Curried Black Bean and Sweet Potato Skillet

Just keep some cooked quinoa in the fridge, it makes life much easier. Or freeze it in 1 cup increments.

4 cups of sweet potatoes, chopped up

1 red onion, diced
½ a jalapeno, diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped up
2 bell peppers (any color will do)
1-15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch of Swiss chard, stemmed and chopped
1 cup of cooked quinoa
½ cup low sodium veggie broth
2 tsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of curry powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large non-stick sauté pan. Stir in your onions and jalapeños and allow to cook for about five minutes. Stir in the sweet potatoes, curry powder, a pinch of salt and half of the veggie broth. Once everything is well combined, pop a lid on and cook for about six to eight minutes or until your sweet potatoes are just about fork tender.

Add the beans, quinoa, Swiss chard, and peppers and season with salt and pepper. Pour the remaining broth in to the pan before popping the lid on and allowing to cook for another five minutes or so or until the greens are wilted and the beans are heated through.

Eat up and enjoy!!

Delicious Roasted Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

Chef's Note: This soup is bad ass. (No seriously, I rule!) This recipe is a nod to intuition, which is so vital to creative culinary success. You can't teach that shit. My other inspirations for this soup were:

A. Kerry, who instilled the virtues of acorn squash and all vegetables roasted to their individual glory
B. My sage plants, which are the only living plants left in my garden right now. Their will to survive and be used in my kitchen deserves a moment of recognition.

You will need:

2 acorn squash
1 medium butternut squash
1 giant sweet potato or yam
1 Granny Smith apple, de-cored, peeled and cut into smaller pieces (Don't skip this!!)
1/3 of a medium onion chopped
2 T butter
5 large sage leaves
olive oil
nutmeg
cinnamon
5 cups of chicken stock
cayenne or paprika
creme fraiche or sour cream if desired

Preheat oven to 375. Cut squash down the middle length wise. Scoop out seeds and stringy flesh. Rub with a little oil olive and sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Cut the sweet potato in half length wise. Place the squash and the potato cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes.

In a heavy saute pan, over medium low heat , melt the butter and cook the apple with the onion and chopped sage until the apples are soft and the onions are opaque. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook appx 20 minutes.

Once the squash and potato are cooked and have cooled to the touch, scrape the flesh of the veggies into a mixing bowl, add the apple mixture to the veggies. Begin adding this mixture into a food processor to puree. Stop here. Savor. *Consider serving this as a side dish all by itself.

Mix puree into a large sauce pan with the chicken stock. Sprinkle with a dash of cayenne. Heat until its hot. Garnish with a small dollop of creme fraiche and serve.

Mmm Mmm Mmm!