Chicken Sweet Potatoes and Rice

Sweet Potatoes are a wonderful addition to a dish they add color, nutrition and a natural sweetness to your dish. I loved what they added to this chicken dish. I think the sweet potatoes were my favorite part of the dish.

Ingredients

2 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1/4 C chia
3 cooked chicken breast chopped
2 sweet potatoes cooked
3 C brown rice
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

1. Heat up skillet on medium heat and add the oil. Stir in garlic and onion. Let cook together about 3-4 minutes until the onions start to soften.
2. Stir in the peppers and chia and let all of them cook together for about 3-4 minutes.
3. Toss in the chicken, sweet potatoes, brown rice, thyme, salt, and pepper. Let all of it cook together on medium low with the lid on. Stir a couple times. Let the flavors meld together for about 10 minutes. Don't over stir. It will get mushy. If you need to add a 1/4 cup of water if it needs more moisture.
4. Serve while it is warm.

Lentil Chicken Stew

This month's Recipe Redux challenge is Spooky Spices. I can relate to this topic because when I got married 8 years ago, I received a great spice rack filled with all sorts of spices. And while I have some jars that are regularly empty and being refilled (basil, parsley, oregano), I have others that I probably haven't opened in the last 8 years except to sniff. You know, just to see what they were. (They probably have reached their shelf life at this point and should be thrown out.)

For our Spooky Spice, we chose marjoram. It's not a spice I use frequently, but it's fantastic in soups and stews, dressings and sauces. The lovely thing about using those spices that get dusty in the back of your spice cupboard is that they each have different health benefits. Marjoram has been scientifically proven to help with the gastrointestinal tract. Cool, right?

This stew is a delicious blend of vegetables, legumes, and fresh chicken, and it is very filling. The sweet potato is a fantastic sweetening touch. And although we said the chia was optional, it helps make the soup even more filling, which is great if you're trying to save on calories. Enjoy!

Ingredients

3 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1 onion chopped up
1 1b diced up chicken breasts
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp allspice ground (optional)
1/2 C chia, ground (optional)
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
6 C water
1 C lentils
4 stalks of celery chopped up
1 sweet potato chopped in small pieces


Directions  Serves 8

1. In a large pot heat pan to medium heat and put in onion and garlic stir and let cook about 5 minutes until softened.
2. Stir in the chicken and cook until the chicken is cooked all the way through.
3. Then stir all of the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Then turn down to medium low. Cook until the potatoes and lentils are soft at least 30-45 minutes.
4. Serve in soup bowls.
5. You can store leftovers in airtight container in fridge or freezer.


Here are some other spices you might be interested in:
Star Anise
Turmeric, Garlic, and Parsley
Chili and Thyme
Cinnamon, Ginger, and Cardamon

An InLinkz Link-up

Shoe String Fries

Shoe String Fries

 I loved the combination of the sweetness of the sweet potato with the white potatoes. These reminded me of shoestrings that we used have in a can. That I am sure were not good for me. Some of them were crispy and some were a little softer.   I will be making them again soon. They kind of reminded me of onion rings.   


Ingredients

7 white potatoes peeled
2 sweet potatoes peeled
3 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions  Heat oven 400


1. Heat in Turn potatoes on to its side. Cut lengthwise in very thin slices not cutting it all the way through.
2.Turn the potatoes over on to the other side. and cut again. So it will be shoestring pieces.
3. Put pan in oven to let it heat up.  Put in big bowl in ice water and let set a few minutes. Drain them in a colander and dry on paper towels.  
4. Put in a bowl and pour oil and salt and pepper and stir around.
5. Take pan out of the oven and place fries in single layer and place in oven.
6. Stir after about 10 min. Cook to desired tenderness or crispiness.    

Creamy Sweet potatoes (or yams) with Pecans

It is not Thanksgiving without the yams or sweet potatoes. I know not everyone loves them but, there are usually some that do. My mom always makes them she uses lots of butter and brown sugar, and puts marshmallows on top and toasts them. It is always the trick not to let them burn.  It is fun to have traditions with foods that bring back happy memories. This is an idea I found to make your sweet potatoes a little healthier for Thanksgiving. I don't think I have ever whipped sweet potatoes. I was pleased how creamy and good they tasted. Yum! I love sweet potatoes and yams, and am always looking for new ways to eat them.

Ingredients
4 large sweet potatoes cut in half
1 C coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (fresh grated if you have it)
optional: 1 tsp cardamom
1/4 C chopped up pecans

Directions  (heat oven to 325)
1. Bring a large pot of water to boiling. Place the sweet potatoes in the pot. Cook until they are soft when poked with a fork. 
2. Take off the peels and whip until they are all blended.
3. Pour in the coconut milk and whip until all creamy.
4. Whip in the the vanilla, salt, pepper, cayenne, cinnamon and nutmeg (*cardamom optional). Beat until nice and smooth.
5. Put in casserole dish. Sprinkle on pecans. Heat in the oven about 8 to 10 min. Until it is warmed all the way through. Serve warm. 

Sweet Potato Soup

Christmas time is upon us. I hope you are finding ways to enjoy it with your families. My goal is to enjoy it and have peace in the process. I know it is easy for all of us to stack up a bunch of things we think we "need" to do. I try to focus on the most important things, and give up some other things. This year it is serving my parents. My Dads health is failing and it is time to give back. I know I will never be able to give back all they have given me. I will do all I can none the less. It is so hard to watch both of them hurting. A saying that my son use to say fits my feelings well. "My heart hurts." I am sure many of you have experienced the same thing. I am so grateful for family that is working as a team through this. Family is the best. My husband is wonderful help to me. I knew this chapter of life was coming. I will continue to seek Peace. I wish the same for you. I love this scripture from the king of peace Jesus Christ. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." When this runs through my mind I feel peace. Enjoy the season!

I love sweet potatoes so this was another yummy way to use them. It is a great meal on these cooler nights. It was nice and creamy and had a great flavor. :) It is full of lots of vitamin A.

Ingredients:
2 T grape seed oil or olive oil
1 white onion chopped up
2 cloves minced
2 sweet potatoes baked (take off the skins after baking)
3 cups water
1 C milk of your choice (I used rice milk)
1 tsp thyme
1 /4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. In a small skillet heat up the oil and saute onions and garlic till tender.
2.In a blender pour all the ingredients and blend till smooth. Serve warm. :) YUM!

Balsamic Sauce on Baked Vegetables

We got some rain last night, and some more this morning. I love how rain wakes up the plants and brings new life into them making them more vibrant. I wouldn't do well living in an area where it rains all the time (I guess it is really what you get used to), but I do like getting rain. It is especially fun when you are all cozy in bed listening to it.

 My son was leaving for school yesterday, and I told him to have a great day. He responded back with, "How can it be a great day I have 2 tests?"  Those words rang in my ears all day. I am guilty of having those same feelings sometimes. Each day is a choice of what we want to make of it. I am working on not letting my outside circumstances effect whether or not it is going to be a good day or not. I was waiting in a line in Costco and I really appreciated the lady in front of me starting up a conversation, and making the time pass quickly. I felt like a made a friend at the end of the visit. She added sunshine to my day. The lady behind me was complaining on the phone to her friend about the wait.  Every situation is a choice. Sometimes I succeed in this area, and sometimes I don't, but I am still going to keep working on it. It is Fall ! It is a great time to be alive. Enjoy today ! :) 

I loved this dish again it was a great way to eat vegetables adding a little more excitement to them. I loved the combinations of flavors it added a nice new twist. I had not had this flavor combination before. My family seemed to enjoy it as well. I love changing things up and trying new things.

Ingredients: preheat oven to 400 
Sauce
1 purple onion chopped finely
1 garlic clove minced
2 T olive oil
3 T balsamic vinegar
2 tsp honey
2 1/2 T cream
2 tsp sage
salt and pepper to taste

Vegetables
1 sweet potato peel and chop into thin pieces
2 carrots peel and chop thin pieces
1 potato peel and chop into thin pieces
1/4 butternut squash peel and chop into thin slices


Directions:
1. For the sauce put onions and garlic in a frying pan with oil. Let cook together about 2 min.
2. Add the vinegar, honey, cream, sage,  salt, and pepper. Set aside.
3. For the the vegetables. Put all of them in a bowl and stir the olive oil  and salt until they are covered.
4. Spread out on baking sheet. and put in preheated oven. Bake about 20 min or until done.
5. Pour warm sauce over the vegetables and serve. :)

   

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I've spent a lot of time over the last few days making batches of sweet potatoes. I really wanted to share with you some amazing, delicious sweet potato recipe that would make you jump out of your socks. So I made about 8 different batches. I made them with a cornstarch and spice crust (as shown in the picture), I tried coconut oil and olive oil, and I tried dipping them in egg whites. I baked them straight on the baking rack and on cookie sheets and on pizza stones. Here's what I found:

The simpler, the better.

At least in my opinion. I didn't prefer the cornstarch batter or egg whites. I like sweet potatoes for their own sweet chewiness, and the coatings just seemed to get in the way. I didn't like seasonings of paprika, garlic, or pepper either, even though I thought that I would. I like them with just a little bit of salt. (Plus, with a heavy seasoning, our amazing dips would be superfluous. It's just too much.)

As far as baking methods--on the cookie sheet, pizza stone, or baking rack--I thought the baking rack made the sweet potatoes a little softer, and the cookie sheet and pizza stone didn't show a lot of difference. So either one should work fine.

So, without further ado, here is my very simple, yet very delicious sweet potato fry method.


Ingredients

sweet potatoes
olive or melted coconut oil (Again, I didn't notice much difference between oils either in texture or taste.)
salt
one of our fry sauces

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cut your sweet potatoes in half. Place both halves face down on your cutting board. Then cut each half into 1/4 inch strips, being careful to keep all of them the same size. Then turn the strips on their sides and cut those into 1/4 inch strips.

3. Put a small amount of oil in a bowl and toss the sweet potato strips in it until its surfaces are just barely coated.

4. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and put in oven.

5. After 10 minutes, take the baking tray out and flip the fries over. Return to oven for another 5 minutes. Watch the fries carefully at this point. They can go from perfect to perfectly charred rather quickly. Some blackened areas will develop, especially at the thinner tips, but that just goes along with baking sweet potatoes. Take the fries out just before they begin to char.

6. Let the fries cool for a minute or two, salt to taste. and serve immediately. They are best fresh! If you wait too long to eat them they can get mushy really quick. Enjoy!

Fry Sauce

the savory and sweet sauces

This month for the Recipe Redux, we are posting recipes about dressings and spreads. What!? Can those actually be healthy? Awesomely, they can. And they can make healthy foods a lot more enjoyable to eat.

We've made a savory dipping sauce, a fresh herb dipping sauce and a sweet dipping sauce, all based in plain greek yogurt. And they are delicious with sweet potato fries. But we shouldn't stop there. They also would be great on a lot of other vegetables. And the sweet sauce would be delicious with fruit.

Come back tomorrow for the recipe for the fries!

Savory Fry Sauce

Ingredients:
3/4 C plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp freshly chopped cilantro
pinch of garlic powder (you can add more if you like)
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
Mix ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy!

Sweet Fry Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 C plain Greek yogurt
1 T honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
sprinkle of cinnamon
pinch of ginger (optional)

Directions:
Again, mix ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy! Easy, huh?

the fresh herb sauce

Fresh Herb Fry Sauce

Ingredients:
3/4 C plain Greek yogurt
1 T fresh basil chopped up in small pieces or 1/2 T dried basil
1 1/2 tsp fresh marjoram chopped or 3/4 tsp dried marjoram
1 1/2 tsp fresh oregano chopped or 3/4 tsp dried oregano
1 clove of fresh garlic minced
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt with iodine
1/2 tsp fresh lime juice or lemon juice *optional
*garnish with fresh herbs or lime zest or lemon zest

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together. For best results let sit in the fridge 15-30 min prior to serving. So the flavors can combine.


Other Dressings and Spreads Redux Recipes
Carlene Helble-Carlene's Figments - Roasted Eggplant Pepper Schmeer
Deanna Segrave-Daly - Teaspoon of Spice - Sicilian Relish
Dr Barb - Nutrition Budgeteer - Jalapeno Ranch Dressing is Versatile & Healthier Elizabeth Jarrard- Don't (White) Sugar-Coat it - Spicy Tahini Dressing
Kara Lydon - Peace, Love, and Food - Edamame Hummus
Kat Lynch - Eating The Week - Citrus Sesame Avocado Dressing
Emma Stirling - The Scoop on Nutrition - Recipe Redux Kitchen Garden Salsa Verde
Emma Cutfield-The Hearty Heart - Go-Go-Goji: Blood Building Salad Dressing
Lisa @ Healthful Sense - Sweet Peanut Sauce & Dressing
Regan @ The Professional Palate - Ponzu Sauce
Danielle Omar - Food Confidence RD - Recipe Redux: Your New Favorite Vinaigrette
Stephanie Howard - Give Them Something Better - Creamy Garlic Feta Dressing
Nicole Ferring Holovach - Whole Health RD - Mapple Salad Dressing
Kristen @ Swanky Dietitian - Italian Vinaigrette Artichoke Dressing
Ann Dunaway Teh - Eat to Nourish, Energize & Flourish - Thai Basil Peanut Pesto
Kristina @ Love and Zest - Spiced Pumpkin Dip
Meg @ Meg's Food Reality - Sweet Potato Hummus
gretchen | kumquat - dairy-free ranch dressing
Everyday Tastiness - Pistachio Butter
Alysa Bajenaru - Inspired RD - How to Roast Garlic & a Recipe for Roasted Garlic Hummus
EA Stewart-The Spicy RD - Creamy Triple Pepper and Kale Dip
Liz Weiss & Janice Newell Bissex - Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen - Garden-Fresh Tomato & Avocado Salsa
Jessica Fishman Levinson - Nutritioulicious - Butternut Squash Cream Cheese Spread
Diane Welland - Eatwelleatclean - Honey Fig Jam

Creamy Asparagus Leek Soup

This is a crazy time of year. Sometimes you wake up thinking Spring is here, and the next morning snow is back. The nice thing is that it is not as cold, and the snow melts quick. So my point is that it can still be a good time to make soup. I think soup is good all year. (I have a few kids who think otherwise.) This a delicious creamy soup . I made it yesterday when my daughter Britney came over, and we both really enjoyed it. It has a lot of vegetables loaded into it as well. :) Yum! It tasted so wonderful for lunch today as well.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

2 leeks washed and sliced into 1/4 slices

1 large yellow onion chopped

3/4 tsp sea salt

3-4 garlic cloves minced

1 sweet potato peeled and chopped small cubes

1 bunch of asparagus chopped in small pieces

4 1/2 C water

1/4 to 1/2 C fresh parsely chopped in small pieces

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

(any other spices you want)

2 T cream *Optional

Directions:

1. Heat 4-qt soup pot over med heat and add oil.

2. Pour into the pot leek, onions, and salt and saute for 5 min. Until the onion turns clear.

3. Add the garlic and stir well. Cook another minute more.

4. Add the potato, water, herbs, and asparagus cover the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and let simmer for 20 min.

5. Pour the soup into a blender. Blend it 1 cup at a time till it is creamy! Continue until it is all creamy. I then added 2 T of Cream to make it even more smooth and creamy. Blend the whole amount at one time. It is optional you don't have to add the cream.

6. Then pour back into the pot and heat the soup up again. Serve nice and hot!

A great way to eat a lot of vegetables! :)

Sweet Potato Fries with Herbs

My friend Melinda gave me a new way to make sweet potato fries. (I love hearing other peoples ideas. =) She said you could also use this mixture on squash and other kinds of potatoes too. I loved the smell of all the herbs. It was fun to use Oregano too! They added a wonderful flavor. I appreciated my husband cutting all the sweet potatoes. He does such a nice job. I like him being in the kitchen with me. Sorry I only have a before picture. I love to find new ways to eat vegetables.


Ingredients:
5-6 sweet potatoes or squash
4 minced garlic
1/2 C olive oil
1 C apple cider vinegar (I may cut this down a tad next time. I did like it!)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper

Directions: Heat oven to 350

1. Slice up potatoes in julienne pieces. 1/4' wide by 3 to 4 " long (roughly).

2. Mix in a bowl, with a whisk: oil, vinegar, herbs, salt and pepper.

3. Dip all the potatoes into the mixture. Place on cookie sheet. Single layer. Cover with foil for the first 30 min. Then take off the foil and cook another 30 min. Depending on your oven. Keep an eye on them.

4. Serve! Enjoy a nice healthy treat!

*Thanks Melinda for all of your great ideas! =)

Tasty Potato Mix

This was a fun side. I like the combination of colors. I used Yukon Gold Potatoes this time. I was planning on using red potatoes, but they were all out of them at the store. I was happy the way the Yukon Potatoes worked. I have one family member that only likes sweet potatoes, and others that only like the plain. So I made everybody happy. It is nice when that works out. =)

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes
8 potatoes med. to small size
1 T dried chives
3 T dried onions
1 tsp marjoram fresh 1/2 tsp dried* Optional
3 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp thyme
1/2 C Olive oil

Directions:

1. Cut up all the potato in 1/2 inch slices, then cut then cut the circle in 4 pieces.

2. Mix all the spices in a bowl. Pour the potatoes in a greased 9x13 inch pan. Pour the oil on the potatoes. Stir the potatoes until completely coated with oil. Pour the spices evenly over the potatoes. Stir until completely mixed in.

3. Cover the pan with foil. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. I stirred them a couple times in the cooking process. The last 15 min., I took off the foil and let them cook so they could be a little more dried out. Enjoy!