Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Onion on Kale

I came across this recipe which I believe is a weight watchers recipe. It looked yummy and I had all ingredients on hand. It was quite tasty.

My girls wanted to know if the potatoes had pumpkin pie spices in them.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Red Onion Salad

2 Large sweet potatoes (peeled & cut into bite sized pieces)
1 Large Red Onion (chopped in bite sized pieces)

Roast these 400 (degrees) for 45-55 minutes.

In a small bowl mix:
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 Tblsp white (or red) wine vinegar
1 oz (~2 Tblsp) frozen OJ concentrate

Pour dressing over potatoes and onions and lay on a bed of sauteed (or steamed) kale.

Vegetable Fritta

I wanted grits and eggs one evening - an easy supper after a long day. My fridge was packed with lots of fresh veggies but my mind was at a loss at what great meal to make with them all.

I pulled the eggs out and found the grits.

Then grabbed a red bell pepper. It was so pretty.

The asparagus was washed and ready to use, simple enough.

I had just made some fresh almond milk that morning. (I usually add milk or water to my eggs to make them fluffy and go a little farther with out adding more eggs.)

And of course I must get the spinach, since I have all these other great, beautiful vegetables...

I had out a bell, so I grabbed an onion... they just go together ALWAYS!


The almond milk is still being strained through the orange colored cheese cloth on my 'milk' pitcher.

So, let's see what I can do with this...

Dice the bell pepper, onion, asparagus and spinach. Add to warmed skillet and saute in a bit of water (if needed).


While that is cooking, crack 3 or 4 eggs with some milk and whisk together. Add salt & pepper to season.


After the vegetables are soft, pour the milk/egg mixture into the skillet.



(not a great picture, but bear with me - I'm not a photographer...yet). Turn the heat on low and cover to cook. I had to work the spatula around the edges to get out pretty wedges when serving.

Serve with Prairie Grit Cakes and a slice of tomato.

Quick Rice Dish for Dinner

This evening was a whirlwind of an evening. I had not done a good job at all for planning out dinner earlier in the day, but I got it together at the last minute and was pleasantly surprised at what I came up with.

I knew I had rice from last weeks red beans and rice. With my new rice cooker I had made extra rice for evening such as this. :)

I opened my fridge and pulled out the left over rice, had some fresh broccoli and a few cherry tomatoes. Hmmm, what to do with all this goodness...certainly something fantastic... and healthy.

I cut the broccoli into little bite sized pieces and cooked in a couple of teaspoons of Braggs Liquid Aminos. Then added the rice and a can of garbanzo beans (rinsed) and tomatoes with some seasoned salt and another splash of Braggs. I warmed some Naan I had in the freezer and BAM! dinner is served.


Quick Rice Dish

1 cup bite sized broccoli
1 cup cooked rice
1 can garbanzos
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes
1 TBSP Braggs Liquid Aminos
Seasoned Salt or seasoning you like

Curried Pumpkin Soup

I have been wanting to try a pumpkin soup recipe this year. Every fall the girls and I choose several great pie sized pumpkins. This year, the last pie pumpkin has been designated for soup!!! Needless to say, the one who picked out this pumpkin was quite disappointed.
But, it is I who does the cooking!!! So, I get to say what goes in the pot and today it's the last of the pumpkins!!!

Some time back I tried a great recipe for Thai sweet potato soup. I found the recipe in a veggie cookbook from the library and was quite perturbed when I realized I had not copied the recipe before returning it! But, I will get it back and be sure to post it! I was fantastic...but that's for Sweet Potato Soup post... However, that soup had some ingredients I really liked together. Lime, coconut milk and curry. I know, what a combination! I would have never put that together...but it works.

So, when I found this Curried Pumpkin Soup recipe with those ingredients...I jumped on it.

I found this recipe in the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook. Special edition for Dillard's on page 151. I altered it very little...

1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cumin
2 (15-oz.) cans unsweetened pumpkin ( I used about 3 cups fresh pumpkin)
1 cup water
32-oz. container vegetable broth
1 (13.5-oz.) can lite coconut milk (I used regular coconut milk and it was fine,I guess calories are the difference between the two kinds)
Juice of 1 lime.
2 1/2 tsp. salt

If using fresh pumpkin: cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and stringy things, bake or microwave until pulp can be spooned out easily--all this should be done ahead of time.

Saute onion in hot soup pot over medium heat until tender. ( no oil is needed) Add garlic and next 4 ingredients; saute 1 minute. Add pumpkin, 1 cup water and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; add coconut milk, lime juice, and salt, and simmer, stirring often, 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and process mixture in blender or hand mixer/blender until smooth. Return to soup pot and heat until warmed.

I served with whole wheat Naan. Yummy!

Enjoy!

Our Favorite Green Smoothie Recipe

Just today it was mentioned that this was the absolute best way to eat spinach. Spinach was actually requested in her smoothie. All this came from our 7 year old!

Here's the recipe:

Start with blending some spinach and water
Add 2 bananas
some fresh ginger
juice of one lemon or lime
and apple cider to top it off.

Kale is also a green we have not yet tried in our smoothies, but the taste is mild enough to not have that 'green' taste. It's coming along nicely in the garden, so that's next. Arugula is another mild tasting green. Haven't tried that yet either.

This is the first time I have used fresh ginger and it could easily become a staple in my smoothie cabinet. A hint on peeling it: use the edge of a spoon to scrape off the peeling. I found that freezing then thawing makes it soft. Another hint is to keep it in dry scotch, for those who have that just lying around the house.

We are open to different ingredients to your green smoothies. Preferable with out scotch.