Master Plan Pasta

This dish was going to be called "can't wait for summer pasta" but I came up with it after a spray paint project that wasn't properly ventilated and apparently referred to it as my "master plan." In front of Chris and our neighbor Jake. Who won't let me hear the end of it. Thanks, guys.

Anyway, Wednesday was sunny and warm (for Michigan) and I was craving summer flavors: roasted red pepper, lemon, feta cheese. This was the delicious and simple result. I recommend it with New Holland Brewing Company's Cabin Fever brown ale. Yum.

Sweet Potato Soup

With all this cold weather, I keep craving warm food. Tonight I wanted soup, and we had two and a half big sweet potatoes left in the fridge. I've never made sweet potato soup before, but it just sounded right!

I started with this recipe from RecipeTips.com and (as always) changed some things up. It took less than an hour and hit the SPOT: temperature-hot, but also a little spicy on top of the other flavors.

Ethiopian Lentil Stew

Last night I was cold and tired, so I wanted something that was a) warm and heavy, and b) made with ingredients I had on hand. Some Googling led me to this recipe from Isa on PostPunkKitchen for Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew. I have never been to an Ethiopian restaurant, much less Ethiopia, but I had an Ethiopian Chickpea soup last month at the Soup Spoon Cafe and it was fantastic. The stew turned out delicious as well.

I didn't have every single ingredient, so I did some substituting, and I tweaked the recipe as I went along. The following recipe is a combination of what I did and what I will do next time. The main differences are: I cooked it a lot longer, used more spices, and substituted some ingredients. It's probably less authentic than the original, but I can't confirm. :) Feel free to try either one. This takes 45 minutes to make if you're organized, fast, and like things crunchy. I recommend letting it cook an extra hour if you have the time. I'll try it in the slow cooker next time and report back!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tostadas

Last Friday I had my younger brother over for a birthday dinner. I gave him about six menu options, and he chose sweet potato and black bean tostadas. This is an original recipe I came up with last summer, and I was excited to repeat it! I love sweet potatoes in any form, and especially in this combination of colors and flavors.

As usual, I'm making up amounts after the fact, so don't worry about sticking too closely to the recipe. Do what sounds good to you. Warning: these can be tricky to eat!