A simple easy weeknight meal, all in one skillet!
One-Pot Skillet Roasted Chicken and Sweet Potatoes (After)
We can all use more one-pot meals, and this one is a total breeze. I have loved my co-blogger’s one-pot creations (as have so many others – the Tomato Basil Pasta has been a particular smash hit), and thought I’d experiment with a simple chicken and potatoes dish, inspiration by the Can’t Cook Book, actually! Perfect for fall, minimal prep, and ready in an hour. …
Sweet Potatoes – Hasselback Style
Hasselback style of cooking potatoes is genius – you get the perfect blend of crispy edges and creamy potato goodness. Kudos to the Swedes for creating this genius recipe!
Hasselback potatoes are really simple to make – just slice, brush with butter and bake in a hot oven.
I decided to attempt a version with yams – just upping this recipe to make it a little more festive for the holidays. And, I am happy to report success! Sweet potatoes work perfectly in this version. And the bonus is that they take only a few minutes of prep and then you shove them in the oven and ignore them while you get the rest of the holiday meal together. I love the almond flavor in this recipe with the almond extract added – and the almond slices help with the “fan” effect.
There is really only one tricky part to this recipe: getting the “accordian” or fan effect to these potatoes – so I solved this by inserting a sliced almond into each cut – separating the slices and holding them apart while baking. I also used coconut oil spiked with a little cinnamon instead of butter – with very tasty results.
Highly, highly recommend this as a side dish for your holiday table – Minimum fuss. Maximum impressiveness.
— posted by Donna
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I just love thinking outside the 9 by 13.
Sweet Potato lovers over at North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission do too. They sponsored a No More Mallows contest – and bloggers were not allowed to use marshmallows; i.e., come up with other ways to use the colorful tubers. This is our entry for that blog festival.
Turns out I had seen O Magazine’s food section recently, and they used a cola braise for sweet potatoes. But, thought I, root beer would be so much better! So. I decided to braise them and then add in come new flavors – smoked gouda for flavor and texture, and some earthy cumin and a hit of cyenne pepper sauce just because. I added cream cheese for a more fluffy texture than just plain cream. The result is a festival of playful flavors that would make any family table sing.
Forget mallows, food fans!
Sweet Potato Contest
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Savory Cheddar and Sweet Potato Torte
There is a great debate at our house every year: What form will the sweet potatoes take for Thanksgiving? Usually it is a standoff between the Mashed Fans and the Marshmallow Topped Casserole Fans. Sometimes, I call a truce and make them both.
This year, I decided to try an unusual combo, sans marshmallows, with the sweet tubers and cheddar cheese.
Yes, I know. Sounds weird. But, cheddar works well with regular potatoes, so I figured, why not try it with sweet? Don’t knock this until you try it – the cheddar/cream/hot sauce combo is a perfect flavor match with sweet potatoes, and tones down their sugary character. And the surprise: The cheddar gives this dish an amazing dimension.
Five ingredients plus thin potato slices fanned out in layers and – Voila! – the perfect savory sweet potato dish.
Make this for your foodie feast next week, or heck – why not? – for Meatless Monday.
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Tots, sweet potato style.
Us kids of the 70’s looked forward to one thing in the school cafeteria: Tater Tots. They were invented in the 50’s, and by the 70’s they were a staple at school and at home. Seriously, who doesn’t love the crispy crunchy little nuggets with pillowy soft insides? If anyone says they don’t like Tater Tots, only two things are possible 1) they are lying, or 2) they have never eaten Tater Tots. We are all Napoleon Dynomite when it comes to Tots.
We decided to update this American classic, giving this recipe a sweet orange makeover for a bloggers-only contest. If you like sweet potato fries, these tots may just become your new addiction!
This new enlightened version is even more delicious than the original – same crispy outsides, but sweeter, more flavorful insides. Sweet potatoes are about a million per cent more flavorful than regular spuds, and pack a real nutritional bang for your buck. Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are an incredibly nutrient-dense food.
To make the interior light and fluffy I grated the tubers and then baked the shreds to take out excess water. Then, I tossed them with a little cornstarch and flour for binders. They hold together perfectly and the bath in hot oil gives them that perfect crunch.
Well worth the effort – for kids and for the kid in all of us.
Spinach, Tomato and Brown Rice Bake
Some of you out there know that in my other life, I work as a postpartum doula (as well as other in childbirth & baby related roles), which means I help take care of women and their babies during the “Babymoon” period, a.k.a. the fourth trimester, a.k.a. the first three months of a newborn’s life. Along with breastfeeding support, giving tips on infant care, and light housecleaning, one of the most popular functions of a postpartum doula is, happily for me, meal preparation! I love this part of my job almost as much as holding sweet little bundles in order to give mama a break.
Many relatives and friends like to bring over casserole-style dishes, which are highly practical as they can be frozen, stored efficiently, and are easily reheated – they can, however, be a bit on the heavy side. I have a few favorite recipes for new families, with an emphasis on nutrition and digestibility, but I recently tinkered around and figured out what might be the ultimate meal for a new mama. A midwife in Jennifer Block’s book “Pushed” described the postpartum meal that she always prepares for her clients as being nourishing, quickly absorbed, high in iron and in fiber; it’s typically based in greens and brown rice, then sweet potatoes, or any other favored vegetable. My version includes spinach (though you could use fresh kale or chard), brown rice and tomatoes. …
Got leftover sweet potatoes? Have I got a fabulous frugal recipe for you!
So, you see, I got this new amazing blender. I couldn’t help it – they had one of those demos at Costco – you know the kind – where they whip up amazing complete gourmet meals in 12 seconds or less.
Before you think I have gone completely insane, I have tried at least a dozen smoothies since my purchase a few weeks ago. I have tried adding whole veggies and fruits with skins and seeds and all. They’ve all been good, but if you held a gun to my head and forced me to pick a favorite, it would be this one. This conclusively proves my theory that anything tastes better with sweet potatoes! Anything. They are nature’s perfect candy/vegetable – and a powerhouse of nutritional goodness. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has ranked sweet potatoes as number one in nutritional value among all vegetables.
Try this some night: Make a couple of baked sweet potatoes. Eat one with butter and cinnamon sugar. Yum. Then, throw the other one in the fridge for your morning smoothie – A Sweet Potato and Oatmeal smoothie sensation! You will swear that there is cream and sugar in the mix after you taste this magical concoction, but there is not. Fresh ginger gives this smoothie a little bite, the oats add creaminess, and the dates give it a richness. Such a great way to start your day!
ONE YEAR AGO TODAY ON FFF: Caribbean Sweet Potato Hash Browns
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Smoky Sweet Potato Tamale Recipe
Who says sweet potatoes must be smashed into a 9 by 13 and covered with browned mini-marshmallows? This fun twist on traditional tamales will treat your taste buds to a whole new sweet-potato world!
Tamales are quite a bit of work. But, the nice thing about them is you can gather friends and family around the table to help share the work and make lots of great culinary memories in the process. Even small kids can spread masa on a corn husk! You never know – tamales could become one of your new holiday traditions.
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