Greens with Peanut Sauce

I have a friend from Congo who is studying here and in the US. She’s found it difficult to be away from her family and friends. A few of us decided that we would put together a care basket to try to lift her spirits. Well, in my opinion, nothing can lift a person’s spirits more than home cooking! So the question became what to cook. Well, I actually found a Congo Cookbook online that had a ton of recipes so I decided to give this one a try with a little adaption on my part. It turned out so well that I thought I would share it. It would be great with grilled chicken or pork and I think that the vegetarians among us would like it as well!

Ingredients
2 – 12 oz. bags of greens with stems removed and cut into pieces (I used collard greens)
1 – 15 oz. can fire-roasted tomatoes, well drained
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 C. natural peanut butter
salt & pepper to taste
1/2-1 t. red pepper flakes, depending on how much heat you want

1. Bring two cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add greens. Cover and cook on high for 10 minutes, stirring often.
2. Reduce heat. Remove 3/4 of the liquid from the pot, reserving it to make the peanut sauce.
3. Add the tomatoes and onions to the greens, stir and cook for 20 more minutes stirring every so often.
4. Meanwhile make the peanut sauce by adding the reserved cooking liquid a little at a time to the peanut butter just until it creates a creamy sauce. You won’t use all the reserved liquid. Stir in the red pepper flakes.
5. When the greens have cooked to the desired tenderness, drain, and stir in the peanut sauce. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Serves 4

Italian Sausage Potato Soup

This soup is my replication of the Zuppa Toscana soup from Olive Garden restaurant. I love the flavor the Italian sausage adds to the mixture of spinach and potatoes in this lightly creamy soup. For additional zip I add some crushed red pepper and to lower the calorie count I use turkey Italian sausage.

Ingredients
6 C. chicken stock
1 large shallot, minced
1/2 C. half & half
2 medium russet potatoes
3 C. frozen leaf spinach
20 oz. package of Honey Suckle White sweet Italian sausage
1/2 t. crushed red pepper

1. Heat a large soup pot sprayed with Pam over medium-high heat. Meanwhile squeeze the sausage from the casings and add to the pot with the minced shallot. Stir to break up the sausage into bite size pieces and cook until done. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
2. Quarter the unpeeled potato length-wise and then slice into 1/4 inch slices. Add the potato, spinach, and red pepper flakes to the broth and sausage.
3. Simmer until potatoes are done. Remove from heat and stir in the 1/2 & 1/2.

Serves 6