A couple of people requested these. All of these are especially great because you can substitute and play around with the ingredients depending on what you like.

This one is a little bit sweet with a little bit of kick!
It's also vegetarian which is a bonus!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 T. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed or grated
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more)
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups vegetable stock (you can buy the powdered stuff to make this)
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons basil (or a half cup or so fresh basil, chopped)
1 T paprika

Microwave the cubed sweet potatoes with 1/2 cup of broth on high until tender (6-8 minutes). In a large pot, sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until translucent. Add spices, combine, then add the stock, the beans, and the prepared sweet potatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes then add the tomatoes and the remaining spices and cook for another 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander or parmesan as desired.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can divide dough into smaller balls and store them in the fridge or freezer in a ziplock. Then you can pop it out any time you want to make an individual pizza. Dough is messy so I usually double the recipe and freeze a bunch.

Since I'm sure any of you can figure out what you like on Pizza, feel free to be creative. But here's my favorite. It's a rip off of Sweet Thai Chili Chicken from Pizza Pizza. It may sound odd, but it's fab!

Crust:
(Should make 3-4 individual pizzas)

2 tsp active dry yeast (I usually use one of those little packets they sell in 3 packs - fast acting yeast will shorten your rising time).
1/2 tsp brown sugar (reg sugar is fine too)
1 1/2 cups warm water (NOT hot, just lukewarm is fine)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour (all purpose will work too)

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. (Less with fast acting yeast) Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Add toppings (see below) Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 20 minutes.


Toppings (amounts all to taste):

Thai Sweet Chili dipping sauce
Broccoli
Cooked and cubed Chicken
Partially skimmed mozzarella
Goat cheese (if it comes pre-crumbled, get that, because it's hard to split up into little chunks)
Sun dried tomato

Smother your pizza with these and bake away!

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion(s), sweet, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 medium green pepper(s), chopped (about 1 cup)
8 oz uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
29 oz canned stewed tomatoes, undrained
12 oz shrimp, frozen ready-to-eat/cooked, thawed and drained
2 tsp cajun spice
4 cup cooked brown rice

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and pepper; cook, stirring, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.

2. Stir in chicken; cook until chicken is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in remaining ingredients, except rice; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes more.

4. Stir in rice; continue cooking until liquid is almost absorbed and rice is thoroughly heated, about 2 minutes.
Yields about 4 servings (2 cups per serving).

Chili

Ingredients:

1 large onion
1 medium green pepper
2 medium celery stalks
½ lb ground beef (or soy by-product)
1 large can of dice tomatos
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 cup salsa
1 large can kidney beans
3/4 cup frozen corn

Directions:
1. Heat oil on medium-high heat; add veggies and stir to coat with oil. Cook approximately 5 mins.
2. Add ground beef and cook until brown. You may need to temporarily remove some of veggies to make room in your pan.
3. Add tomatoes, salsa and chili powder. They key to chili powder is to start out easy and add to taste. Get hot powder if you want chili with a kick. Hot salsa will also give you a little kick.
4. Bring the mix back to a simmer and finish by adding your beans and frozen corn.

It tastes better if you let it simmer for a while, but I always dig in and eat the well simmered chili the next day.

Top with your favorite cheese.
Chili is also great served over rice!

oooh celery in the chili, interesting.
I like to add a can of tomato paste to my chili, its adds thickness and richness.

I don't like my celery to be too chunky, but I find it adds a nice flavor. The salsa does too. It just makes it more... flavorful!

That sounds excellent! I love that the sweet potatoes get microwaved, this soup would take no time.

i'm making that soup tomorrow, would have been today but the only black beans i could find have to be soaked for 24hours!

I am making the soup today, also. I say the more parmesan, the better. Let me know how you like it.

how much roughly in weight is 2 cans of beans?

I use 2 16oz or 450g cans.
Of course it all depends on whether or not you like a lot of beans.

wok cooked meals = easy & healthy.
stir fried noodles with asian vegetables etc.