Nicole Wilker

African Sweet Potato Soup

nwilker — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:24:08 +0000

OMG – found this recipe the day prior to some wonderful organic sweet potatoes showing up at my door. Have i told you how much I love Door to Door Organics! Every other week i have them drop off a box of wonders! This box also had fava beans… You expand your veggie/cooking comfort zone!

African Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 small onion – chopped
2 garlic cloves – minced
1 teaspoon canola oil
28 ounces chicken broth (2 cans)
14 ounces water (1 can)
1 sweet potato – peeled and cubed
1 small potato – peeled and cubed
1 can diced tomato
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cayenne
¼ cup peanut butter

Preparation:

Saute onion and garlic in oil.
Once softened and aromatic, Add chicken broth and water
Add potatoes
Add diced tomatoes with juice
Add spices and peanut butter
Simmer till soup is consistency desired. (I let it boil for 15, then simmer for another 30-90)

Fried Egg Samiches and memories…

nwilker — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:12:26 +0000

Fried egg sandwiches…

Brings back memories of my mom and sister hanging in the kitchen, making lunch. I never partook, they were always “gross”.

Over the past couple years, i’ve gotten a taste for these little wonders… Of course mine is with fat free cheese and low cal english muffins, but every time i fire up the pan and toast the muffin i get a little glimmer of a time when we were all in one house, enjoying lunch in the little kitchen.

Crop Schedule…

nwilker — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:09:39 +0000

Who knew, well obviously lots of people knew, but for me, i knew stuff was in season only by the lower price and all the co-workers and friends pawning tomatoes and zucchini of me (tickled pink as i was)

I found this little calendar the other day and figured it might be useful to others!

Mexican Chocolate Cookies

nwilker — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:53:22 +0000

I was in the mood to bake some treats for friends we were going to visit and these fit the bill!

We really liked the result and they will definitely be on the list from now on!

Ingredients

5 ounces bittersweet (60 to 70 percent) chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 1/3 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place chocolate in a small glass bowl; microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through red pepper); stir with a whisk.

Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add egg; beat well. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla; beat just until blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven. Cool on pans 2 minutes or until set. Remove from pans; cool completely on a wire rack.

Easter!

nwilker — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 03:26:32 +0000

The above were the results of a craft night the tuesday prior to the big day!

We had our friend Jake and Talia over to enjoy the night!! Talia is a wonderful artist, so she made some great eggs!

We decided to host East Dinner for some of our friends! It got a little out of control and I hate for people to not have somewhere to go for a holiday so I ended up with 16 people RSVP’ed yes to dinner and then 2 more added on… oh my!

The eggs above were sacrificed to become deviled eggs to feed the people!!

This was one of my babies! I started with rubber bands over it, then into the marbleizing bath (vegetable oil on the dye bowl!)

Dinner was fun and yummy!

I did most of my cooking on Good Friday – i got the day off from work!

I made mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, mocha fudge, banana bread, polenta lasagna (1 vegetarian, 1 meat)

That left only deviled eggs, topping for the casserole!

I ended up putting the mashed potatoes in the small crockpot and the sweet potato casserole i split between 2 bread pans, and put 1 pan in the big crock pot while the other one cooked! – yes i am brilliant! ;)

Our friends donated some amazing food to the meal – asparagus, lemon squares, cupcakes, coffee cake, dips and chips, fruit mixture, asparagus souffle, and more!

We had a very enjoyable dinner!

Sweet Potato Casserole

nwilker — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:26:57 +0000

I decided to make this, because I had enjoyed at thanksgiving…

I did not realize it could actually stop your arteries… It was super yummy, but i killed me to actually pour a whole stick of butter onto the casserole!

I found the recipe on myrecipes.com – i usually only go for cooking light, but i branched out…

I ended up not using the milk, and i split the results into 2 bread pans and baked it that way, so it would fit in my crock pot to keep warm!

Ingredients

3 large sweet potatoes
2 sticks (1/2 lb.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
Salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar

Preparation

In a large saucepot, cover sweet potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil until sweet potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Using tongs, remove potatoes from water and set aside to cool. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel and mash them in a large bowl.

Cut 1 stick of butter into equal pieces and place in bowl with warm mashed sweet potatoes. Add sugar, salt and vanilla extract and mix together well. Whisk in eggs and stir until mixture is well-combined and smooth. Stir in milk, 1 Tbsp. at a time, just until mixture is moist and no longer stiff (you may not use all of milk).

Preheat oven to 350°F and mist a 7-by-11-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour sweet potato mixture into baking dish and spread evenly. Melt second stick of butter. In a bowl, mix together nuts, flour and brown sugar. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture completely over potatoes and drizzle top all over with melted butter.

Bake until topping is browned and crispy and sweet potato mixture is cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot.

Cute Phillip

nwilker — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:45:58 +0000

What a sweetie pie and he can just be too cute for words!

Run the Republic

nwilker — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:44:20 +0000

A couple of Sundays ago I partook in a “race” to the top of the tallest building in downtown Denver.
It was an amazing experience!

I trained last year, but didn’t actually register to “compete”. This year i decided in January that i would do it! That gave me about 2 months to get into condition.
I can usually do the stair machine in the gym for an hour, so i knew i could complete the task, I just hoped i didn’t embarass myself with a slow time.

I started up-ing the ante for my workouts to make sure I could do it!
Too quickly race day was upon me – i was nervous and excited and scared…
We walked down to the building – so i could have some “warmup” time. Hubby was an awesome supporter!
We got there super early – like an hour and a half before my slotted time.

I picked up my donation raising prize – i had qualified for a wind breaker! I gave cookies to all the people that donated!
Next year I’ll start baking earlier and maybe do a dinner to raise funds!
The funds are for the American Lung Association. I figured since both my parents were and one still is a smoker it was a pretty good cause to raise funds for! I was also raised in that same house with my parents, so if there are any long lasting second hand smoke effects, that money will go to a good cause – me!

I waited around with my hubby and met up with my team mates – which i met on Spark People, and finally it was time for me to do the climb.
My heart was racing, i was excited, and nervous and scared… still…
I lined up to go – my foot on the line, the giant timer ticking off in front of me… And then… The race coordinator taps my shoulder and say – GO!
And I’m off… running up the stairs… DAMNIT – why did i run? Now I’m on floor four and wheezing as i plod up the stairs… Darth Vader has got nothing on me!
I am determined to not stop, nope, not gonna stop till i see the top. And i didn’t! I definitely was not going the speed i wanted, but i was not stopping.
Next year, unless i train running, i wont be running up those stairs or off the line!

It was exhilarating to be in the stairwell, step, step, step… I was doing it, i was going floor by floor, get closer and closer to the 56th floor! (well 53, but we started 3 floors below street level)

I was able to pass a couple people, i was also able to push a couple people that were resting to keep on going, to make it to the top!

As we reached the top they snipped off our fancy timer chip from our shoe and some really cute fireman gave each of us a medal for completing the race! We each got a bottle of water and spent the next couple minutes attempting to regain lung capacity!

I didn’t stay at the top too long knowing that my dear hubby was awaiting my triumphant return to the first level!

It was really an amazing thing – i felt fabulous knowing that i was able to do it, i was able to reach the top, not stop and make it in under 15 minutes! 13 minutes and 23 seconds! Woohoo! Next year – faster!!

Never too old for craft hour!

nwilker — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:04:09 +0000

Friday we had a couple friends over that we hadn’t seen since early December in a chance meeting in New Orleans!!

They brought with them a “Decorate your own pirate ship” kit for us to enjoy after din din!!

Here is my creation:

Hubby’s creation!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

nwilker — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:29:28 +0000