Show Week....Crazy Busy

Monday started our show week for Ririe Woodbury's Circle Cycle! If you live in Salt Lake City come on down to the the Capitol Theatre and see a fun and educational dance performance! It runs January 28-29th at 7pm with a 2pm matinee on Saturday. It's so important to expose children to the arts and this is a wonderful opportunity for that and to support your local arts groups! Plus, there will be free cookies after each show in the lobby for everyone!

That's me leaping!!

We perform shows in the mornings for local school children and on some days we do two shows so by the time I get home I am ready for a nap! Therefore my evening meals have to be easy and especially healthy since we are wearing unitards (tight long legged leotards!) in most of the pieces! While we don't have all of the snow that back east is getting it still has been quite cold here. This following recipe is an Eating Well chili  recipe with black beans and sweet potatoes. To pair with the chili I baked up some blue corn bread from my Ladle, Leaf, & Loaf cookbook. If you haven't tried blue corn flour yet I highly recommend it! It makes great pancakes, muffins, tortillas, etc. I have a delicious recipe for blue corn pancakes which is from Hell's Backbone Grill. If you are ever in Boulder, Utah or Capitol Reef National Park you must go to this restaurant. Our Education Director Gigi Arrington (who narrates Circle Cycle!)  introduced us to this restaurant and we recently went there while on one of our rural Utah tours. I'll post some recipes from their amazing cookbook later! Meanwhile, enjoy this chili and corn bread on a cold maybe snowy, January day!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
adapted from Eating Well Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium-large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile  or 2 chopped chipotle peppers in adobe sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed
• 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 4 teaspoons lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro. (See Note)

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sweet potato and onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle peppers and salt and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the sweet potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

The final yummy bowl!!

Note: Garnish with cheddar cheese, green onions, radishes, and sour cream!

 BLUE CORN BREAD 
from  Ladle, Leaf, & Loaf by Lisa Cowden


1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup blue cornmeal
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup pine nuts (optional)
1 cup skim milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons honey


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a 10-inch pie plate with vegetable spray and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, including the milk, egg, oil, and honey. Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients to make a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the pie plate. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top of the bread is lightly browned. Cool briefly before serving. Serve with honey butter!