AFRICAN CHICKEN PEANUT STEW

I AM BACK! I just wanted to say thank you again to Amy of 5th AND VINE for holding down the fort while I was in Ohio. Not only did she guest post for me, but she was featured on The Budget Babe and did a guest post for the Midwest Style Bloggers! Yay Amy!!! Make sure you follow her on facebook to keep up on her latest fashion finds on a budget.

Ok, now back to what I do best... cook healthy stuff. ;)

This is one of my very old 'tried & true' recipes that has been on the menu at our house for a few years now. It is healthy, hearty, simple (with some chopping, of course) freezable, and calls for peanut butter! Yes, the perfect fall meal!

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
2 medium sweet potatoes - chopped
1/2 onion - chopped
1 red bell pepper - diced
2 garlic cloves - minced
1 jalapeño pepper - seeded and minced
2 cooked chicken breasts - chopped
1 cup salsa (I use Pasqual's)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup whole grain rice - cooked with 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (I use Royal Blend Whole Grain - can be bought at Woodman's)
2 (15-ounce) can black beans - drained
1/3 cup creamy/or chunky natural peanut butter

Directions:
Place a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add sweet potato, onion, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeño; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in chicken and next 5 ingredients (chicken through beans); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes. Add peanut butter, stirring with a whisk; cook 2 minutes.

Adapted from cooking light - September 1999

FALL WISH LIST

Yup, it's me again making a style post. I still find it rather humorous that I post about fashion at all. I love to shop and buy cute clothes/shoes/accessories, but fly out the door wearing jeans, a boyfriend T and my toms about 90% of the time. Oh, and add wet hair and no makeup to that hot look. I wish I was the girl who always leaves the house looking all put together, but I am not. Never haven been, never will be. So I guess this is my wish list for the 10% of my life I feel the need to look cute. :)

INSPIRATION:

BUY IT:

From top to bottom - left to right

cream sweater  |  tan cardigan  |  basic striped t

neon crossbody bag  |  initial necklace  |  basic t

white textured dress  |  jean jacket  |  green bag  |  olive dress

leopard belt  | mustard over-sized clutch  |   high ankle booties  |  sweater tights

pointy toed flats (animals print in my fav!)  |  low ankle booties  |  jack purcell tennies

COCONUT ZUCCHINI COOKIES

Is summer really over? Is the long weekend really over? Do we all have to head back to the daily grind today? Are our days of sundresses and flip flops numbered? What about days at the lake? Are they gone, too? YES. YES, it is all true.

Buuuuuttttt...... most of us live in Wisconsin (my stats page tells me this) and FALL is right around the corner. That means chunky sweaters, jeans, scarves, pumpkin spice lattes, football games (not that the Buells give a hoot about football) crisp air, the changing leaves, bonfires, pumpkin patch going, and apple baking. Ohhh just writing this is already making today better. Hello Fall! I am ready for you!

But before we head on over to the neighborhood bonfire with our spiced apple cider and chunky scarves, let's use up the zucchinis that are taking over our gardens. whatdoyasay? 

Last year we planted TWO zucchini plants in our garden and we had zucchini coming out of our ears. I baked and cooked zucchini everything. We didn't plant any this year, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't get any...   

Our neighbors sent their little girl over to our house the other day with a GIANT zucchini from their garden - like a big as my arm kind of giant. I do not like to waste food, especially homegrown, organic goodness, so I was on the search for some yummy (and of course healthy) zucchini recipes to try. Here is zucchini recipe #1! It is a keeper.

Ingredients:
1 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and cooled to room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded zucchini
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes (I used unsweetened)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine coconut oil and sugars, mix until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract. Next, add the shredded zucchini. Mix until combined.

4. Slowly add flour mixture until just combined. Stir in oats, coconut, and chocolate chips.

5. Drop cookie dough by heaping tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or cookies are slightly golden around the edges and set. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

(Recipe from two peas and their pod)

Did you all have a fabulous Labor Day weekend? What did you do?
In case you do not follow along on Instagram, I will do a quick recap of our weekend. We got Ellis' play kitchen all ready to be sanded, primed and painted, I baked up a storm, we went to the Taste of Madison with some friends and had key lime pie, buffalo chicken dumplings, meatball sandwiches, and drinks. Lots of drinks. :/ We also saw the boat show downtown, and went pontooning with our neighborhood friends. I pretty much loved every second until we had a baby meltdown after she missed both of her naps yesterday while we were pontooning. Yikes! That child needed "night night" stat!