My Favorite Recipe: Sweet Potato Hummus

As most of you know I have taken my love for cooking to another level here in Amsterdam.  Before I started working (3 weeks ago) I had all day to plan and prepare a meal for Jim to come home to.  I have not yet made the same thing twice.... except for this recipe!

I love Pinterest, but not to pick out my future $10 million home, my dream wardrobe that will never fit in my European closet, or planning my wedding that may not happen for the next 10 years.  I use it strictly for recipes.  This has become an organized recipe book for me and I have found some amazing recipes.  Sweet potato hummus is so far my favorite AND I use it as one of my "reusable recipes".

About a month ago I went to a party and brought an appetizer.  I knew one girl in the group was vegan and one was lactose intolerant and gluten sensitive so I chose to try something a little different.  This Sweet Potato Hummus Recipe was so good I decided to use the leftovers to stuff manicotti noodles and I used a cream sauce to top it.  Since I knew this would be so rich I also made a traditional manicotti with ricotta and spinach topped with a red meat sauce (also a reusable recipe).  Below are the recipes, and some pictures of this amazing find!

Sweet Potato Hummus

inspired by The Novice Chef Blog

1 extra large or 2 small sweet potatoes
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 can chickpeas
1/4 cup tahini
1 lemon juiced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Bake sweet potatoes in the oven at 400 F for 1 hour, rotate half way through.  Let sweet potato cool for 10 minutes then cut into cubes.  A food processor works best but I only have a blender which worked fine.  Add all ingredients into the blender and blend until desired consistency.  Voila! That's all there is to it, serve with pita chips or veggies.

Sweet Potato Hummus Stuffed Manicotti 

1- 1 1/2 cups sweet potato hummus

1 cup shredded chicken (optional)

6-8 manicotti noodles or shells

1 pre-made cream sauce

1 cup mozerella shredded or sliced

2 Tbsp rosemary

Bring pot of water to boil and cook manicotti according to directions.  Spray cooking dish with non stick spray and add a small layer of sauce.  Mix hummus and shredded chicken in small bowl, then stuff the inside of the manicotti gently and place in pan.  (some pictures below with traditional manicotti)  Cover with sauce and mozerella, sprinkle rosemary on top.  Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes covered, then remove foil for final 15 minutes.

Serving both a traditional manicotti and the sweet potato is the perfect combination.

Dutch Royalty

(Sorry for the delay... I wrote this post 2 weeks ago but we have been so busy I haven't had time to post!)

Last week was a monumental moment in Dutch history that I was so proud to be part of. The Netherlands crowned a new King and Queen. This is the first Dutch King since 1890 and the reign of the Orange-Nassau family dates back to the 1500's. Queen's day has been a big Dutch holiday for a long time. It is a celebration of the former (2 queens ago) Queens birthday which was April 30. This year they crowned the new king on Queen's Day and it was the last Queen's Day because next year will be King's Day (his birthday) on April 27th.

So as you can imagine all of these things happening on one day was a huge party for The Netherlands. The morning started with the Queen turning over the throne to the King at the Royal Palace in Dam square. Crowds waited outside the palace for the new King and Queen to come to the balcony as everyone sang the national anthem. Jim and I did not make it to Dam square since Queen's Night (the night before) is also a he party, but we did watch it on tv. Below is a picture from Instagram during this celebration, and a picture of our friend Jarno at the celebration.

 

photo by: Instagram

photo by: Jarno Van Veldhuisen

Later in the day there was a religious ceremony in the church. Royalty from all over the world attended, including Prince Charles and Camilla. We got stuck in a procession of buses and limos full of royalty dressed in very elegant attire, think the royal wedding of Will and Kate. Below is King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima as they entered the church.

 

Meanwhile, the streets and canals of Amsterdam are a party. Queen's Day is the one day of the year that people can sell anything they want and not charge tax, so a lot of neighborhoods turn into a giant garage sale. People start marking their sale spots on the sidewalk weeks in advance. The canals are completely packed with boats filled with people dressed in all orange and sound systems make each boat seem like it is it's own floating club. Below is a picture of Jim and our friend Tommy as we watched all of the boats. I also added a picture of a boat filled with all men dressed in orange tutus. And the last picture is a guy that fell off of the boat into the canal, I'm surprised more people didn't fall in.

 

 

We roamed the streets of the city for about 8 hours, we met up with friends and made some new friends. There was live music and dj's on every street corner and canal bridge. This really was the biggest celebration we've ever experienced. I woke up on May 1st already excited for the first King's day April 27 2014.  This last picture is of  Jim, (our CO friend who now lives here) Tommy, (Emily's first friend in Amsterdam) Bram, and Ryan.