Snows a Comin...Stock Up on Soup!

Here is the second soup for a cozy winter night in. And if the weathermen are right, we should be getting snow here in Atlanta in the next couple of days. Soup will be perfect for watching movies by the fire or taking a break from an intense, icy snowball fight- not that we ever get enough snow to actually make snowballs. Go to the grocery sore, or raid your pantry, and go ahead and make this soup to have on hand in case the snow clouds attack.

Peanut Soup is a popular type of soup on the African continent. Particularly in West Africa. Seeing as I have never been anywhere in West Africa, I am not sure how authentic this is, but man does it taste good. It is also very versatile, meaning that you can make it as spicy or mild as you want. You can also serve as a traditional soup with a bowl and a spoon or you can spoon it over cooked rice as a full meal. The latter is probably the more traditional way to do it.

West African Tomato Peanut Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 sweet onions, finely diced

1 extra-large red bell pepper

6-7 cloves garlic, minced

1 15oz can roasted diced tomatoes

1 15oz can salsa (mild, medium, or hot)

8 cups chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 cup uncooked long-grain brown rice

2/3 (18oz) jar crunchy peanut butter (preferably all natural because it has a more peanuty taste)

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook onion, bell pepper, and garlic until softened and lightly browned. This will probably take about 5 minutes.

Next, stir in tomatoes (with their juice), salsa, vegeta

ble broth, pepper, and red pepper. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

Then add in rice and stir. Reduce the heat cover and simmer for 35 minutes or until rice is cooked.

When rice is cooked, add the peanut butter and quickly whisk to incorporate. return the soup to a simmer to heat and then serve (either in a bowl or over cooked rice as mentioned earlier).

If the soup is too spicy, you can cool it down by adding more peanut butter and stock or by whisking in some coconut milk.

The weather outside is frightful but this soup is oh so delightful!

4 (or 3) ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

It's no secret that I have a ridiculous sweet tooth or an even more ridiculous obsession with peanut butter. These cookies satisfy both. The only bad thing about them is I could eat them until I'm sick- not so good.

Peanut butter cookies have always reminded me of my friend Meredith because she would bring them to our Girl Scout Cookie Swap every year when we were younger. We re-found this recipe when she came over to bake cookies to ship to her friend for her birthday.

This is a perfect recipe for college students or young professionals, etc. with no time and an ill-equipped pantry. There are only 4 ingredients (1 being somewhat optional), take no time at all to prep and bake super quickly.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda (I have seen it done without this and apparently it still works, making it a 3 ingredient cookie)

Blend together the peanut butter and sugar. Add the baking soda and blend again. Add the egg and blend again. Now, roll the dough into balls about an inch in diameter. Place on a greased cookie sheet and press down with fork in a criss-cross pattern (press down one way then the other way perpendicular to those lines). Sprinkle each cookie with additional sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until the cookie is a little cracked and slightly golden. Let cool to harden. Be careful when removing the cookies from the baking sheet because they can be quite crumbly.

Another way to make these cookies, and the way Meredith always made them for our cookie swaps, is to roll the dough into balls and roll the balls into additional sugar. Place the dough balls onto a greased baking sheet and bake until they start to crack. Press an unwrapped Hershey's kiss into the center of each cookie. Place the cookies back in the oven for 1 more minute. Then remove and let cool completely.