After a good run, you want to eat. And you want to eat warm, hearty food.
As per my habit in Three Oaks, I made two tasty meals — one on Christmas day (new tradition?) and one today. On Christmas day, I had shrimp and wanted to use some very old Chianti that had been languishing open for a month or so. I found a recipe for cioppino which was way more complicated than I could commit to (plus, I only had shrimp), so I adapted it and created an amazingly tasty and comforting dish. I used garlic, onions, bay leaf, oregano, diced tomato, diced green pepper, and threw in the wine and shrimp and voila! A spicy, warm and scrumptious meal. Even Monkey Man liked the sauce (sans shrimp).
Today, I was craving something spicy and warm and made West African Spicy Peanut Stew. It was simple — one pot — and warm and filling. I thought Monkey Man and Gorilla Girl would be excited to eat it, but once again, I was wrong. How could they not like rice, chicken, peanut butter, cayenne pepper, red bell peppers, peas, and tomatoes? Maybe they would like the ingredients separately, but apparently, not all together in a stew. I convinced each of them to eat a few bites, but we have tons of left overs. Fine by me. More for the next run.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention 
Mmmmm…Now how about a recipe?! These dishes seem mighty tasty no matter what Gorilla Girl and Monkey Man think.
Okay, I posted the recipes, but also just noticed that one of my favorite and most-used food blog JUST posted a different West African Stew Recipe. Here is the link:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/african_chicken_peanut_stew/
I plan to try this version for sure because it contains sweet potatoes instead of rice!