Potato-Cauliflower Mash

Potato-Cauliflower Mash
2-3 potatoes
1-2 sweet potatoes
1/2-1 head of cauliflower florets
2-3TBsp Greek yogurt
Small pad of butter
Splash of milk
Salt and Pepper

Directions:  Peel the sweet potato.  Dice up the potoato, sweet potato, and caulfilower.  Boil until the potatoes are fork tender.  Drain.  Add the Greek yogurt, butter, and splash of milk.  Mash.  Salt & Pepper to taste.

Here's what you'll need:

Boil and drain.

Add the Greek yogurt, butter, and milk.

Mash

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:
Over the past couple of years, Scott has really started to love cauliflower.  We've had several great cauliflower dishes in the past (Cheesy Cauliflower, Cauliflower Medley, and Cheesy Artichokes, Cauliflower and Red Pepper) but this one might just be an all-time favorite!

I could go on and on and on about this dish but the bottom line, is that it was delicious.  Every single one of my kids ate it.  It actually reminded me of twice-baked potatoes with the skin of the Idaho potatoes left on.  The orange sweetness of the sweet potato reminded me of the cheese and smooth, creamy texture of the cauliflower was like the sour cream. 

You could always make this dish even healthier by reducing the Idaho potatoes and adding more sweet potato and cauliflower.  You could also cut out the small pad of butter and milk and just use more Greek yogurt.

Of course, if you are feeling really decadent, add in some cheese (your choice) and bacon bits.

Hope you enjoy!
April

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Rosemary

Here is another fantastic sweet potato recipe. 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Rosemary Adapted from Jo's Health Corner Misc

 1 pound sweet potatoes or yams cut into cubes

1 large sprig of rosemary

3 tbsp. lard, duck, or goose fat

5 cloves of garlic, smashed

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
( I added more garlic and rosemary than the recipe called for)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bring the sweet potatoes to a rolling boil in a pot with salted cold water. Remove when it boils. Melt the fat in a roasting pan/dutch oven, and add the garlic and rosemary. After a couple of minutes add the potatoes and mix. Remove from the heat right away and season with freshly ground black pepper. Put the roasting pan in the oven until the sweet potatoes are done. 

Modifications:

-I added a bit of onion.

Here's what you'll need:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Cut up a couple of large sweet potatoes

Put sweet potatoes in water and boil.  Remove after a minute or so of boiling.

Cut up part of an onion. 

Mash up 3 or 4 good-sized garlic cloves.

Add a rosemary sprig.

Just as the sweet potatoes are starting to boil, put some olive oil in an oven-safe dutch oven along with the onion, garlic, and rosemary.  Cook on medium-high for a minute or two.

Add the sweet potatoes and stir.

Pop it into the oven for about 20 minutes or until tender.

What you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:

Once again, we loved this dish.  The carmelization of the onions and the sweet potatoes were a perfect match.  By boiling the potatoes first, they did not get the crunchiness that some of the other sweet potato recipes I've made but these tasted like a more traditional dish.

Hope you enjoy!

April

Roasted Garlic Sweet Potatoes

Tonight we had Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Sandwiches.  While trying to come up with sides, I realized we hadn't had sweet potatoes in a while so I went ahead and made some roasted potatoes.  My intention was to make them with a Lipton Onion soup packet, like I did HERE, but I didn't have a packet so I just cut up the potatoes and 2 cloves of garlic with some olive oil and salt and pepper.

Roasted Garlic Sweet Potatoes
3-4 large sweet potatoes
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions:  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Peel and cut up the sweet potatoes into 1 inch squares.  Put the potatoes, garlic and some olive oil to coat in a bowl.  Mix them altogether.  Spread on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.  Cook for 45-50 minutes.

I didn't take an intial picture because I didn't realize what I was going to make.  Peel and cut up the sweet potatoes.  Mince 2 cloves of garlic and add it to the potatoes.  Add olive oil to coat.

Spread out on a baking pan and salt and pepper.

Into a 450 degree oven for 45-50 minutes.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:

Scott and I have really grown to love sweet potatoes this past year.  These are great!  They get crispy on the outside but still softer on the inside and we love garlic. 

Hope you enjoy!

April

1 1/2 cups of these equal 3 points on the Weight Watchers Point Plus scale.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Grilled Sweet Potatoes from Food Network Magazine
Recipe by Bobby Flay
3 sweet potatoes, unpeeled
Kosher salt
2 tsps finely grated lime zest
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup canola oil
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions: Parcook the potatoes. Place in a pot of water and boil until fork-tender; let cool. Slice each potato lengthwise into eighths.

Preheat a grill to medium or place a cast-iron grill pan over medium heat. Mix 1 Tbsp salt, the lime zest and cayenne pepper in a small bowl.

Brush the potato wedges with the oil and season wtih salt and pepper. Grill until golden brown on all sides (including the skin) and just cooked through, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter; immediately season with the salt mixture and sprinkle with cilantro.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I rinsed off 3 big sweet potatoes.

#2 I put them in a pan to boil until they were fork-tender, about 30 minutes.

#3 While the potatoes were boiling, I measured out the salt, lime zest and cayenne pepper and mixed them up.  Then, set it aside.

#4 I chopped and minced about 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro and set it aside.

#5 I poured some canola oil in a pan.

#6 The sweet potatoes were pulled and laid on the cutting board.  I waited for them to cool a bit and then I sliced them open and cut them into wedges.

#7 I tossed them in the canola oil and salt and peppered them.

#8 They then went on the grill, alongside some yummy sweet corn ears.  I turned them about every 2 minutes until all sides were grilled.

#9 Once finished, I pulled them from the grill and sprinkled the salt mixture over the top.  The last step was to then sprinkle them with the fresh cilantro.

The Finished Product:

Review:

OMG . . . they were fantastic.  I am not a huge sweet potato fan and in the recent months I have tried 3 or 4 recipes using them because I know that they are healthier than normal red or Idaho potatoes.  These potatoes were delicious.  They had the smokiness of the grill but the freshness of the cilantro.  These two added with that fantastic salt, lime zest and cayenne mixture made me want to eat the whole stinkin' platter myself.

I served these potatoes with grilled corn on the cob, a green salad and sirloins.  Thanks to Chris at Nibble Me This, the steaks were grilled to perfection.

Parsley Potatoes

This recipe was found on Amy's WFD Blog. 

Parsley Potatoes
1 ½ pounds small red potatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbs. canola or vegetable oil
1 ½ cups chicken broth
1 cup minced fresh parsley, divided
½ tsp. salt, optional
½ tsp. pepper

Directions: Cut a strip of peel from around the middle of each potato if desired; set aside. In a large skillet, sauté onion and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in broth and ¾ cup parsley; bring to a boil. Add potatoes. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with salt if desired and pepper and remaining parsley.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I decided that I didn't want to peel the potatoes so I just washed them and quartered them.

#2 I cut up 1 small onion.

#3 I put about 3T of olive oil in a skillet.

#4 I minced up a large garlic clove and then put it in with the onions.

#5 Once the onions were softened, I poured in a can of chicken broth.

#6 I then chopped up some flat-leaf parsley and threw it in the pan.

#7 Once the broth was boiling, I then put in the potatoes, turned down the temp, covered the potatoes and let them simmer.

The Finished Product:

Review:

These potatoes were really good.  The fresh parsley really added to the dish.  I have tried several versions of these types of potatoes and these were by far the best. 

The one issue that I had with the potatoes is that the directions said to cook about 20 minutes but after 20 minutes they were still really hard so I turned the temp back up to high and really let them cook.  It took about 30 minutes for them to get soft enough which was still in plenty of time to finish with the rest of the meal.

I served these potatoes with Mini Meatloaves.