Mediterranean sweet potato and carrot soup

It's hothlike outside. So I made soup for my lunches all week. It is amazing. The recipe makes 5 servings of delicious, healthy soup. Wanted to log it so I can make it again.

2 t olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 t garlic crushed
I t ginger, crushed
1 t ground coriander
2 t cumin
1/4 teaspoon chilli/ cayenne powder
2 medium sweet potato, peeled, diced
4 large carrots, peeled, sliced
6 cups vegetable/chicken stock
300g can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
2-3T lemon juice (to taste)

In a dutch oven pot, I sauteed the onions, garlic and ginger in the oil for 5 minutes, then added the spices and cooked another minute. Then I added the stock, scraping all the good stuff off the bottom of the pot, and adding the veg. I simmered the soup 20 minutes and added the chic peas to cook for another 10 min. When all the veg and chic peas are cooked, add the lemon juice and then puree up. Enjoy!

Healthy banana waffles

I got a good belgian wafflemaker for christmas. I rocks. I have been hunting for healthier waffle recipes and found a few and modified a recipe up a bit for my taste. Here's my first attempt. Made some up today...


1 c multigrain flour
1 c flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 c almond milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (1 snack cup worth)
1 T + 1t baking powder
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 T sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t vanilla extract
Optional: 1/4 c chopped pecans (I had some around so I threw them in)

Cook in hot wafflemaker and serve with a smidge of syrup and sliced bananas. Yum.

Made ~ 5 belgian waffles. They were healthy, but not heavy and didn't stick to my waffleizer. Still fluffy and flavourful!

Mexican style pulled chicken

My house smells amazing right now. A while back Magnus moved and I inherited parts of his pantry, and since he was a foodie who regularly got care packages of ingredients from his home on the coast, there was some cool and unusual stuff in it you cannot get here. One cool item was a 7 oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I finally found a can of fire roasted tomatoes when I went shopping last and so I was determined to make something new with them. I settled on some kind of mexican pulled chicken...since I love pulled chicken but have never actually made it before ever for some reason...
I modified a few ideas i found on the interwebs, and you could use a slow cooker but I just used my dutch oven since I was home. It's hothlike out (with the wind it is -34C. Meh) and sunday so I am not going anywhere today! Turned out so tasty I want to write it down before I forget.

Chicken breasts (I used 3)
Chicken broth (~ 2 ish cups)
1 15 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 of a 7 oz can of roasted chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (4 peppers plus half the juice)
One large yellow onion sliced up
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t italian seasoning (was going to use oregano but was out of it)
1/4 t chili powder
Few shakes salt

In the dutch oven I put 3 full, skinned chicken breasts and added just enough chicken broth to cover them, and then added the rest and stirred it all to mix and then recover the chicken. I brought the pot to boil and turned it down to simmer for 1 hour with the lid on. The house smelled heavenly! The broth cooked down about half into a yummy thicker sauce.

At that point I turned the heat off and removed the chicken and shredded it with 2 forks on a plate. I took 3/4 c (about half) of the remaining juice and used it as half the water in my rice maker to make 1 cup of long grain white rice. Then I put the chicken back in the pot and stirred it all together into one yummy mess to let the remaining sauce soak into the chicken. I plan to have the chicken and rice in a wrap with some beans, grated cheese and perhaps some sour cream once J gets home. I will definitely be making this again...and I need to find a place to get more of those chipotles...I may be begging Magnus (please sir can I have some more?) to mail me some now that he's back home again!