The Kids are Alright

Roast Sweet Potatoes Stuffed with Spiced Couscous and Yogurt by Sanura Weathers of "My Life Runs On Food."

Among my circles of friends, I straddle two styles of communication between older and younger adults. The difference in their communication approach is their perception of social media. My older friends avoid it, but they use it for networking purposes to benefit their careers. My younger friends over expose their personal lives on social media. And, when both groups discuss social issues, the divergence of opinions are apparent, but they all agree the Civil Rights Movement is evolving.

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What Makes a Happy Meal

West African-Inspired Salad

We initially didn’t eat want the healthy options on fast food menus, because it wasn’t going to be a happy meal. Today, chefs are creating healthy meals into exciting options. Such as Panera Bread announcing plans to eliminate chemical preservatives and artificial ingredients from their meals by 2016. It was an 11 year process of working with chefs and nutritionists to change how fast food corporations offer healthier options with tantalizing ingredients.

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Provençal-Inspired Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

Provincial-Inspired Roast Chicken

Lavender isn’t traditionally an African ingredient (at far as I know). The best is grown in France, where it’s mixed in an Herbs de Provence blend of thyme, savory, rosemary and other herbs. It also nicely pairs with sweet potatoes, a starchy root vegetable, in which African slaves who were brought to the Americans, found to be similar to their native yams. Serve this dish with Broccoli and Freekeh Pilaf or Brazilian/Stir-Fry Style Collard Greens.

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Habari Gani? Peanut-Tomato Chicken Stew

Peanut-Tomato Chicken Stew

These past couple of years, a few food blogger friends and I, contributed recipes to KwanzaaCulinarians.com. This would’ve been our third year, but I needed to rest. I regret that we failed our fans in this decision, but this is a better solution for me. In addition to taking a relaxing vacation from my 9 to 5 job, I’m enjoying this time of year more than requesting 31 food bloggers and chefs to take time from their busy schedules to write Kwanzaa-inspired stories and recipes. Read more

Tarragon Sweet Potato Crepes with Roast Asparagus and Shrimp topped with Parmesan Cream Sauce

Tarragon Sweet Potato Crepes with Asparagus and Shrimp topped with Parmesan Cream Sauce

At the last minute, I decided to enter North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission Inc.’s “No More ‘Mallows! Blogger Recipe Contest,” which ends today–March 31, 2012. Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite comfort food ingredients. My first taste was Aunt Anne’s candied dish to adore. As a Brownie in the Girl Scouts, someone brought a pureed sweet potato dish topped with marshmallows to a potluck event. That’s when my true love for sweet potatoes was realized. The marshmallows won me over. Read more