African Sweet Potato Almond Stew

I have fond memories of an underground dinner in Buenos Aires where the first course was an African Peanut Soup. It was creamy with a defiant touch of peanut butter. This recipe is a play off of what I remember that soup to be, subbing in almond butter for a healthier boost of good fat and protein and adding in sweet potatoes and kale to really add to the veggie count.

Served as a stew, my version is chunky and hearty with a rich and creamy sauce, slightly less sweet without the use of store-bought peanut butter. A blend of sun-dried tomatoes and an ancho chili pepper give more depth and flavor than using just plain tomatoes. A touch of vinegar at the end adds just a hint of brightness; sub a squeeze of lemon or just skip this step if it makes you nervous.

It's the perfect stew/soup for those still riding out freezing temperatures; just cup your mug, close your eyes and let the flavors take you to a warm sunny spot south of the equator.

Sickness (and vampire) Fighting Creamy Garlic, Sweet Potato and Avocado Soup

Garlic soup. One of my favorite soups from my former restaurant. They were all my favorites, we rocked our soups. But something about the idea of a few dozen garlic cloves, some bread and water combining to make a super creamy, sickness fighting soup that warms the cockles.

The garlic soup urge hit me the other day after feeling a tickle in my throat - but I'm currently staying away from gluten so I needed a substitute for the bread.  Scrounging around my kitchen I found half a sweet potato, figured it might work. But it was the toasted, blended bread in the original recipe that created the creaminess, I wasn't convinced a little potato alone would cut it. So I tossed in an avocado- never hurts to add in a bit of good fat!

Absolutely delicious. Addictive really. We each ate two bowls and I wanted more. The toasting of the garlic deepens its flavor, the sweet potato offers a subtle sweetness while the avocado brings a rich and creaminess to the soup. It's again one of my new favorites; betting it becomes one of yours too.

Five Spices Pumpkin Soup with Orange Pepper Cashew Cream

Pumpkins are a dime a dozen this time of year, hence the many of them adorning my counter tops right now. I've been playing with a crazy number of recipes that you will be seeing here soon.

Since our biggest eating holiday is coming up next week, I'm going to post a simple pumpkin soup recipe first. In this soup I used a touch of Chinese Five Spices to give a little flavor twist over the typical pumpkin soup. It's an interesting mix of cinnamon, clove, pepper, fennel and anise. It marries quite well with meats but you'll find it sweet, savory and complex in this soup. If you haven't tried this spice blend before, you may find yourself become immediately addicted to it and find yourself putting it on everything. It's quite concentrated so a little goes a long way.

Orange Pepper Cashew Cream tops the soup in a creamy, non-dairy way. If you haven't made a creamy, dairy substitute out of cashews before, now is the time to try. It's super simple, just add cashews and water and blend.

Instead of ending your Thanksgiving meal with a pumpkin, perhaps this is the year to start with it. Pumpkin 5 Spices Soup with Orange Pepper Cashew Cream, a deliciously healthy pumpkin soup.

Butternut Squash Apple Soup

Punxsutawney Phil gets a bad rap. He is just a cute little groundhog who gets blamed for a prolonged winter if the sun happens to be out.

Whether you want to blame Phil or Mother Nature, the cold weather is sticking around a bit longer. For me that means creating warm and comforting soups like this one, which combines hearty squash with a hint of sweet apple.

No fancy ingredients or complicated cooking, just a simple saute with nutritious food.

Warm your cold winter chills with this Fat and Happy Squash and Apple Soup and let Phil live out a peaceful spring at Gobbler's Knob.

Ginger Orange Carrot Soup

Tis the season for soups; luckily there isn't a vegetable that doesn't love to be in a soup. During the holiday season I specifically look to find ways to save a few dollars on my meals to help offset all the money spent on presents, traveling and key dinner parties. Carrots are cheap, nutritious and loaded with flavor.

Hearty carrots and celery swirl with garlic and ginger while the orange zest adds just a hint of freshness. This Carrot Soup may sound humble, but it's rich, creamy and delicious enough to be the entry course for any elegant meal.

Keep warm, receive great nutrients for a beautiful body and fight cancer with this yummy Fat and Happy Ginger Orange Carrot Soup.

Pineapple Gazpacho

This lovely pineapple has been sitting on my counter for days. Staring me down. Saying "What'chu gonna do with me? I'm gettin' ripe over here!" You know it's time to get cooking when your ingredients start talking to you.

Grilled pineapple has got to be one of my top 10 favorite things to work with- it's simply delish by itself. Chopped up in grain salad with mustard vinaigrette is so good too. Or try a drenching of homemade caramel sauce, it just kills!

Been there, done that.  This time I yearned for something fresh. The late summer sun is beating through the windows and the air conditioning never seems to shut off. That's when it hit me- gazpacho!

Classically made with tomatoes, gazpacho is a chilled Spanish soup from fresh ingredients. Throw some fruit and vegetables in a blender and your done.

Cashew Cream Soup: Avocado and Pepper

Recently I've found that singeling cashews out of the nut mixture can is not the only way to enjoy them. It's true. Raw cashes are now synonymous with sweet, fluffy dessert toppings as well as savory creams.

You may also be asking why? The simple fact is that not everyone eats, or can tolerate, dairy. And why live a life of creamless soups and desserts when you don't have to?

You may also be intrigued by this, but have concerns with how daunting the process is going to be. Turns out, the process is really quite simple. I'll admit, I was initially hesitant and it took a bit before I finally soaked my first cashew. But I haven't looked back since. Soaking cashews involve covering them with water overnight and then rinsing them before blending with water. That's it! Vary the texture through amounts of water and length of blending. Add a bit of sweetener and vanilla for dessert or leave plain to use in place of classic milk and cream.

Below I've given you the makings for two base soups: a Creamy Avocado Soup and a Creamy Pepper Soup. You can also combine them to make a Creamy Avocado Pepper Soup. Also listed are numerous additions that can be added to either, ultimately giving you ability to make hundreds of soups. Perhaps they should be called Creamy Transformer Soups?

Bite the bullet and test out the cashew phenomenon with either of these ultra simple, Fat and Happy Cashew Cream Soups. It will be the beginning of a new relationship.

Moroccan Meatball Stew in Roasted Pumpkins

There is no better time to make hearty stews than during winter. And while pumpkins tend to be labeled as a fall food, they carry over into the beginning of the year with ease.

Meatballs with a slightly spicy edge bathing in a cumin and gingery tomato sauce inside a tender roasted pumpkin; each bite finds an interesting mix of the Moroccan flavors. And it's interactive dinning as it's up to the eater to scoop in the bowl as part of the dish.

Perfect for a casual family outing or for an elegant celebration dinner, this Fat and Happy Moroccan Meatball Stew will keep you warm and fill your tummy.

Portabella and Proscuitto Quesadilla with Red Pepper Tomato Soup

Even in the dog days of summer we are typically greeted with one day of impending chilly fall weather. It's a rare opportunity to let summer produce warm us from the inside.

This proscuitto and portabella mushroom mixture is absolutely fantastic! I don't want another quesadilla without it. But its more than just a filling, I could see this as an omelet filling or a topping for bruschetta or on a big fat juicy steak.

The soup is a simple one chocked full with nutritious veggies; adding the summer squash gives a hearty freshness not found in a typical tomato or pepper soup.

Make any time of the year fat and happy with this delicious soup and quesadilla combo.

Watermelon Thai Gazpacho

If there is a downside to buying a watermelon, it's gotta be the looming question of what to do with the reaming after you eat a cup of it. I was staring at a mound of juicy red melon and was saddened at the thought that it might go to waste.

Coincidentally, I had planned to make a couple of different variations of gazpacho for an afternoon birthday party. Watching the peppers whirl in the blender gave me the idea to turn the watermelon into a soup.

Toasted almonds give this watermelon gazpacho texture while the ginger and hot pepper tingle the Thai senses.

This watermelon soup could be a great appetizer, lunch or amuse bouche even. It was a hit at the birthday party and will turn any event into a fat and happy party!

Grilled Jalapeno Shrimp over Gazpacho Salad with Bonus Roasted Pepper Soup

Gazpacho is all the rage in the summer. It's a fresh and filling fusion of summers finest. And easy as pie to make. Let the blender do all the work, just drop the ingredients in.

I began to wonder what would happen if I didn't push the blend button. Certainly it would be a bit cruncher, resembling a salad or salsa rather than a soup, but would the overall taste change? And if it does, is that a bad thing?

The blender sat quietly on the counter while the sounds of my knife filled the kitchen. This gazpacho salad requires just a bit more chopping than a pulverized soup, but I tend to find that process rather calming and methodical.

While tasty, the Gazpacho Salad doesn't really stand on it's own, it needs more. Shrimp grilled with jalapenos adds a great dimension without adding complication.

Chorizo Meatball Pozole

My love for pozole has been rekindled thanks to a recent trip to the land of tequila and flip flops. It's not that I stopped liking it, but rather that I stopped coming across it. When we lived in Denver, Mexican restaurants where Grandma was hand making the tortillas in the back were on every corner. But in chi-town, the choice is often between a chain taco joint or a trendy new joint that puts more focus on the party than on the food. The good stuff is out there, you just have to know where to find it!


I had the opportunity to talk with the head chef of an elite resort as well as a native who cooks for Gringos daily. My variation of this recipe is an amalgamation of their versions, with my interpretations added for fun. Chorizo meatballs replace calf head, dried oregano gives way to fresh and crunchy radishes sub in for iceberg lettuce on the top. The broth has flavor but is not overwhelming as it's meant to be the background; once you add on all the toppings, it becomes a really great blend of flavors. 

This recipe seems daunting at first look, and I'll admit - there are quite a few steps in the process and it does require a few pans. (Tip: I re-use the same pans and blender without rinsing, it really just adds more flavor!) The steps themselves are fairly simple.

Spinach Soup

Whether you want to admit or not, whether you want to do it or not and whether your partner will play along or not- you need 'lighter' fare after the holidays.

Now is not the time to wrinkle your nose and hide behind that bulky sweater. Eating light and healthy doesn't mean eating cardboard rice crisps but rather enjoying simple tasty fair that isn't loaded with fats and sugars.

You'll be surprised how clean a spinach soup can taste even though it is void of heavy cream or cheese. Use this as a loose recipe. Add more garlic if you like or remove the celery if that isn't your thing. Try more broth for a creamier soup or less for something chunkier that will make you chew and think you are eating more than just soup.

Squash Soup with Swiss Chard Stuffed Onions

Cool fall weather just screams for soup - and squash is a classic choice. Sometimes soup doesn't feel like it's a full meal so I wanted to add a little something to it. These stuffed onions make use of lots of the fall vegetables and give the soup a little life.

The hardest part of this is creating the onion bowl, but if you look close at the photos, there is a slit in one side of them. After cleaning the onion, slice off the ends and make one small slice starting at the top through to bottom, from the middle of the onion out. Then peel the layers apart; this will form a big ring or bowl with a hole in the bottom. Lay a piece of the Swiss chard inside the bottom of the onions to form a loose bottom.

This sounds like a lot of work, but it comes together pretty easily. Make it a day ahead of time through stuffing the onions and hold in the fridge. Then place the whole thing in the oven (I suggest letting it come to room temperature first) and continue from there. You'll have a fat and happy fall dinner in no time!

Hot Coleslaw Soup

Do you ever pick up old recipe books and read them? I love 'um! I love everything about them - the lack of direction, the casualness of the ingredient amounts and the expectation that you will just know things (like when they say: cook till done. Um, when?) Unlike any modern cookbook, there are no indexes to learn what an ingredient is, no explanation about the recipes and there are no pictures ether. And the truth is, I wouldn't want any. It would distract from the simplicity, not to mention kill the surprise of what some of the these dishes end up looking like!

Fellow Food Blogger, Christianna, picked up one such book about a year ago and was inspired to challenge other foodies to recreate these recipes. So once each month we all eagerly await the email with an image from the old book telling us what the new dish is. Or, what it was. It's our job to put our own spin on it.

Hot Slaw is this months winning recipe; so many options with this. I have a page full of ideas. The hot dressing intrigued me the most, but I wanted to lighten it up. The versatility of cabbage makes it one of my favorites. The idea of this hot, tender cabbage with a creamy dressing pulled me in the direction of a creamy, caramelized soup. Simple, easy and could be recreated to be lighter on the hips.

Think French onion soup meets spicy coleslaw. Mixing onions with fennel and cabbage, then sauteing until everything becomes a deep golden hue ... the final product almost gives off a hint of a smoky bacon. This easy cabbage soup turned out to be a testament of the simpler days when directions weren't needed.

Cookbooks aren't just for cooking anymore, but they used to be! And this Fat and Happy Hot Slaw Soup will help you momentarily relive those days of lore.

Coconut Curry Sauce over Brown Rice

We've had our Hepatitis shots, taken the typhoid pills, packed the malaria pack and are ready to make the 2 day trip to South Africa (with a 9 hour layover in London for lunch, of course.)

But I'm not sure what to expect food wise. Sure, I've done my homework and read about South African cuisine but there is no substitute for 'being there', for experiencing the African spices and the classic family dishes tweaked from generation to generation.

As I understand it, South African food has been shaped by the French and Dutch cuisines, with a bit of spicy Malaysian, British and Indian influences. German, Portuguese and Greek immigrants added their flair as well ... it makes sense why it's often referred to as the Rainbow Cuisine.

In just a few short days my senses will be filled this culinary melting pot; until then I'll create my own versions of what I think this cuisine can be. The curry sauce has a hint of India with a French flair coming from the mushrooms and green beans. Take your own little travel tonight, if even just for dinner. Then watch for the Fat and Happy travel updates coming your way soon.

Coconut Curry Sauce over Brown Rice

1/2 cup sliced onions
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp curry powder
4 sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup green beans
1 cup of crushed tomatoes
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup broth
salt to taste
1 cup brown basmati rice

Saute the onions for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and continue to cook for a minute. Add in the curry powder and mushrooms, cook for a few more minutes to soften the mushrooms.

Add in the tomatoes, green beans, coconut milk and broth. Simmer the soup for 10 minutes to allow all the flavors to blend, add in a few pinches of salt.


Cook the brown rice according to package directions.

To serve, scoop over brown rice and enjoy.

French Onion Soup with Mustard Cheese Croutons

French onion soup- imagine for a moment you had never tasted it ..... would it really sound interesting based on name?  Does onion soup intrigue you? I'm convinced that even if I didn't know French onion soup is a heavenly mouthful of sweet caramelized onion and deep red wine soaked crouton all covered in melted mozzarella cheese that I would still like it. Yes, onion soup would intrigue me.

It's really a super simple soup to make as well as cost efficient considering onions and bread are quite cheap. The key is to have the patience to saute the onions until they are caramelized to a soft, sweet and succulent stage; if you rush this step, your soup will miss out on the biggest depth of flavor. Putting my own spin on this soup, I added a little extra flavor to the crouton with a mustard and parsley spread. I also use a bit more red wine than most recipes call for, but the mustard and the wine combine together for a lip-licking, fantastic soup.

Have no fear of the onion soup, it's nothing like a raw onion. Do it the Fat and Happy way - pour yourself a glass of red wine and then pour one for the soup. It's comforting, hearty, filling and superbly flavor.

Tips and Techniques: I enjoy using a variety of onions - Spanish, red and white - to give the soup the best flavor. But you can use just one type of onion if you prefer. With regard to the cheese, I prefer to go a little light handed but you are welcome to douse your soup with as much of the good stuff as desired.

French Onion Soup with Mustard Cheese Croutons

1/2 large red onion
1/2 large yellow onion
1/2 large white onion
2 tbls olive oil
1 tbls butter
1 tbls brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups beef broth
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 bay leaves
1 cup shredded Jarlsberg or mozzarella cheese

In a large soup pan, cook the onions, olive oil and butter over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Add in the brown sugar and continue to slowly caramelize the onions for another 20 minutes with cover on, stirring often.

Add in the garlic cloves and cook for another 2 minutes. Add in the red wine, beef broth, salt, pepper and bay leaves, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the mustard parsley spread below. Ladle the soup into the soup bowls, place a crouton in each bowl. Top the crouton with desired amount of cheese and place under the broiler until the cheese melts.

 Bowls will be hot, serve carefully with a hot pad or on a secure plate.

Mustard Parsley Croutons

1 tbls mayo
1 tbls mustard
2 tbls parsley, chopped
thick slices of day old bread, cut to fit in the soup bowl of your choice

Mix together the mayo, mustard and parsley. Toast the bread, slather each toast piece with the mustard mix and continue with the directions above.

Yield: 2 large bowls of soup or 4 small ones 

Tortilla Soup

 It's the middle of winter but I have a hankering for warm roasted tomatoes, yet something more than just salsa. It's not the best time of year to cook with fresh garden ingredients but if you have a produce store you can trust, go for it. Plus the roasting will help bring out deep, sweet flavors of the winter fruit.

The way I create this soup follows similar principles of making a roasted salsa which starts by roasting the fruit/veggies and then blending them; the addition of chicken broth to the blended 'salsa' creates the soup. The result is a spicy, roasted flavor that is slightly cooled by the queso fresco (cheese) and the toasted corn tortillas.

Another super simple, warm soup that gives you a healthy option over heavy cream and calorie laden soups - that's something to be Fat and Happy about.

Tips and techniques:  Mix and match the peppers you put in this soup for more more or less heat.

Tortilla Soup

3 tomatoes
4 tomatillos
1 poblano pepper
1 medium sized yellow onion
4 cloves garlic, leave outer paper on
1 small dried pasilla chile (optional), could substitute a small jalapeno, or chipotle pepper
4 corn tortillas
2 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 tsp salt
pepper

Soup toppings
1 avocado
juice of 1 lime
hot sauce
Queso Fresco

Turn the oven broiler to high and line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Place the tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic on the cookie sheet and place under the broiler. Let each side become nearly blackened and then turn.  Take the garlic (and the dried pasilla chili if using) out first as it will only take a few minutes before it burns. Remove everything from the broiler and let cool slightly.

Peel the garlic, (remove seeds and veins from the pasilla/jalapeno if using) cut the stem off the peppers and add all the roasted items to the blender. Add one torn up tortilla.  Blend until smooth (if you want a chunkier soup, pulse the ingredients until desired thickness is reached.)  Pour the salsa into a soup pot over Medium heat.

Add the broth, salt and pepper to the pot. Simmer for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, place the remaining tortillas in a heated oven until crispy. Mash the avocado, lime juice and a few shakes of hot sauce together with a fork.

To serve, add soup to bowls and top with a scoop of avocado, crumbled queso fresco and a few strips of corn tortilla.  Makes 4 large bowls of soup.

Oxtail and Chorizo Stew

Stews come in all forms from turkey to lentil to fish. This oxtail stew plays off the classic beef stew tradition of browning the meat and simmering veggies, beer and broth for hours until all is tender, but I substitute in oxtail and chorizo just for fun.

The oxtail has a slightly wild or game-y flavor compared to beef but it reacts the same when stewed for hours - fall off the bone deliciousness. Fat and Happy comes in many forms, in this case a hearty warm stew for the cold February days. Enjoy!

Tips and Techniques: I cooked this in a cast iron pot on the stove but you could easily drop all the ingredients into a crock pot and let it simmer all day.  The oxtail bone may look like it doesn't have enough meat on it, but you'll be surprised how much meat will come off it in the end.



Oxtail and Chorizo Stew

1 lb oxtail (it will have a lot of bone)
4 oz chorizo, crumbled out of the casing
1/2 medium sized yellow onion, diced large
1/2 medium sized red onion, diced large
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 carrot, sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 medium sized potato, diced
 3-5 cups Beef broth
1 cup Modelo or other dark beer (for Gluten free dish, choose a GF beer or substitute in wine)
1/2 cup fresh green beans, sliced in half on the diagonal
fresh thyme
seasoning salt
black pepper

Start by heavily seasoning the meat on all sides with seasoning salt and pepper, then brown the oxtail on all sides; remove from the pan and set aside. Add the chorizo to the pan, cook through and set aside with the oxtail. Remove the grease from the pan. Add the onions, carrot and celery to the pot, cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes.

Add in the garlic and potato, continue to cook (stirring often) to soften the garlic, about another 3-5 minutes. If the pan is getting too dry add in a tiny drizzle of olive oil.

Deglaze the pan by pouring in 1 cup of broth, use a wooden spoon to scrap up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Place the oxtail and the chorizo back into the pot, now add in the beer, then add enough broth to cover all the veggies and meat.

Cover the pan and let the stew simmer for 4-6 hours, you can also put this in the oven rather than on the stove top. Test the meat, does it fall off the bone? If so, it's ready.  Remove the bones and carefully peel off the meat into chucks, place the meat back in the stew.

Simmer the stew with the lid off for 20 minutes to thicken the stew; add in the green beans during the last 5 or 10 minutes of cooking so they retain a little crunchy rather than turn mushy. Taste for seasoning, add in more salt and pepper as needed. Add fresh thyme to each bowl before serving.

Ginger Soba Noodle Soup

I'm still toying with the idea of going gluten free, which means if I ever really do commit to this- I'm going to need an arsenal of recipes. Even the simplest of soups can seem daunting to create as gluten free. It seems to me that the real key to GF is reading and doing your research

Soba noodles are great 'pasta' option, but you need to read the label and be sure they are made 100% from buckwheat and are truly GF. You also need to double check your soy sauce, not all are GF...see where all the reading comes into play?

This soup is simple, easy and deceivingly filling thanks to the soba noodles. Use the ginger to flavor the broth without overpowering it. The sriracha sauce gives the soup a final kick, it's okay without it, but it's really better with it.

Tips and Techniques:  You can just cook the soba noodles in the broth right before serving, but I like to keep them separate so I have more control over the the noodles and they don't become overcooked and soggy.

Ginger Soba Noodle Soup

1 small bundle of soba noodles, making approximately 3-4 cups of cooked noodles
Fresh ginger, about the size of your thumb
1 large garlic clove
4 cups stock (vegetable or chicken)
1 Tbls rice wine or red wine vinegar
1 Tbls soy sauce
1 large carrot
4 button or porcini mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3 radishes, thinly sliced
1 Tbls sriracha sauce
fresh chives


Bring about 6 cups of salted water to a boil, add the soba noodles and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water, set aside.

Peel the ginger and cut into large chunks, do the same with the garlic. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the bottom of a soup pot and saute the ginger and garlic to release their flavors, about 3 minutes.

Add in the broth and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain out the garlic and ginger. Grate the carrot and add to the stock along with the sliced mushrooms, the vinegar, the sesame oil and the pepper flakes. Continue to simmer just 5- 10 minutes, depending on how soft you want the carrots to be.

Place a scoop of the soba noodles in the bottom of each bowl, add a scoop of the the ginger carrot broth. Top with fresh snipped chives, radishes and a squeeze of the sriracha sauce.  Enjoy!