Sweet and Spicy Peanut Butter Stew

Sometimes I look at a recipe and I'm skeptical. Skeptical that something without meat could be flavorful. Skeptical that the ingredients would work together. Skeptical that something deemed as healthy would taste good. This was put to the test as part of my post-birthday week excess detox, where I decided to cook some vegetarian and low-carbohydrate dishes to counteract all of the heavy meat and breads I enjoyed for my birthday. This recipe was one my successes. The failure will be posted later this week.

I initially only made a half batch of this because I was so uncertain it would be good. Two days later I made the second half of the batch. Because this soup rocks.

Sweet and Spicy Peanut Butter Stew (serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 medium uncooked carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 TB ginger
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 4 cups reduced sodium vegetable broth
• 6 TB creamy, all-natural peanut butter
• 8 cups spinach, chopped
• cooking spray

Directions:

Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the sweet potato, carrots and garlic; cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add the ginger, cloves, salt and cayenne; cook for 30 seconds.

Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth.

Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer slowly, stirring once in a while, until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add the spinach; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Serves approximately 6 people.