I’ve shared it before elsewhere and in the past few weeks, have had four different people tell me they’ve made this dish.  If you like peanut butter, if you’re not sure how you’ll use up all those beet, turnip, mustard, spinach, kale, and whatever other greens, give this a try.  It freezes well if you want to put it by for later.  I also used it as a pizza topping last year at Firefly with great results.

(I kept putting off posting it here because I didn’t have a good picture, but I’ve let go of that.  This is what I’ve got and I keep forgetting to take a new one.  In the pictured version, I also threw in a drained can of “fried gluten with peanuts” from an Asian market that I had in the pantry.)

A bagful of greens in every bowl!

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced [Or whatever you'd like to use to add spice. You could use a bell pepper and some hot sauce.]
• 1 large carrot, slivered
• 1 sweet potato, sliced [Butternut or other winter squash works well, too.]
• ~2 cups water or broth
• All the greens!  Washed and chopped or torn into small pieces
• 2-4 Tbsp peanut butter
• Chopped peanuts for garnish
• olive oil
• salt to taste

Do this

1. Sauté the onion in olive oil and a little salt until  softened and translucent
2. Add the peppers and carrots and cook for a few more minutes
3. Add the sweet potato (or squash)
4. Add the broth or water, stir
5. Throw in all the greens!  Depending on the size of your vessel, you may need to do this in batches.  I recommend preparing this dish in a large pot to make this step easier.  Add them in reverse order of cooking time: collards first, then kale, then spinach later.
6. Keep covered until greens cook down significantly, stirring occasionally. Tongs are helpful here. It doesn’t take long.
7. Mix the peanut butter with a little warm water and stir in.  The amount of peanut butter will depend on your volume and how peanutty you want it.  You can always add more.
8. Simmer until everything is as cooked as you like it.
9. Serve over rice with a sprinkle of peanuts.

Even though I’d recently acquired Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, I didn’t have it handy when I started baking so the body of these is standard “Wacky Cake”. By the time they were in the oven, I was able to ponder my frosting option and chose Peanut Buttercream, but I’d made a double batch of cupcakes and only a single of frosting so I didn’t have enough to pipe. I added the streaks of chocolate syrup and the peanuts for visual interest, since the frosting was a fairly bland color, and I also like when a garnish reflects what’s inside.

The cupcakes were delicious, and the peanut butter and chocolate definitely worked well together (to nobody’s surprise). Next time, I’ll do a lot more frosting and use it to fill the cakes.

Wacky Cake (traditional recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup cold water

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then together. Pour into lined muffin tins 2/3-3/4 full and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Peanut Buttercream (from VCTOTW)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c maragarine, softened
• 2 tbsp shortening (EB sticks are the best for this)
• 1/3 c creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 c confectioner’s sugar, sifted
• 1 to 2 tbsp rice milk, soy milk/creamer, or water

With electric handheld mixer, cream together margarine and shortening at medium speed til smooth. Add peanut butter and vanilla, and beat until very smooth, 2 to 3 minute. Beat in sugar; mixture will be very stiff. Dribble in liquid a little at a time, beating continuously til frosting is pale tan and very fluffy.

Adjust the thickness of the frosting by adding liquid or more confectioner’s sugar in small increments if necessary. –

I highly recommend Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Not only are the recipes great and the authors wonderful people, but it’s a beautiful book with fabulous pictures, so even those who don’t actually cook can enjoy it.