This surprisingly delicious soup may sound odd to westerners, but the combination of peanut butter, tomatoes, and spices is truly a marvel of gastronomic achievement. Peanut is a definite presence in the soup, but is not the dominant flavor, which may sound impossible, but hey, would I lie to you? This is probably my favorite soup of all time. You can easily make a vegetarian version by using vegetable stock and it will be just as good. It is also so easy to make I force my 6 year old to make it for me as punishment for her misdeeds. She misbehaves a lot.

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
as much or as little cooked chicken meat, to your preference
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium sweet potato (or 1 15-ounce can of sweet potatoes, drained of syrup)
1 medium Granny Smith apple, chopped
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 15-ounce can of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry
1 tsp cinnamon
salt & pepper to taste

Additional Ingredients (they add a nice background, use at your leisure):
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 pinch cayenne pepper (if you like heat)

Directions:
1. Bring the stock to a boil and add the all the ingredients except the chicken meat and peanut butter.

2. Simmer for about 30 minutes, allowing the sweet potato to soften, and then slowly add the peanut butter a bit at a time so that it melts well and into the soup.

3. Puree the soup either with a hand blender, or by transferring the soup to a blender and processing it in batches.

4. Return the pureed soup to the pot, add the chicken, salt and pepper, and serve.

I prefer to make my own stock by putting a whole raw chicken or chicken pieces into a pot of water and boiling for an hour or so. You can then remove the meat and reserve it for later, and cook down the stock until you have about 4 cups. Also, this particular soup is very flexible. Change the amounts of different spices if you would like, I like a lot of cinnamon, which goes so well in this soup that it is astounding. The peanut butter is definitely present in this soup without it being cloying, though, but again, if you prefer more or less, experiment. I also tend to sprinkle a little crushed peanut onto the soup for a garnish when I’m taking a picture for this wildly popular blog, but don’t bother if I’m not serving to guests.

Striped Salad with Buttermilk Pesto Dressing

This explosive salad hails from the depths of a friend’s brain. I believe she had it somewhere and made the recipe her own, but I can attest that, while the salad itself is tasty, the buttermilk pesto dressing is incredible enough to warrant drinking a glass of it as a nightcap. This is a great recipe for using leftover grilled chicken (which I have a lot of in the summer) and is a fairly light salad as well. Substituting ingredients is also encouraged, and there are lots of items that would go well with this dressing. That said, this is how we made it and it turned out better than I wanted (no need to get into that).

All the following ingredients are to be chopped:
2 heads romaine lettuce, arugula, or mixed greens (the arugula is quite good)
Grilled chicken
1 cup cooked Israeli couscous
Cherry tomatoes (marinated in the dressing)
1/2 cup black currants,
pumpkin seeds
Asiago cheese (optional)

Buttermilk Pesto Dressing:
1/2 cup pesto
1 shallot chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Mix ingredients in a blender and chill.

Directions:
1. Dress the salad greens and place them in a salad bowl.

2. Place the chopped items in the bowl, one at a time, in wide stripes.

3. Present the salad to your guests, and after the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ toss the salad and serve.

Wonderful for parties and oh, so easy.

Ingredients
1 10 lbs chicken
2 Tbsp. salt
1 bunch celery leaves (cut from the top of a bundle of celery)
2 lbs. sliced mushrooms
2 c. cooked rice
1/2 c. sliced almonds
1 onion, finely chopped

Ingredients for cream sauce
6 Tbsp. Butter
6 Tbsp. Flour
3 cups chicken broth (from cooking the chicken)
4 c. grated cheddar
2 teaspoons salt
dash of pepper

Directions
1. Cook the whole chicken in 2 quarts water with 2 Tbsp. salt, and celery leaves until tender.

2. Cool in broth, remove meat from bones and cut into bite size pieces (reserve broth for the cream sauce).

3. Saute mushrooms and combine with the cooked rice, sliced almonds, and finely chopped onion.

For the cream sauce
1. In a pan, melt the butter and add flour and whisk together into a roux (paste). Add 3 cups chicken broth and whisk together.

2. To the broth mixture, add 4 c. grated cheddar 2 teaspoons salt and a dash of pepper.

3. Combine with chicken mixture and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or so until golden and bubbly. Don?t overcook or the sauce will separate.

Serves 12

This classic, simple chicken dish is rich and flavorful while still being easy to make.

Ingredients
4 chicken cutlets
salt
pepper
flour
4 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup fine, fresh bread crumbs
1 egg, well beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated

Sauce Ingredients
4 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions
1. Lightly season each cutlet with salt and pepper.

2. Line up three plates — one with 1 cup flour, the 2nd with the egg , 1/8 tsp salt, and1/2 tsp olive oil mixed together, and the third with the mixed cheeses (Parmesan & Romano) and bread crumbs.

3. Take each cutlet, coat with flour, then egg mixture, then cheeses. Let rest on waxed paper for at least half an hour.

4. Saute the cutlets in butter (4 Tbsp) and olive oil (2Tbsp) for approximately 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes in second side, until brown and firm to the touch.

5. Keep warm in a low oven (150 degrees) until ready to serve.

For the sauce:
Put 4 Tbsp butter in a skillet over moderate heat until it turns light brown. Remove from heat and, add lemon and parsley. Spoon over cutlets and serve.

Serves 2 to 4