I'm posting the sweet potato recipe for Grey (and anyone else who might want it) and then I have what probably will be a really long post about stuff. But anyway...
My Sweet Potato Chili won "Most Unusual" in the contest. It was a coin-toss between my chili and Mom's chili winning that coveted (?) title. :) Everyone loved the cornmeal bread; I only had four pieces left to take home!
The RenFaire was cold. Hypothermia cold. The windchill was probably under freezing--I doubt it got anywhere near 50 degrees all day. I wore my new wool cloak and a velvet dress with a silk skirt underneath for warmth, but it didn't help. We didn't sell any books, either. There weren't many people there at all, but there were more people than I expected. (Of course it was the last day.) The hot tea/hot coffee place (the one place in the whole Faire that was selling hot drinks) made out like bandits and actually ran out of stuff by the end of the day. The soft drink places closed up early.
This is my reminder to remember to bring extra blankets and suchlike if that ever happens again. (And wool blankets. And buy a thermos, dammit, for hot water for tea.) I drove home freezing, despite the heater, and had to stop at the Marathon station in Mt. Orab to use the facilities. The very, very nice guy at the register gave me a cup of hot water for free (Hey, I was prepared to pay for it!) so I could make some hot tea in the car and thaw out a bit more.
When I got home, I made more hot tea, but ended up crashing around 9pm. Even then, with the cats and my wool quilt and such, I wasn't really warm until I woke up. Now I'm working on dolls, which is part of the next post.
Sweet Potato Chili
Ingredients:
1 qt. tomato juice, frozen or fresh or canned if you really have to use canned.
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup kidney beans (I used dried beans, so 1 can if you use canned.)
1 cup garbanzo beans
1 cup pinto beans
the last of the tomatoes, cut up, or 2 cans of chopped tomatoes.
2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
1 pound ground turkey, cooked with 1 T olive oil and 3 cloves garlic
Spices:
chili powder, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, cinammon (not much), basil, and sage.
Basically, you have to use about 3 times the amount of spices that you would usually use for chili. So spice to taste, but expect to use a lot. The sweet potatoes soak up everything.
Directions:
Boil the cut-up sweet potatoes in water until sweet potatoes are soft and ready to be mashed. Reserve water. Mash sweet potatoes, combine with 1 qt. tomato juice and the sweet potato water in large pot or crock pot. Stir well; you want the sweet potatoes to virtually disappear into the sauce. Add beans, cooked turkey (I just put everything in the skillet in the pot, since the turkey I had was very lean. But do whatever you want to do.), chopped or canned tomatoes, and chopped green bell peppers.
Add spices to taste, but remember that the sweet potatoes will soak up the spices. I had to use 3 times the amount that I usually put into chili just to get something that didn't taste like straight tomato juice. I'm not going to do measurements, since it's up to you as to what you like to put in and how much.
Cook either in a crock pot for 6-8 hours (the beans are what need to be soft, and mine were just soft after 6 1/2 hours) or on stove until beans are cooked and soft.
Serves probably 6-8, but you can always freeze the leftovers for later.
My Sweet Potato Chili won "Most Unusual" in the contest. It was a coin-toss between my chili and Mom's chili winning that coveted (?) title. :) Everyone loved the cornmeal bread; I only had four pieces left to take home!
The RenFaire was cold. Hypothermia cold. The windchill was probably under freezing--I doubt it got anywhere near 50 degrees all day. I wore my new wool cloak and a velvet dress with a silk skirt underneath for warmth, but it didn't help. We didn't sell any books, either. There weren't many people there at all, but there were more people than I expected. (Of course it was the last day.) The hot tea/hot coffee place (the one place in the whole Faire that was selling hot drinks) made out like bandits and actually ran out of stuff by the end of the day. The soft drink places closed up early.
This is my reminder to remember to bring extra blankets and suchlike if that ever happens again. (And wool blankets. And buy a thermos, dammit, for hot water for tea.) I drove home freezing, despite the heater, and had to stop at the Marathon station in Mt. Orab to use the facilities. The very, very nice guy at the register gave me a cup of hot water for free (Hey, I was prepared to pay for it!) so I could make some hot tea in the car and thaw out a bit more.
When I got home, I made more hot tea, but ended up crashing around 9pm. Even then, with the cats and my wool quilt and such, I wasn't really warm until I woke up. Now I'm working on dolls, which is part of the next post.
Sweet Potato Chili
Ingredients:
1 qt. tomato juice, frozen or fresh or canned if you really have to use canned.
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup kidney beans (I used dried beans, so 1 can if you use canned.)
1 cup garbanzo beans
1 cup pinto beans
the last of the tomatoes, cut up, or 2 cans of chopped tomatoes.
2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
1 pound ground turkey, cooked with 1 T olive oil and 3 cloves garlic
Spices:
chili powder, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, cinammon (not much), basil, and sage.
Basically, you have to use about 3 times the amount of spices that you would usually use for chili. So spice to taste, but expect to use a lot. The sweet potatoes soak up everything.
Directions:
Boil the cut-up sweet potatoes in water until sweet potatoes are soft and ready to be mashed. Reserve water. Mash sweet potatoes, combine with 1 qt. tomato juice and the sweet potato water in large pot or crock pot. Stir well; you want the sweet potatoes to virtually disappear into the sauce. Add beans, cooked turkey (I just put everything in the skillet in the pot, since the turkey I had was very lean. But do whatever you want to do.), chopped or canned tomatoes, and chopped green bell peppers.
Add spices to taste, but remember that the sweet potatoes will soak up the spices. I had to use 3 times the amount that I usually put into chili just to get something that didn't taste like straight tomato juice. I'm not going to do measurements, since it's up to you as to what you like to put in and how much.
Cook either in a crock pot for 6-8 hours (the beans are what need to be soft, and mine were just soft after 6 1/2 hours) or on stove until beans are cooked and soft.
Serves probably 6-8, but you can always freeze the leftovers for later.
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