Spiced Potatoes with Sautéed Kale and Peas

Packed Lunch of Spiced Potatoes and Sautéed Kale with English Peas 

I am a creature of habit. Every Friday, after I am off the clock, I go around the grocery store where I work and complete my food shop for the next week. Over the week, mostly on Sundays, I make and pack my meals. So I will make 5 packed lunches for work. I will make 2 servings smoothies for breakfast and set up dinner if I have the energy. This past weekend, I had the idea of making a sweet potato/yam dish for lunch. Sweet potato is something that I have an affinity for. My sister and I believe that it runs in the blood because our father's ancestral home, Oyan in Nigeria, is known for sweet potatoes.

During my service year in Nigeria, one of the meals that I really loved making was sweet potatoes with vegetables. I would buy a vegetable known as ugu and make it into a soup with smoked fish, tomatoes, peppers and onions to be served with boiled sweet potatoes. I particularly like this meal because the green leaves of ugu would be slightly crunchy after cooking so it would balance the soft and mushy texture of the sweet potatoes. When I was shopping on Friday, I noticed that the sweet potatoes/yam did not look like it was in season so I decided to switch it up for red potatoes.

Wild Rice Pesto Salad

Wild Rice Pesto Salad

This is actually my lunch that I took to work last week. I need to get in the habit of posting my recipes earlier. Anyway, most of the cooking I do has to stand the test of time because I cook in bulk and then eat through out the week or sometimes within 10 days or so. This wild rice salad is something that I ate for a week and really enjoyed it. It had the right about of fresh flavor and kept me full for a long time. Plus, it tasted fantastic with the Feta Salsa I sprinkled over it.