Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

These sweet potato fries are a family favorite. So easy and our Notorious Non-Eater of Sweet Potatoes actually enjoys them. Not as oily as the fried sweet potato fries from the restaurant and so easy to make in the background while making something as the entree.

And it is packed with vitamins - if my sweet potatoes were not so lumpy, I would skip peeling them. Nice smooth ones from the store may be clean enough to keep the skins on - more vitamins and antioxidants!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes. Cut each potato in half, and then into quarters. Then, slice into fry shapes, about 1/2 inch wide.
3. Put the sweet potatoes into a resealable plastic bag.
4. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon.
5. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries.
6. Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer.
7. Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until slightly browned.

Cast Iron Cornbread

Here’s a classic cornbread recipe from Homesick Texan's recipe blog. We like it because it is baked in a cast iron skillet which makes setup and cleanup super-easy (take that Jiffy mix!).

Homesick Texan notes, "Be sure and get the cast iron good and hot, as that’s what sears the batter and makes for a crispy, crunchy crust."

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cornmeal (we like yellow)
• ½ cup sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Put the oil in a small cast iron skillet and place it in the oven for a 5 minutes until it’s sizzling.
3. Mix together dry ingredients. Set aside.
4. Whisk egg and buttermilk. Mix with dry ingredients
5. Take cast iron skillet out of oven, and pour hot oil into batter, and mix.
6. Pour batter into cast iron skillet, bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Cornbread should be brown on top and pulling away from the sides of the skillet.

Creamy Maple Oatmeal

We found this recipe at Quaker Oats website and posted it here, mostly the same. The "craisins" work as well as raisins normally do, but they kick it up a notch with a more rounded flavor. You can substitute water for some or all of the milk, but our most Notorious Non-Oatmeal Eater prefers at least half milk. Plus you can get your calcium this way.

Ingredients

• 3-1/2 cups low-fat milk
• 2 cups aats (we preferred old fashioned)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup good maple Syrup
• 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ or bran cereal

Steps

1. In medium saucepan, bring milk to a gentle boil.
2. Add oats, dried cranberries and maple syrup.
3. Return to a boil for 1 minute and then reduce heat to medium.
4. Cook 1 minute for quick oats, 5 minutes for old fashioned oats or until most of milk is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir in wheat germ or bran cereal

Yields 4 servings

Calories: 360

Buttermilk waffles

After this, I may never go back to straight 'milk' waffles again. Umm, so delicate and tasty.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups of flour (you can go as high as 3/4 cup whole wheat with no issue)
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
• 4 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp of vanilla

Steps:

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix very well.
3. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just mixed (like brownie batter).
4. Let sit for 5 minutes - I like to plug in the waffle iron at this point.
5. Once hot, spray the iron with veg oil or rub with some butter.
6. Cook the waffles just to being done - with the sour buttermilk and the baking powder, these will rise and be delicate.

Southwestern Coleslaw

We had a shindig to introduce some of the family to the puppies and this was my favorite recipe (I cooked zip for this one, all Jackie). I love the concept of coleslaw - just the right sour balanced against the mayo. But while summertime is traditional coleslaw time (see our Ab-Fab coleslaw), mayo just isn't doing it for me these days.

Jackie brought a different version of this, but I dig this one. We topped pulled pork sandwiches with this - wow, waaayyyy better than just the pulled pork on its own (which apparently is a very popular topping in the South, saves on forks?)

This recipe is from Simply Recipes and her comments on the balance were:

If the seasoned rice vinegar adds too much sweetness for your taste, sprinkle in a little lemon juice. If you are using unsweetened rice vinegar, to get the right balance of acidity and sweet, sprinkle a little sugar over the salad and toss.

Ingredients

• 4 cups thinly sliced cabbage (about 1/3 to 1/2 cabbage)*
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup (packed) fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (or plain rice vinegar with added sugar to taste)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Steps

1. Combine cabbage, grated carrot, radish slices, cilantro, onions in a serving bowl.
2. Add the olive oil and toss to coat.
3. Add the seasoned rice vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Let it sit in the fridge for 4 hours and then serve.

Serves 4.

Thai Beef and Mushroom Salad (Yam Nua Yang)

This recipe is adapted from the superb (and all too quickly out-of-print) "The Ultimate Thai and Asian Cookbook", which I have found used on Amazon for $2.22. We have been swamped with kidding season (finally over) and planting season (now onto weeding!) and this quick and super-delicious and it fits the qualification as a SuperFood (mushroom, cilantro, garlic, chiles, and pretty much everything here is good for you).

This meal is perfect for us right now - heavy on salad, lots of great no fat "dressing" to drizzle over top of it, and an easily marinated slice of "Burgess", our quarter of an Angus cow from LongLesson Farm. These feeds four comfortably - just go heavy on the salad and get some awesome fruit or veg sides to round it out.

Ingredients

1. Meat

• 1.5 lbs of round steak
• 2 Tbsp of lime juice
• 2 Tbsp of fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp of olive oil
• 2 small chiles (Serrano are a good choice here)
• 8 ounces of Shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

2. Dressing

• 3 scallions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp of lime juice
• 2 Tbsp of fish sauce
• 1 tsp of brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp of cilantro, chopped

3. Salad Fixin's

• 1 (or 2) heads of romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped
• handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 of a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced long-ways
• 3 Tbsp of toasted sesame seeds

Steps

1. Marinate the round steak with the fish sauce and lime juice for 2-4 hours.
2. Preheat the broiler (or grill!) to high heat - place the rack at the highest setting.
3. Cook the steak for 2-4 minutes (more for thicker cuts) on each side. The Thai prefer this beef be on the rarer side, but your mileage may vary. Remove the beef and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan and add the olive oil.
5. First add the chiles and saute for 30 seconds alone. Add the mushrooms and saute for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. If there is too little oil, add 1 or 2 Tbsp of water to keep it from sticking.
6. Take the pan off the heat.
7. Thinly slice the beef, across the grain. The thinner, the better, so sharpen your knife beforehand.
8. Add the steak slices to the mushrooms in the pan and mix well.
9. Make the dressing by mixing the scallions, garlic, lime and fish sauce, sugar and cilantro in a small bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the steak and mushroom mixture.
10. Lay out the romaine, tomatoes, and cucumber on the table. Each person makes a mound of salad on their plate.
11. Place 1/4 of the steak mixture on the salad and garnishes with the sesame seeds.
12. Make Yum-Yum noises.

If you are finding that this is not quite enough food, add another 8 ounces of mushrooms to the saute pan (use a larger one or cook in two batches). This bulks out the mixture with no fat and lots of good protein.

Irish Colcannon

We make colcannon every year for St Paddy's Day - this year I saw a recipe from Kerry Gold butter that added cheese (Wallace would be proud). It was really good and since we needed the cabbage for our Ab-Fab coleslaw later that week, I chose purple cabbage.

It may have been the wrong color for St Paddy's but it tasted better - does purple cabbage taste that much different? We think so.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds red potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tbsp salted butter
• 1 cup onion, sliced
• 6 cups finely sliced green (or purple!) cabbage
• 1 cup (about 4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Steps

1. Cook potatoes in salted, boiling water about 20 minutes or until very tender; drain well.
2. Mash with skins on in a mixer, adding butter as a big ole' stick.
3. While potatoes are cooking, saute onion; cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very soft.
4. Add cabbage; cook coveredr for 5 minutes more or until very soft (I usually stir it twice during this time).
5. Stir cabbage mixture and cheese into hot potatoes and season with pepper.

Makes 8 servings.