Curried Sweet Potato & Kale Soup

This winter season I have enjoyed numerous celebrations and dinner parties with women, many involving spicy soups and long fiery chats to warm the body and spirit. This particular soup was enjoyed in the abundant home of KM with sweet BKLG and DM. It is always so great to cook together. This soup was a product of many different voices, hands, ideas, and was a delicious surprise! I'll do my best to recite the recipe as closely as possible. Serve with roasted cauliflower, salad, and toasted cornbread!

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
3 cloves garlic, pressed
3 chipolte peppers, diced
1/2 tsp. tumeric
1/2 tsp. cumin
4 cups vegetable broth (heated)
3-4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 bunch kale, trimmed and chopped
1 tsp. maple syrup
juice of 1-2 limes
fresh cilantro
pepper

In a large soup pot, heat the oil. Saute the onion and ginger over medium heat. After a few minutes, add the garlic, spices, and peppers, and stir. Add the veggie broth and sweet potatoes and bring to boil. Lower heat and let simmer until potatoes are cooked through, about 7 minutes. Add the kale and maple syrup and stir until wilted. Remove from heat and add lime juice and freshly ground pepper. Taste for salt/ spice and adjust accordingly. Garnish with chopped cilantro!

Enjoy!
NRG

Grilled Tofu with Nancy Holt

photo by jordan squires

Celebrating the life of artist Nancy Holt and remembering a trip taken years ago across the Great Basin Desert to see this pictured work, Sun Tunnels, where the vast expansive desert is framed and collected between a composite material and it's absence. I'm so inspired by this work. Holt felt a sameness with the West, with the desert, and describes this connection to landscape in words that resonate with my spirit. She extended herself into the work and its engaged landscape in a way that was unpretentious, "thrilled" by the desert's seemingly undiscovered potential, its mysterious edges, its complex ecosystems.

What does it mean to make sculptures far off the dirt road, traceable only with GPS and directions that, when realized, appear as blue squiggle lines trailing across an expanse of uninterrupted beige? Generous and situated, available to all who choose to make the voyage, with no rules or fees or hours or dress code, this work offers itself without constraint.

When we visited Sun Tunnels we sat in their shade. We grilled maple tofu on the camp stove.  

Thankful for the many accomplished women whose work inspires me to challenge the systems and structures of art and its market, to be precise and decided, and to play! To enjoy exploration into the mysteries of the land that are, in essence, explorations into the mysteries of our selves and each other.

NRG

The Veganette for Earth Eats: Apple Cranberry Heart Tartlettes

Snowed in this Valentines day? Surprise your main squeeze with these delicious and simple heart shaped tartlettes. Hallmark sham or not, the day offers another reason to be thankful for the people we love and to remind them that they are wonderful, delightful, celebrated parts of our lives! Even if you are an omnivore, take a risk and leave the butter and eggs behind when whipping up these little hearts (what's romantic about dairy factory farms)?

The simple crust can be easily pressed together into funky heart shapes, a fun project for kids, or rolled and cut into perfect hearts. I use apples and fresh cranberries here, but the recipe will work with any fruit! Pears and Raspberries would be a delicious combination!

Head over to the Earth Eats blog to see the complete recipe!

Yours under a pile of snow,
xoxoxo
NRG