Sweet Potato Spoon Bread

Even with this holiday season being so full of things to do (work, grad school, and now my new video game Skyrim) I have been trying out recipes for Thanksgiving.  We go to my aunt's home each Thanksgiving so I do not have to cook dinner but I like bringing over different side dishes.  Last year with my sweet potato risotto I was able to get people who had never liked sweet potatoes to try them, and like them.  I wanted to do something different for this year, so this is one of the recipes that I chose.

This is a time intensive recipe.  I don't know if my oven is getting hot enough (got to get it checked) but I started this recipe when I got home from work and it wasn't done by 8 pm.  By that time I was sooo hungry.  I thought it was a decent side dish, but a bit bland.  Others in the house thought it was great.  I think I just like more complex flavors in a dish.  Enjoy! (And yes, its gluten free!)

Sweet Potato Spoon Bread

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients
4 Tbs of butter
1 lb of sweet potatoes, roasted and mashed
1 Tbs of fresh thyme
1 Tbs of fresh rosemary
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup finely ground cornmeal
4 eggs, separated
2 tsp baking soda

After roasting sweet potatoes, reduce oven temp to 350 degrees.  In a pot, combine milk, rosemary and thyme, sugar, salt and pepper on medium heat.  Let boil.  Then slowly whisk cornmeal into milk mixture.  Keep stirring until the mixture is thick and pulls away from sides of pot.  Take it off heat and put in a large bowl.  Let cool for 3 minutes.  Add potatoes, egg yolks, 3 Tbs of butter, baking powder and stir to mix together ingredients.

In another large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixture until soft peaks form.  Fold the whites into the potato mixture, so you can see white swirls.  Put the final mixture in a dish that has been greased with the remaining 1 Tbs of butter.

Bake for 35 to 20 minutes until the internal temperature is 165 F.  If you would like a little browning on the top, you may have to put under hot broiler for 2 minutes.  Edges will be firm but the inside will be a little soft.  Take out of oven and let sit for 10 minutes.  Best when served warm.

Saffron Rice with Curried Apricot Dressing

I miss posting my recipes.  Since April I have been enrolled in the American College of Education, a online masters degree program for instructional leadership.  There has been a lot said about online colleges, but I have to tell you that comparing my masters or Phd classes at UIC to this program, this is a lot more work.  Each week I have a paper (last week 17 pgs this week 13), 2 quizzes, 1 test, 3 discussion posts averaging 1 page each and around 75 pages to read.  Totally overwhelmed.  Plus I am doing my internship as a school administrator, working and coaching Special Olympics soccer.  My brain is about to explode and I spent 7 hours working on stuff for work today and needed a break.  Something that wasn't related to education.

This summer I didn't do much cooking.  I have been so wrapped up in this program that there really was not any time for it.  I was also dealing with switching doctors for my gastroparesis.  The best thing happened though, turns out that I do not have GP and am now on a medicine that is making my symptoms so much better.  I even ate ribs the other day without being in extreme pain for 2 days.  Woo hoo!   That does not mean that I am leaving vegetarianism behind.  Going back to meat, I find that eating well-made vegetarian meals is more flavorful.  However, now I will be able to have much more options when eating out (especially on vacation which was soooo hard for the past 4 years)

This has been my favorite recipe that I have made since April.  It is also a perfect fit for fall.  It has pine nuts and sweet potatoes but the apricot dressing gives it a great tartness.  The dressing also works awesome on salads.  

Saffron Rice With Curried Apricot Dressing

Adapted from Color Me Vegan 

Ingredients for Rice

3 Tbs olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups uncooked basmati rice

1/2 tsp saffron steeped in 1/4 cup warm water

3 1/2 cups vegetable stock

2 cups of cubed roasted sweet potatoes

1 tart apple, diced and tossed with lemon juice

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1/2 toasted pine nuts

Ingredients for Apricot Dressing

1/4 cup apricot preserves

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1 Tbs curry powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup oil

Salt to taste

In a saucepan, add 1 Tbs olive oil and saute the onions and garlic until softened.  Then add the cumin, pepper, and salt.  Saute for 1 min.  Add the rice and stir constantly for 2 min.  Add saffron in water and vegetable stock.  Bring to boil, cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 40 - 25 min until rice is cooked.  Toss peeled cubed sweet potatoes with 2 Tbs olive oil and roast on baking sheet at 450 degrees until slightly browned (around 30 min).  Also toast pine nuts.  

When rice is cooked, put in a bowl and add sweet potatoes, apples, scallions and pine nuts.  

To make dressing, combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until emulsified.  Add more spices to taste if you feel it is needed.  Combine most of the dressing with the rice and taste.  If you think it needs more dressing, add more.  Serve and enjoy!

Two Vegetarian BBQ Sides

I just finished writing out the recipe for slow cooker BBQ ribs which my husband is going to make late tonight (its already 10) so they are ready for our friend to come over tomorrow afternoon. I hope they eat them all because my self control around ribs is not that strong. I think that is the hardest thing about having so many food intolerances... if the food isn't in my house, I have no problem. I can resist at other people's homes and at restaurants but at the house it is almost impossible. With my husband being home slowly recovering from his accident so many of the foods that I have a hard time resisting are in the house... chips, bread, meat, etc. I'm trying hard but I think tomorrow night my stomach will hurt!

So here are two vegetarian (I even think vegan) BBQ sides. I had such a taste for BBQ beans last Sunday and even with my traumatic experience, I was able to make them. I also saw cauliflower on sale at the store, and although I had never eaten it before, I wanted to add it to my roasted vegetable recipe. I was really surprised on how well everything turned out and the fact that I ate the cauliflower and didn't gag. It was actually good, but I couldn't eat too much because of my gastroparesis. I am planning on making these sides this summer for one of our family reunion picnics. Both dishes would work wonderfully with grilled entrees or are great by themselves for vegetarians who love the taste of BBQ.

Barbecue Baked Beans

Ingredients

1 Tbs of olive oil

1 cup of onions, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

4- 15 oz cans of navy beans, drained

1/4 cup of molasses

1/2 of barbecue sauce

1/4 cup of yellow mustard

1 Tbs of apple cider vinegar

2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Put olive oil in saucepan and saute onions and garlic until soft. Add the beans, barbecue sauce, mustard, molasses, vinegar, red pepper and salt and pepper to taste. Mix ingredients and then put heat on slow. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often.

Roasted Barbecue Vegetables

Ingredients

2 potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks

2 sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks

1 large onion, cut into wedges

2 cauliflower heads, cut into florets

BBQ rub/seasoning (I used Famous Dave's rub)

4 Tbs olive oil

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put cauliflower and onions into a bowl and toss with 2 Tbs olive oil. Sprinkle with BBQ rub, as much as you would like to flavor the vegetables and toss again. Put vegetables on a foil lined cookie sheet and put on a middle rack. Cook for 25 - 35 minutes stirring and turning over occasionally.

Boil a pot of water. Place the potatoes in the pot and parboil for 2 minutes. Drain, then put the potatoes in a bowl and toss with 2 Tbs of olive oil. Sprinkle with BBQ rub using as much as you would like to flavor the potatoes and toss again. Put the potatoes on a foil lined cookie sheet and cook for around 45 minutes. Both the cauliflower and potatoes can be in the oven at the same time and you may want to start with the potatoes so that all the vegetables are done at the same time. Mix the onions, cauliflower and potatoes together and add salt and pepper or more bbq seasoning if needed.

Tilapia with Balsamic Butter Sauce

This is the first time that I have cooked fish... ever! I am definitely not a seafood fan. I don't like shrimp, lobster, crab and almost every fish (except tuna from sushi). I guess I did eat fish sticks when I was younger but all I can remember is hating fish. However, as I am getting older I am becoming more aware of the advantages of eating fish- especially for infant brain growth. No, I am not pregnant nor will be for at least two years (despite the fact that two of my aides at my school thought I was/dreamed I was). I guess that is what happens after you get married. However, I know that you really need to eat fish while your pregnant to help with brain growth, so I am trying to start to eat it now and learn to like it.

I went with the most bland fish I could get, tilapia. I wasn't planning on cooking it that day, but when I typed in recipes I found that I could make it with the extra sugar snap peas that I had (which I used in 3 separate recipes because the bag was from Costco and huge) along with some random potatoes. The sauce was super good. I think you could have put it on anything and it would have been wonderful. I wish I had made more, but I used up all of my balsamic vinegar making it!

Tilapia with Balsamic Butter Sauce With Thyme Mashed Potatoes and Sugar Snap Peas

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

3 lbs of potatoes (russet, red, gold, whatever you have available)

3 Tbs butter

1/4 cup milk

1 Tbs dried thyme (or 1 1/2 Tbs fresh)

3 garlic cloves

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves (minced)

3 Tbs butter

2 cups of sugar snap peas, trimmed

2 Tbs olive oil

6 tilapia fillets

Turn oven to 375 degrees. Poke holes in potatoes and roast whole until soft (around 45 minutes). Take out and place in food mill. Turn food mill to mash potatoes. Add butter, milk, thyme and sauteed garlic to the potatoes. Mix. Season with salt and pepper. You can make this ahead of time.

Boil a small pot of water. Drop peas in and boil for 1 minute. Drain and put the peas to the side.

Heat 1 Tbs of oil in a large skillet. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper then saute fish until golden (around 2 min per side)

Simmer vinegar and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat until the vinegar has reduced to a thick syrup (around 5 minutes). Whisk in butter, small pieces at a time, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Place some potatoes, tilapia and peas on a plate and drizzle with sauce.

Long Beans with Peanuts and Korean Glazed Potatoes

It is so weird. I just noticed today (or finally thought about it) that my garden is still green and it is November... November! Usually everything is cut down, packed up, and I am starting to winterize my windows by now. However, I feel bad cutting down all my green plants. My parent's gardens were dead and I cut and bagged 350 lbs of plant material on Saturday but I don't know if I can do the same to mine. My Black Eyed Susans are at full bloom. I just don't want to wait until too late and do it in the freezing cold...

I did, however, cut my herbs this weekend. Again, fresh herbs in November is nuts. In the city we haven't even gotten a frost yet. I had tons and tons of chives along with thai basil and some oregano left at the end of this season. I worked late last night washing them then combining the chives and then the thai basil with olive oil in the food processor and made herb ice cubes. Then I made more oregano pesto that my brother, who likes very very few foods, really likes.

Earlier on in the day, I decided to cook Asian. I love this Asian market, that is around 20 miles away, because it had fun vegetables that I cant find any where else. Case in point, long beans. I really don't like green beans, but I love long beans. Does that make any sense? I don't know what the difference in the taste is. For me I feel like the long beans are dryer. I also found some more Korean corn syrup, which unlike all the clear corn syrups I find in the regular grocery store, does not contain vanilla flavoring. So, I decided to make these awesome potatoes that I experimented with on a picnic during the summer. Enjoy!

Spicy Stir Fried Long Beans With Peanuts

(Pa-O Long Beans)

From Epicurious.com

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb long beans

1/2 cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts

2 tsp soy sauce

2 to 3 small fresh Thai chiles or 1 Tbs chili paste

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbs oil

1 Tbs chopped garlic

1/2 cup of green onions, chopped

2 tsp lime juice

Cook the beans, untrimmed, in a pot of boiled salted water. Stir and remove when tender, around 4 minutes. Put in bowl of ice water to stop cooking then drain and pat dry. Trim the ends and cut into 3/4 inch pieces.

Use your food processor to grind 1/2 of the peanuts into small pieces, leaving the rest to be large.

Mix soy sauce, chiles or chili paste and salt together in small bowl.

If you have a wok (I don't, my kitchen can't fit anything more) make sure it is on high heat. Same thing for large pan. Oil the pan and add garlic until it turns pale golden. Then add the peanuts and stir fry until they are golden. Add the beans and stir fry until hot, around 2 minutes. Take off of the burner and combine in soy sauce and green onions. Add in lime juice and salt to taste.

Korean Glazed Potatoes (GamJa JoRim)

From Aeri's Kitchen

Ingredients

2 cups of potatoes (I use small golden ones) diced in 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 cup water

2 Tbs oil

2 1/2 Tbs soy sauce

2 Tbs clear corn syrup

1 1/2 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs minced garlic

1 tsp of toasted sesame seeds

In pan on medium heat add in the oil and let heat. Then add in the potatoes. Fry the potatoes for until they are half cooked. Then add the water, soy sauce, sugar, corn syrup, and garlic. Cook for 5 more minutes on medium heat. Add salt to taste and continue to cook until the liquid is a paste (be careful, it can turn into paste quickly without you noticing it)

Reduce the temperature and fry until the potatoes are cooked. Add sesame seeds and serve!

Sweet Potato Risotto

Right now I am in Effingham, IL at a transition conference and got to go to the most awesome restaurant. It is called the Firefly Grill. This is the second day I've been here and thought that I was stuck with the restaurants surrounding the Walmart (along with the convention center which seems as if it is in the Walmart parking lot). But, thanks to Yelp, I found the restaurant just behind some trees across the street. It has been named the 2nd best eco-friendly restaurant in the country by Bon Appetit. I didn't know about its accolades, or the fact that it is local food, until I walked in with my local food book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. I felt like a bit of a dork reading about local food and then eating it (the menu says where each dish came from) but the bangers and mash were awesome (expensive, but really good). Unfortunately most of the things I wanted to try had gluten and I had to turn away the bread that looked delectable, but it was great.

Another thing that is great.... is sweet potato risotto! I had extra sweet potatoes and I was thinking of what I could do with them, and then thought of the idea of sweet potato rissoto. You would think there would be more recipes out there, but the best one I could find was from Betty Crocker. Now I usualy like stronger seasoned dishes, and not the kind that are usually in the Betty Crocker cookbook, but this dish was sooooooo good. The rosemary really stood out with the sweet potato and I am definitely making this for my Aunt's thanksgiving (with water instead of chicken broth) so that my mom can enjoy vegetarian fare and still feel festive.

Sweet Potato Risotto

(from Betty Crocker)

Ingredients

1/4 cup of white wine

1 Tbsp of olive oil

1 medium onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup of uncooked Arborio rice

3 small mashed roasted sweet potatoes (around 1/2 cup)

4 cups or more of chicken broth

Parmesan cheese to taste

1/2 tsp of chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg

Salt to taste

Roast your sweet potatoes. I put them in the oven at 450 degrees for around 35 to 45 minutes until they are soft. Take them out and mash them.

Heat olive oil in saucepan and cook onion and garlic 3 to 4 minutes until tender. Stir in rice and stir constantly for 1 minute. Add in white wine and stir until soaked in. Stir in mashed sweet potatoes and 1/2 cup of the broth. (I know that people usually heat the broth on the side, and most of the time I do too, but it worked without using the extra pans so it is up to you). Cook and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding in broth 1/2 cup at a time, when the rice has soaked in the previous additions, and stop when the rice is just tender. Add in the cheese, rosemary, nutmeg and salt and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

Ok, new rule. No cooking a new recipe at 9:00 at night after an hour long hot yoga session. Food turned out yummy, I was exhausted. Good thing that I have two weeks off of work (year round school schedule) so I could actually stay up and eat it. My kitchen was such a mess afterwards! I almost took a picture of the disaster. That is why I am posting the quiz on the side, are you a clean or messy cook? Does anyone have any tips on being a cleaner cook?

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

Adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook

Ingredients

5 cups of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 1/2 cups of diced onions

6 large garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno without seeds

3 teaspoons oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons ground cumin

4 teaspoons ground coriander

2 15 oz cans of black beans

1/3 cup of chopped cilantro leaves

juice from 2 limes

tortillas

fresh pico de gallo

Toss the sweet potatoes with the 2 teaspoons of oil and salt and place on baking sheet. Roast on top shelf of oven for around 30 minutes or until soft.

While cooking potatoes, place and onion, garlic, and jalapeno in small skillet or saucepan on medium low heat, covered, until soft (around 7 min). Add cumin and coriander and cook for 2 - 3 minutes stirring often.

When potatoes are done, put sweet potatoes, onion/spice mix, cilantro, drained black beans, and juice from limes. Toss. Then take a potato masher and mash the ingredients together. Place into a baking dish, cover with foil, and cook in oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

Put in tortillas, add salsa, and enjoy!