonderfully. It smelled amazing, it looked great, and most importantly it tasted delicious. I was so pleased with the results that I thought I’d share. You should definitely give this one a try if you’re looking for a healthier banana bread. The recipe calls for white whole wheat flour and no oil (used vanilla greek yogurt instead).
P.S. I had a slice today with some maple almond butter and it was amazing. Hope your week is equally amazing!
This summer has been great so far. I’ve been hanging out with old friends, making a couple new ones, and soaking up all that Atlanta has to offer in the summertime like outdoor festivals. These present a great opportunity to pull out my rompers, dresses, and shorts to help beat the heat that “Hotlanta” is known for. Check out my summer style below:
I hope today has been good to you!
It’s been almost two weeks since I moved into my new place and it has been a whirlwind. I must have offended Mother Nature somehow because she was not trying to work with me. I was supposed to move into my apartment on Wednesday, the 29th, but because of snow I had to push that back to Friday, and then because of indirect effects of the snow I wasn’t able to move in until Saturday. Everything worked out in the end though so I’m very grateful. I started my new position on the 3rd and so far it’s been great. The people I work with are really nice and that’s helped make my transition much easier. Funny thing is we just dealt with another bout of snow, so my office was closed for a couple of days. I think Atlanta officials wanted to be extra cautious this time after how disastrous things were a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, I’ve had my fill of snow. It was fun for a little while but now I’m ready for warm weather. Fortunately the forecast for next week looks very promising, sunny and in the sixties, so I’m all smiles. Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks:
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| Moving day attire! Who says you can’t be cute and comfortable?! |
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| The first thing I made in my new kitchen was baked chicken and squash. |
Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2014 has been treating you well. Now that the holidays are over *tear*, I wanted to bring you a recipe to get your year off to a healthy start and hopefully get rid of any leftovers you may have. My sister came up with this and it tasted great. I asked her what she dubbed her creation and she decided to call it the Holiday Leftover Club. The name says it all. If you’re struggling with what to do with your holiday leftovers (and mailing it to me is out of the question), then you should definitely make this. It’s so simple.
Ingredients:
1/2 of a medium sized sweet potato, mashed
1/2 of a medium sized sweet potato, mashed
2 cups of spinach
~1 handful of turkey
2 slices of 100% whole wheat whole grain bread
Directions:
1. Completely skin the sweet potato.
2. Once skinned, slightly dampen it. I wet my hands and then pat it on the sweet potato.
3. Wrap the sweet potato up tightly in saran wrap and heat it up for 6-7 minutes (or until soft and
mushy).
mushy).
4. Cook two cups of spinach with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. You can add salt and pepper or whatever
seasonings you prefer.
seasonings you prefer.
5. Toast two slices of bread on the stove at medium high heat until browned. You can toast it with a
little garlic butter or use the spray form of extra virgin olive oil which has 0 calories.
little garlic butter or use the spray form of extra virgin olive oil which has 0 calories.
6. Heat up your turkey for about 30 seconds. Make sure not to heat it up for too long or it will
become tough and jerky-like.
become tough and jerky-like.
7. Take your sweet potato and mash it with a fork. Spread it across one slice of toast.
8. Add your spinach and turkey.
9. Enjoy!
You can thank my sister later. For now, enjoy your sandwich!
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| After a successful thesis defense. Cloud nine would be an understatement! |
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| On the way to graduation! |
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| My sister’s first time making the turkey and when I tell you she nailed it I mean she NAILED IT! Turkey has never disappeared so quickly in my house. |
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| Getting ready to go Christmas shopping! |
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| Going out for a celebratory dinner with my mom after landing my fellowship. |
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| This is an outfit I wore to church a couple of Sundays ago. I swear I’ve never gotten so many compliments on an outfit. I’m ending 2013 on a very fashionable note! |
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| I don’t really like alcohol so this is what I’ll be having when the clock strikes 12. Peep my sparkly NYE nails! They’re graphite by Chanel. |
2013 has been nothing short of incredible. The good completely overshadowed the bad and I am immensely grateful. There were so many things I was able to accomplish this year from finally starting this blog, graduating with my masters, and landing a pretty awesome fellowship that I’ll be starting in the New Year. The growth I’ve experienced both personally and professionally has been beyond anything I could have dreamed of at the end of 2012. With all of that being said, I am so excited about 2014. I’m excited for the people I’ll meet, the opportunities to travel, to write and connect with more of you on this blog, and to continue to grow as a person. I hope you all have a safe and amazing night, and a spectacular New Year! I’ll see you on the other side:)
Lots of love,
Chioma