Can this dinner be saved? African sweet potato stew and a hungry family.

Helllooooooo, everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back! It's been raining non-stop for a week and a half, and we're all yearning for comfort food.

Like this. Exactly like this.

But what do you do when the oven is broken and all you have is the stove top? I do remember Julie had some microwave version of a chocolate cake, but I could see me spending all day making teeny tiny cakes and there would be no dinner.

So, I must make comfort food that could pass for dinner. (Note: I said PASS. Let's not get all picky.)

This is a yam. This is a yam that was forgotten. This yam was forgotten for many weeks. This yam has decided to seek out other life forms in the hope of becoming more than a yam. I took pity on this yam and used my powers of google (TM, copyright, please-don't-sue-me-I-am-but-a-poor-author).

Apparently, yams can be used for more than sweet potato pie, which is what I wanted to try when I bought it, before the oven issue came up.

Castoldi's Walla Walla Sweet Onions from the farmer's market. You'll need one. (Onion, not farmer's market, although those are useful as well.)

Fresh garlic, minced. Excuse the overexposure. It is my shining halo reflecting on the olive oil in the pan. (Julie, stop laughing.)

Through the power of the blog, we've jumped ahead to adding one diced sweet onion and one tired yam in a skillet on medium. Sautee until onion is softened.

The recipe calls for 4 cups of chicken broth, but all I have is bouillon. So, four cups of water, add the boullon. (Don't make me pull this blog over and give you directions on that, because I will!)
1 Tsp thyme
1/2 tsp cumin

Those savory herbs are really, really, really important to balance out the yam. So, do not skip. I know,  cumin is related to cilantro which is related to feet. We've discussed this.

A few cans of diced tomatoes and some green salsa. (Here's the thing. The recipe calls for tomatoes and hot peppers. See where we're going with this? Hot, sweet, spicy? So, use your own judgment. You can open some canned tomatoes, cut some fresh, dice a jalapeno, or put in a jar of salsa. I don't think it matters much, as long as it's spicy like salsa and not savory like spaghetti sauce.)

A few cans of cannellini beans. It called for garbanzos, but there is not a member of this family who eats garbanzos. Why ruin a good thing, eh?

Everything is simmering quite nicely. Mmmmm. The house smells delicious! This is the point the children crowd around, wondering when it will be done. And because I'm a mean Mama, I have waited for this moment to bring out the secret ingredient.

Several large TBS of peanut butter. MWAHAHAHAHAHA! (That's evil laughter, for those who do not spend much time on facebook and are friends with teens.)

This is my 7 year old's face directly after the peanut butter went in. He's rethinking his need for dinner.

With rice, this is my husband's bowl. MMMMM.

And this is his second helping. Do you see the difference? I spy.... couscous. I made rice AND couscous because I was afraid I had hit that all-important degree know as TOO MANY WEIRD THINGS ON MY PLATE AT ONCE and he wouldn't eat it. But once he had the rice, then he was okay with pairing the stew with the couscous.

 

When I lived in France, my middle school served couscous 4 times a week. (Of course, it didn't look like that because it was cafeteria food and we all know cafeteria food lives on the very edge of edible.)  It's just normal for me. But for him, it's like eating lizard tongues.  So, one step at a time.

sodahead.com

Seriously, this was probably one of the best dishes I've ever made. Definitely going in the keeper file for the next time I forget a large yam or I've been putting off appliance shopping or I feel like scaring my kids. It reminded me a lot of Thai peanut sauce: spicy and sweet and a perfect texture.

 

And just because this was funny, I'll post this little pic of the top Christian romance list on Amazon. Aren't they cute? So different, but they grew up in the same house and have the same mom. Some kids get on the big bus and they pretend they don't know each other, but my babies stick together. Probably eating the cookies out of their lunch boxes before the bus even gets to its destination. Those are my girls! Of course, little sister isn't quite old enough for this trip, but she's only a few steps behind, growing up fast, looking for the day they'll hog the whole row.

 

Ok, until next time, dearies! I hope you all have a wonderful week and I survive my camping trip + traveling with six kids + book release, I'll see you next week!!