Senegalese Peanut Stew with Spinach and Sweet Potatoes

Do you have a bunch of sweet potatoes in your fridge like I do, left over from your summer CSA?  This is a great recipe to use those up, and better yet, the recipe has peanut butter in it!  This is a pretty rich stew, but is also filling and has a unique flavor.  Originally a Weight Watchers recipe found here.

Servings: 6

Serving Size: 1 2/3 cup

Points Plus: 5pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: about 40 minutes

Rating: 5 stars - Excellent

Ingredients
Cooking spray
2 medium Onion(s), uncooked, chopped
1 medium Pepper, green, chopped
½ pound(s) Potato(es), sweet, raw, peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
2 medium Carrots, uncooked, peeled and thinly sliced
2 clove(s) Garlic, fresh, minced
2 Tbsp Ginger root, raw, fresh, minced
½ tsp Cloves, ground
½ tsp Salt, table
¼ tsp Cayenne pepper
4 cup(s) Broth, vegetable, reduced-sodium
6 Tbsp Peanut butter, natural, creamy-variety
8 cup(s) Spinach, uncooked, leaves, stemmed, packed, chopped

Instructions
Coat a large saucepan (Le Creuset!) with cooking spray and warm. Add onion and bell pepper, cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the sweet potato, carrots and garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add the ginger, cloves, salt and cayenne and cook for 30 seconds.

Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer slowly, stirring once in a while, until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add the spinach; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Tip

There is nothing worse that gross, overcooked spinach.  Anytime I have a recipe that calls for spinach I don’t actually cook it with the rest of the soup.  I pull out my fav soup cup, fill it with spinach, and pour my soup over that.  The hot soup cooks the spinach and I don’t have to be scared of how my spinach will hold up for the leftovers!