Hush Puppy Muffins

The Hubs whipped these up the other night to accompany some fish tacos (is it still a taco if you use a lettuce leaf)?  They're a nice healthier alternative to fried hush puppies, but still with that yummy hush puppy flavor.

INGREDIENTS:
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped ( suggest half white onion, half green onion)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp parsley
olive oil in a mister (or olive oil spray)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oven to 350F.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well. 
Line a muffin tin with paper wrappers (because we are all about easy cleanup), and then lightly spritz the muffin papers with olive oil (this helps prevent sticking to the muffin wrapper, and also seemed to help the part inside the wrapper get crispy as well).

Divide the batter equally among 12 muffin cups,and then lightly spritz the tops of the batter with olive oil as well. 
Bake for about 12 minutes or until brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

Serve warm with fish....tacos? Lettuce wraps?  Whatever. 

Crab Boil Potato Salad (Instant Pot)

Our neighbors invited us over for a BBQ the other evening.  I wanted to make a starch salad of some sort...originally, I was looking at recipes for a mustard potato salad, but I felt like being a little creative.  So I started with this recipe, and then modified it a bit.

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds russet potatoes (would normally use red potatoes, but we were out)
1 link andouille sausage, diced
2 ears fresh Missouri corn, shucked
1 cup light mayo
2 Tbsp Zatarains Creole Mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp cajun seasoning
1/2 cup crab boil seasoning (1 tsp reserved)
2 green onions, chopped


DIRECTIONS:

Place 1 cup of water, plus the crab boil seasoning, in your Instant Pot and stir. Then add the potatoes (skin still on) and the corn.  Stir so every item has a bit of the crab boil "sauce" touching it.  Pressure cook for 3 minutes, let steam release for 3 minutes, then quick release the pressure.  

(Note: I decided to use my Instant Pot to cook these just to see if we could still get the crab boil flavor even without doing a full boil. And it worked pretty well--definitely a lot of flavor cooked in, even though the potatoes & corn weren't surrounded by the liquid. If you don't have an IP, you could definitely just boil the potatoes & corn in water + crab boil.)

While the potatoes are cooking, combine the mayo, mustard, garlic, cajun seasoning, and the 1 tsp of crab boil seasoning in a large bowl, whisk to combine.  Add the andouille and green onions.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skins (they should come off fairly easily) and dice.  Add the potatoes to the bowl.  Then remove the corn from the ear and add it to the bowl as well.  Toss to combine.

Place in the fridge and let chill for at least 2 hours.  Then dive in!  Note: this is going to have some heat to it, so taste test before serving.  If it's got more heat than you like, mix up a little extra sauce (mayo + mustard) and add it to the bowl.

Sporkful Sauteed Broccoli

I have about an hour commute round trip each day.  I use those 5 hours each week to listen to podcasts--one of my favorites of which is The Sporkful (it's not for foodies, it's for eaters).  At the end of each Year, The Sporkful asks listeners to call in with their new year's food resolutions--the things they resolve to eat MORE of.  Last year, my thing was BREAKFAST, since I am a notorious breakfast skipper. It was hugely successful--I ate breakfast all but two days last year.  So, this year, I resolved to eat more veggies.

During one episode of The Sporkful, the host Dan Pashman noted that his favorite way to cook broccoli (specifically, broccoli stems) was to thinly slice them, saute them in duck fat, and then season with Maggi sauce.

My mouth started watering.  Duck fat has that effect on me, ever since the famous duck fat fries at the The Delachaise bar in New Orleans.

So, I hopped on Amazon & bought a jar of duck fat, and bottle of Maggi sauce, and anxiously waited for the mail to arrive.

As soon as they showed up, I ran out & bought some broccoli.

Now, I didn't exclude the florets, like Pashman had suggested, but rather tried to make "broccoli spears", so that each small floret had a thin slice of stem.  I also added a little garlic and ginger, because I love me some garlic & ginger.

It did not disappoint.  Perfectly salty and fatty, while still feeling somewhat healthy because it's fresh broccoli.  You can serve with just about anything, but I did a pan-seared chicken breast.

INGREDIENTS: (makes 4 servings)
1 Tbsp duck fat
1 tsp minced ginger (I buy the small tubes of ginger paste in the produce section)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small head of broccoli, as "thinly sliced" as you can manage with florets still attached
Maggi sauce to taste (about 1 Tbsp)
black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
In a large skillet, heat the duck fat, ginger, and garlic over medium heat until your kitchen starts to smell amazing (about 1-2 minutes).  Then add the broccoli and toss to coat.  Cover the pan with a glass lid to help the broccoli steam.  After about 5 minutes, add the Maggi sauce and toss well, and cover again, stirring occasionally.  After another 5 minutes, the broccoli should be tender.  Serve hot & season with cracked black pepper.

NutriFacts: (per serving)

• Calories55.0
• Total Fat3.5 g
• Saturated Fat1.1 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat0.5 g
• Monounsaturated Fat1.6 g
• Cholesterol3.3 mg
• Sodium390.7 mg
• Potassium253.5 mg
• Total Carbohydrate4.5 g
• Dietary Fiber2.3 g
• Sugars1.3 g
• Protein2.9 g

Baked Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya Egg Rolls

Hey there—remember back in the day when I made St. Patty’s Day Egg Rolls?  Well, that little venture got a lot of gears turning, so that I just started making baked egg rolls with just about anything.  There’s the Southwest Egg Rolls, and at some point I’ll finish my post about the Sushi Egg Rolls (I forgot to take a photo of the finished product before we ate them all, which means I need to make them again!).

Really, my egg roll recipes are typically born out of necessity.  Because when you buy egg roll wrappers, there’s 20 in a pack.  And as much as I love them, we really can’t eat more than 8 between the two of us in a sitting.  Which means you still have 12 wrappers laying around, mocking you—“okay Captain Kitchen Improv, now what are you going to do with US????”  And oddly enough, I’ve never just said, “well, I have some pork & cabbage…guess I’ll just make normal egg rolls with you.”  Because that’s not how I roll. And I prefer to make baked rolls, because they’re just WAY better for you, and as long as you give a nice light spritz of olive oil on the wrapper, they still get a really satisfying crunch.
As we move through this post, you’re going to notice something---between the prep photos & the final product photos, it looks as though my jambalaya stuffing has magically changed color.  It hasn’t.  But the first time I made these, I was using my Crock Pot Jambalaya recipe, and then the second time I made them with my Chef Folse recipe.  You can choose either, depending upon your preference, time allotted, etc.  Or you can even cheat & buy some Zatarain’s jambalaya mix.  You can also mix it up & use seafood instead of chicken or sausage (or even venison).  Totes up to you.
PS—this is an awesome way to use up leftovers, if you’ve made a pot of jambalaya the night before.  And these are perfect for any upcoming SuperBowl parties you might have!

INGREDIENTS: (makes 8 egg rolls)
8 egg roll wrappers (you should find these in the produce section, usually near the tofu.  My Wal-Mart stocks them near the shredded cabbage/bagged lettuce & veggies)
about 3-4 cups of jambalaya (it can be cold or hot)
water
Olive Oil mister

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 425F.
Lay a wrapper on a clean, dry surface with a corner toward you.  Spoon about 1/3 – 1/2 cup of jambalaya onto the wrapper, not quite in the middle.

Roll the point that’s closest to you over the filling, gently squishing a bit so the filling is uniform in thickness. 
Now fold in the sides, and then roll over once toward the far point.  Now wet the far point with the water, and then finish rolling it up.

Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil, add the rolls, and then lightly spray each of the rolls with olive oil (you can use a brush to get good coverage).  This will help them to brown all over.

Bake for 10 minutes on each side (20 minutes total) so you get a good crust/seal on them. Then booyah—you’re done!

Now: dipping sauces.  They REALLY don’t need one.  But it’s an egg roll—so you sorta feel inclined to dip it.  I tried Cajun mustard, but it was a no-go: just WAY overpowered the flavor of the jambalaya.  However, you could try a remoulade with it…or ranch goes with about anything.  If you get creative & find a great sauce to go with these, please leave me a note! Enjoy!

Fresh Salsa

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before, I do NOT have a green thumb.  At best, it’s like…mayyyybeee a sickly yellow.  I can’t keep a “real” garden because I don’t go out in our backyard that often, so it’s sorta “out of sight, out of mind”—I just completely forget to tend or water anything that isn’t regularly in my line of sight. 

So this summer, I did a fairly extensive (for me) container garden on our porch—we have a . I planted mint, basil, rosemary, some radishes, squash, turnips, lavender, and three kinds of tomatoes (cherry, yellow pear, & Federle).  The turnips & lavender were no-shows. I got about 4 squash before the vine borers got to my plants and demolished them.  My radishes made tons of greens but never grew bulbs—possibly because it was too hot.  However, my tomato plants ROCKED it, and are actually still producing!

My MIL was also bringing us gems from her garden, so we had plenty produce on hand all summer!

Which means…I actually grew more tomatoes than I could handle.  I love to snack on ‘maters and throw them in salads & on fresh pasta…but even that wasn’t keeping up with the supply.  So…of course…we made fresh salsa!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 lbs. tomatoes
• 1/2 small onion, peeled (red or sweet yellow is best)
• 2  jalapeno peppers (seeds removed if you prefer a more mild salsa)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• large handful of cilantro (to taste—for us, that’s about half a bunch)
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 t. red wine vinegar
• Juice from 1 lime
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp chipotle powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin

 

DIRECTIONS:

Roughly chop onions, and peppers (tomatoes too if you’re using larger ones—we had a lot of cherry-sized).

Add all ingredients to food processor, and then pulse until the texture is to your liking.  Season to taste. It will keep in the fridge for about a week or two—but I doubt it will last that long!

Thai Cashew Quinoa Salad

A friend recommended this dish on Pinterest. I’m a big fan of her Chinese noodle salad, so I figured if she liked this, then it had to be good!  It’s so fresh and crunchy—and I LOOOOOOVE all those colors! I tweaked the recipe a bit to add a little more heat to balance out the sweetness of the dressing.

INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup uncooked quinoa
1 heaping cup shredded purple cabbage
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ red onion, diced
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup edamame, shelled
½ cup cashew halves
½-1 cup chopped cilantro (we like a lot of cilantro)
¼ cup diced green onions

For the dressing:
¼ cup smooth peanut butter
1 tsp ginger
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp sriracha
Water to thin, if necessary

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the quinoa according to package instructions—it should make about 2 cups when cooked. Set aside in the pot.

Add the peanut butter and honey to a small microwave safe bowl and nuke for about 20 seconds. Add in ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil and sriracha and whisk until smooth and creamy. If necessary, thin the dressing by adding a little more olive oil or some water.

Drizzle half of the dressing over the cooked quinoa & mix to coat.  Then in a large bowl, combine the red pepper, onion, cabbage, carrots, edamame, cashews, and cilantro. Fold in the quinoa.  Add as much of the remaining dressing as you’d like (to taste). Garnish with green onions. Chill until ready to eat.

We served it with some grilled chicken, and topped the chicken with a little bit of the leftover dressing.

NUTRIFACTS: (salad only)

Calories 234.3

  Total Fat 9.5 g

  Saturated Fat 1.4 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 2.7 g

  Cholesterol 0.0 mg

  Sodium 485.6 mg

  Potassium 160.5 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 29.1 g

  Dietary Fiber 3.4 g

  Sugars 6.4 g

  Protein 10.0 g

Watermelon, Mint & Feta salad

I am a newb gardener.  Let’s just get that out there in the open.  My mother was blessed with a green thumb.  My Grammy growing up always had a huge garden that we would help water, and she’d let us grow a few seeds in our own little section of plot, but even back then, the only thing I could ever get to grow were root vegetables—radishes & turnips.

Over the years, periodically I would make an attempt at getting something to grow, like a watermelon plant or a small herb garden, but they never took off. Probably because I wouldn’t take the time to water them, and would forget they existed for weeks at a time.

But after I got married, I started pondering on the movie “28 Days”, and the end when Steve Buscemi is telling the group when they might be ready for emotional relationships again. “First, you get a plant.  If it’s still alive at the end of a year, you get a pet.  If, by the end of the second year, both are still alive…then you can start thinking about a relationship.”  Of course, if my case, it was more “baby” than relationship.  I figured I should probably know how to keep something green alive that only requires sunlight & water before I had to try to keep a whole other human being alive, too.

So, in the first year of our marriage, I had a bamboo & re-grew some green onion tops in a windowsill. 

In the second year, I took potatoes for a whirl, along with some rosemary & a tomato plant.  The potatoes didn’t thrive, but I got enough for a shrimp boil.  The rosemary did great, and the tomato plant struggled at first, but once we put it into a larger pot, things turned around for the better & we got a couple months’ worth of grape tomatoes out of it.

This year…I have squash, mint, basil, three types of tomatoes, rosemary, garlic, and I recently started some romaine & celery from store-bought ends. 

I had a cucumber in a Topsy-Turvy, but I don’t think it was getting enough sunlight so it’s no longer with us. (RIP, Japanese cucumber.)

Our patio garden.

Oh, and I still have the bamboo & green onions.

So far, most things are growing well…some things a little TOO well.  I guess I should have read a little more about which plants are compatible for growing together in a pot… I bought rosemary, mint, and basil at the same time, and put the rosemary in a pot by itself, and the mint & basil together in a large pot.  But apparently, mint doesn’t play well with others.  It’s a bully, and it chokes out everything near it.  So I’ve been spending the summer trying to keep my mint under control so it doesn’t kill my basil. Because Basil > Mint, in my culinary world.

Of course, upon this realization, I also then realized…what in the world am I going to use all this mint IN??? I rarely cook with mint.  However, my friend Ruben made this awesome watermelon-mint salad last Fourth of July, so that was the first thing I decided to make.

This is perfect for your upcoming Fourth of July BBQ!  Super easy to throw together.  It’s also great for tailgating—we went to a ball game earlier this month, made this ahead of time, and brought it in a gallon Ziploc bag in our little cooler.

 

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 seedless watermelon, chunked

1/4-1/2 cup chopped mint

1/2 cup feta crumbles

juice of 1/2 lime

salt & pepper to taste

 

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and toss well.  While it’s great even just a few minutes after making, if you let it sit over night the flavors will combine even more.  The lime, salt & pepper are optional, but the acidity adds another layer of flavor, and the salt & pepper can really make the flavor of the watermelon pop.

 

Garlic Dill Refrigerator Pickles

I have a genetic affinity for pickles.  Seriously, it’s in our DNA.  My grandmother (whose house was the primary congregation point on weekends) would buy dill pickles by the case because my cousins & I went through them so fast.  Granted…there were a lot of us.  My mom is the middle of 15 (yes, FIFTEEN) kids, a good ol’ Midwestern farm family, and there’s currently (roughly) about 100 of us cousins (when you include cousins’ kids, since we’re getting…*ahem* mature…now).  On any weekend, there were at least ten kids running through the house, eating everything in sight.  But MAINLY pickles.  We even made games out of daring one another to drink the pickle juice…which is a pretty lame dare given that we were all more than game to do it.

Family reunion, circa 1986. I’m in the middle-ish, with the barely-there set of bunny ears. As opposed to Primo, who has two sets of bunny ears.

Since I’ve been old enough to have my own paycheck and own refrigerator to raid, there are typically no fewer than 3 jars of pickles or picked items in the door.  At the moment, I have 2 jars of olives, 1 jar of pickled okra, dill spears, dill ovals, sweet midgets…and these.

This was my first attempt at making pickles, so I didn’t want to go too crazy, lest they all turn out awful.  So I paired down the recipe to make two pint jars.  I also decided to make refrigerator pickles, rather than shelf-stable pickles, because a) I was planning to reuse some store-bought pickle jars, rather than buying mason jars, and b) I didn’t want to deal with the extra hassle of proper canning. 
I reviewed recipes, comparing differences & trying to figure out what would suit our tastes.  And I have to say, I was really pleased with the result!  Very crisp, tart, and just a hint of heat…and plenty garlicky.
I’ve portioned out this recipe so you can make as many jars as you like.
INGREDIENTS: (per pint jar)
Approx. 2 pickling cucumbers (will vary based on size), sliced into fat coins*
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp pickling spice
2 tsp pickling salt
2 cloves garlic (I used minced, but you could use whole cloves with slits cut in to help release the garlicky goodness)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp dried dill (or one dill head)
1/2 tsp peppercorns  (can omit if your pickling spice already has peppercorns in it)
1/4 tsp citric acid (this will help with the crispness)
*When you slice the cucumbers, be sure to dispose of the “blossom end” of the cucumber, as there’s an enzyme present that will cause the pickles to end up soft.
DIRECTIONS:
First off, sterilize your jars.  We use Easy Clean since we have it on-hand for The Hubs’ home brewing.  But you can also boil the jars, or use an oven at 275F for a minimum of 20 minutes.  If you boil or use the oven method, make sure the jars cool before filling them.
In a sauce pan, combine the water, vinegar, pickling spice and salt.  Bring to a simmer.
Place the garlic, red pepper, dill, peppercorns, and citric acid into the jars, and then add the cucumber coins.
Pour the brine over the top, leaving about 1/2 inch of headspace in the jar.

Add the lids, and if you’re making refrigerator pickles, you can stop now!  Label the jars, let cool to room temp, and place in the fridge somewhere that you can not be tempted by them for a while.  They’ll take about 3-4 weeks to make a proper pickle, so be sure to include the date. About once a week, shake the jars to mix up the spices, lest your bottom pickles hog all the garlic.
If you’re planning on storing these in your pantry, check this “how-to”.  They can be stored for up to a year (either in fridge or pantry).
Enjoy on their own, on a sandwich, or as part of a relish tray!

Daniel Fast Day 16: Avocado Pesto, & Baba Ganoush!

Today’s Devotion: “Don’t Forget Who You Are-- James 1:23-25 ‘For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

You have come too far to get off course now. You have seen the hand of God (His power) & you have seen the face of God (His presence). You can’t allow yourself to forget who you are. How can you do that? By not continuing to look into the law of liberty. Freedom comes when we realize what Jesus has done for us. When we know what the word says about something we have something to stand on. Kenneth Hagin said years ago, “Faith begins where the will of God is known”, we have to know who we are in the Lord for faith to be established in our hearts & that knowledge comes from the word. It declares, you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, you’re the head & not the tail, above & not beneath, the righteousness of God in Christ, this is how our faith comes forth so forget anything else you have heard that is contrary to what the word says. The word is the truth, nothing else matters.”

This morning I faced a few challenges—we’ve officially run out of “breakfast proteins”.  By which I of course mean peanut butter. (Okay, so this is an exaggeration—we still have oatmeal.)  In fact, we’re running low on many of the items we bought specifically for the Fast:  AllFruit jam, PB, hummus, flatbread, to name a few.  With only 4 days left we don’t necessarily want to “stock up” on things, but all the same…we have to be able to make it through the next four days!  We may have to get creative.

Today I also had to do some field work for the first time in a few months, so I was a little concerned about the challenges that would present—mainly, if we didn’t finish up in time, what was I going to eat for lunch?  Typically when I have field work, I grab food from whatever restaurant or fast food place is close to my site, or bring a sandwich with me.  But sandwiches aren’t really easy on the Fast…especially when you ate your last piece of bread for breakfast, and don’t have a protein (hummus) to spread on them.  I threw together some pasta last night and just prayed that we would finish up in time for me to eat back at the office.  Thankfully, everything went smoothly and I was back in the office by 2pm, nommin’ down on a late lunch.

Breakfast:  ½ piece whole wheat flatbread, 1oz bag of peanuts, 1 cup pineapple, and a few grapes

Lunch: Cilantro-avocado pesto pasta w/sautéed mushrooms & onions

INGREDIENTS: (makes two servings)

Sauce:

• 1 avocado
• ½ bunch cilantro
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp onion powder
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Salt & pepper to taste

 

• 2 servings whole wheat pasta, boiled
• 4 oz portabella mushrooms, sliced
• ¼ onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ tsp basil
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Puree the avocado, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, & onion powder in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms, onions, seasonings, garlic & olive oil together in a large skillet until tender.  When the pasta is cooked and mushrooms are tender, combine, toss, and serve!

Dinner:  I bought an eggplant last week, so I decided to try to make baba ganoush for the first time.  Such a fun word.  Always makes me think of Wedding Crashers.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 eggplant
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp smoked salt (if you have it)
• 1/8 cup tahini (if you have it—you can omit if you don’t)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• dash of chili powder (I used chipotle for the smokiness)
• 1/3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley or cilantro, or about 1/4-1/2 cup of fresh

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Char the skin of the eggplant over your gas burner, or under the broiler if you don’t have a gas stove (about 5 minutes per side if you’re using the broiler).  Then roast the eggplant on a cookie sheet for about 20-30 minutes or until tender (easily pierced with a paring knife.

Remove the skin and place the flesh into a food processor along with the remaining ingredients and pulse until smooth.  Drizzle with additional olive oil and garnish with lemon or olives.  Serve with pita (if you’re not on the fast), tortilla chips or crackers (if you are).  

Since we already had the chips out, we also finished off the last of the veggie chili…like cheeseless nachos! 

 

Feta & Mint Sweet Potatoes.

I dream of someday having a gorgeous tiered herb garden.  Something aesthetically pleasing, yet simple & convenient, full of thriving green seasonings ready for the picking:  rosemary, basil, mint, cilantro, lavender, chives…

(This is not my house.)

…but given that I nearly killed my poor tomato plant this year by allowing it to get “root-bound”, I don’t have high hopes.  I’ve made attempts at herb gardens before.  One was a “pizza spice” set from Wal-Mart which was more successful at growing weeds that accidentally blew into it than any actual spice.  In 2010 I attempted cilantro from seeds…I started with 20 potential little pods… of which 12 sprouted, then 6 died due to heat, and the rest drowned at the young age of 4 inches tall.  Quite sad, really.

Last year I did successfully manage to keep a dwarf rosemary bush alive indoors all year, but once the cooler weather rolled around, our central heating system dehydrated the poor dear.  But I can successfully keep hydroponic green onions alive. Goooooooo me!

So…anyway.  I continue to buy herbs when I need them.  When I bought mint for the SoCojito a while back, that meant the rest of my recipes that week needed to focus on mint as well. 

We went to a BBQ over Independence Day weekend where a friend made a watermelon+mint+feta salad that was pretty freakin’ awesome.  So I came home with the feta+mint pairing on the brain.

The next time we got some decent weather, it was time to bust out the grill.  Well—for the Hubs anyway.  I stuck with the microwave.  This is one of those side dishes that looks really fancy, but it’s just crazy-simple.  It also tastes AMAZING because you’re essentially blowing up your tastebuds with flavor:  tangy feta, acidic lime juice, syrupy brown sugar, and fresh mint & onions… and because the toppings won’t be evenly distributed, every bite is just a little different.

 

INGREDIENTS: (per potato)

1 sweet potato, scrubbed

1 lime wedge

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp crumbled feta

2-3 mint leaves, julienned

1 sprig green onion, chopped

black pepper (to taste)

 

DIRECTIONS:

If you have time, you can grill your sweet potatoes, or oven-roast them.  But we were grilling corn & smoked sausages—neither of which take very long.  So I opted to prepare the sweet potatoes in the microwave.  Poke a few holes in each spud with a fork, then wrap in a paper towel & place in the microwave.  Heat on High for 3 minutes, then flip & go 3 minutes more.  (depending on how many potatoes you’re cooking, you may have to heat longer.  I usually go 3 minutes per potato, but be sure to flip them).

Split open the tops and then squeeze the sides of the potato to open up the top more.  Then squeeze the lime juice across the open face and season with black pepper.  Place the brown sugar next (so it can blend with the lime juice & melt into the potato) and then add the remaining toppings.

 

NutriFacts: (per potato)

Calories 155.4

  Total Fat 3.2 g

  Saturated Fat 2.2 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.7 g

  Cholesterol 12.6 mg

  Sodium 200.6 mg

  Potassium 569.5 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 28.7 g

  Dietary Fiber 3.8 g

  Sugars 13.7 g

  Protein 4.4 g