RECIPE: Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

We love sweet potatoes in my family, their dark orange color means they are packed with lots of good-for-you vitamins and their natural sweetness make them the perfect addition to a meal as they already have a nice kid-friendly sweet flavor making them a no-sugar needed momma approved food!  I love this recipe for oven baked sweet potatoes, only a few simple ingredients and BOOM! you've got a great tasting clean side dish!

These oven baked fries have a touch of cayenne pepper so there's a bit of a kick to them, if you aren't into that you can decrease it but there is just something about the sweet and spicy flavor these fries have that really make them outstanding in my opinion.  Give them a whirl, I bet you'll love them too!

Oven Baked Sweet Potatoes (make 4 side dish servings)

2 large sweet potatoes

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

Wash and slice the sweet potatoes into wedges and place on a jelly roll pan.  Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil over top and sprinkle with cayenne pepper, paprika, and salt.  Mix the potato wedges with your hands making sure to coat each one evenly with the spices.  Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until wedges are soft.

Mmm, sweet potatoes.  Get in my belly!

 Cut, slice, cut, slice...until you have them all in nice fry-sized wedges.

Place your wedges of sweet potatoes in a jelly roll pan and pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil over top.  Then sprinkle with the cayenne pepper, paprika and salt.

Mix it all together...yup, go on.  Get your hands dirty and coat those wedges with those yummy spices!
Then bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Scoop those sweet potato fries out of the jelly roll pan and enjoy....sooo good!
Dinner is served!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

RECIPE: Balsamic Glazed Bacon Wrapped Dates

I know, I know this recipe is nothing new, I mean everything seems to be wrapped in bacon these days. But can I tell you that I have had similar "bacon wrapped date" recipes (even stuffed with blue cheese or goat cheese and those are really good too) but what takes these Bacon Wrapped Dates to the next level is the Balsamic Vinegar...it makes them over the top awesome! Clif and I were out on a date a week or so ago and I had a similar version at the restaurant where we ate dinner...WOWIE ZOWIE, they were so good.  

So good, of course, that I have been eating them almost everyday since.  They really are the perfect lunch-y dinner-y food.  

Dates are good for you and bacon, if you get the good, uncured, no-nitrate kind is pretty good for you too! The perfect Paleo meal if I do say so myself!

So let's make a few shall we?

Balsamic Glazed Bacon Wrapped Dates

16 Pitted dates

4 slices of thick bacon (uncured, no nitrates is best!)

Balsamic vinegar

Cut bacon into 4 pieces each.  Wrap one piece of bacon around a pitted date and pierce with a toothpick to hold it in place.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, rotating the bacon and splashing each piece with balsamic vinegar halfway through cooking time.  Splash more balsamic over bacon wrapped dated and enjoy!

Yum, dates!  I could eat a whole bag of these, anyone else...Bueller? :-)

We love this bacon at our house.  It's nice and thick too.  If you happen to have thin or smaller slices of bacon you may just want to cut each piece in half...do whatever works to get it wrapped around that date!

Ahh, this is where the money happens, folks!  The Balsamic Vinegar brings this basic recipe to a whole new GLORIOUS level of taste bud happiness.

Alright, so here we go.

Slice bacon. Wrap around date. Pierce with toothpick...BOOM!  Easy, right?

 Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then flip over.

 Then splash with the balsamic vinegar and bake for an additional 5-ish minutes.

 Ahh, can ya smell the goodness?

Before you eat (or serve to guests) splash with a whole bunch more balsamic vinegar...trust me, it's awesome!

There ya go!  Lunch for this weekend? Or dinner, perhaps?

Enjoy!

And thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

Chilly Day Vegetarian Chili-RECIPE

Today I thought I would re-post my recipe I shared for the Soup of the Day series over at Delia Creates earlier in November! 

I just love for Fall and all the warm foods that go with it.  My family just loves soups, stews, and chili for dinners since they are flavorful one bowl meals.  I love them because they are easy to make, are hard to mess up, and can usually be made in my crockpot or can simmer on the stove most of the day making the dinner time hour not so crazy...and we can all use that!

Today I wanted to share my favorite chili recipe with you.  It's vegetarian but you could easily add in a pound of cooked ground beef or turkey if you like that.  I often will add in chopped zucchini or squash to get more veggies in my kids' bellies too, they usually don't even realize what it is as they just take on the flavor of the chili!

Vegetarian Chili

1 14.5 oz can kidney beans, undrained

1 14.5 oz can black beans, undrained

2 10 oz. cans Rotel (or diced tomatoes & green chilies)

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

2 packets chili seasoning mix (or use my DIY mix found here!)

1 cup water

Chop your onion and add it along with the beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water into a stockpot or a crockpot.

Next add in your chili seasoning.  You will need two packets of chili seasoning or you can use 4 rounded tablespoons of my easy DIY chili seasoning found here. 

Stir it all together and then place the lid on your pot or crockpot.  Let cook on the stovetop over medium-low flame for about 1 hour or in the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

When it's done the onions should be nice and soft and transparent.

You can eat it my favorite way by sprinkling some sharp cheddar cheese over top along with a dollop of some sour cream...or maybe try some crushed tortilla chips? or jalpeno peppers?  You can choose your own adventure with this one!

I hope you love this recipe, we seem to eat it once a week in the fall...it goes great with all those fall football parties we love so much! 

Thank you so much for inviting me today, Delia.  I can't wait to see what other warm and hearty recipes pop up next!

 XOXO,

DIY Chili Seasoning-RECIPE

Since it's fall...and apparently November now (geesh, where is the year going?), chili making season is definitely upon us.  I feel like we make a batch at least once a week.  Chili is such a great meal, easy (hello, crockpot!) and full of vegetables and fiber in the form of beans!  

It's also perfect to feed a large crowd, say during a football game...or something like that :-)  Maybe that is why we have been making it so often?  We tend to watch the games on Sunday with a crowd.

Well since I shared my DIY Taco Seasoning Recipe a while back and you guys loved it,  I thought today would be the perfect day to share my easy peasy DIY Chili Seasoning Recipe with you too.

When you make seasoning mixes yourself you can control the quality of ingredients...maybe you like it spicy...or not so spicy?  Or maybe you are watching your salt intake?  Whatever your deal is, making your own seasonings is definitely the way to go, plus it's cheaper than always buying those store bought packets!

DIY Chili Seasoning (makes about 3/4 cup)

3 Tbsp chili powder

2 Tbsp dried minced onion flakes

1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp dried parsley

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Place all ingredients together into a container that fits some type of lid.  Tighten the lid and shake well to mix.  Use 2 slightly rounded Tbsp per packet of chili seasoning.  You can also add 1/4 cup cornstarch to thicken your chili if you desire but I usually just add canned beans undrained to get the thickening effect!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today :-)

XOXO,

Sweet and Spicy Chicken-RECIPE

Here's another favorite dinner of ours.  This one is so very, very good, a little sweet and a little spicy.  Totally up my alley!  It's a take on some yummy Chinese take-out that we try not to order too often. Dang that can get pricey when you order half the menu.  Wait, am I the only one who does that?  

Two good things about this meal are that it is so much healthier than Chinese take-out plus it whips up quick too.  You can make it while you are helping one sweet as pie little kindergartener practice writing his 'letter of the week' all the while nursing a 3 month old.  Well, while the chicken is cooking anyways :-)  

Oh, and if you aren't that into spicy food just halve the amount of Sriracha sauce.  Or just eat it with more rice, nom :-)  Alright, here's the recipe, I hope you enjoy this one as much as we do!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken (Serves 4)

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts (about 4)

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp sriracha sauce

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp cooking oil

salt and pepper

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium heat.  While you are waiting for the oil to get hot, cut the chicken breasts into 1-2 inch pieces and season with salt and pepper.  Add the chicken to the skillet and brown the chicken on both sides.  In a small saucepan, add the remaining ingredients together cooking over medium heat until sauce thickens.  Pour sauce into skillet over cooked chicken and mix until chicken is well coated.  Serve with rice and veggies.  Enjoy!

 The cast of characters for today's recipe.

 Oh, plus a little brown sugar and cornstarch!  The cornstarch will help thicken your sauce so do not forget to add it in!

Once you mix your sauce ingredients together (soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, ground ginger, minced garlic, sriracha sauce, and cornstarch) you will cook it over medium heat until it looks like this.

 See, nice and thick!

While your sauce is going, start cooking your seasoned chicken pieces.  Doesn't raw chicken make for the grossest food photography photos ever?

Ah, that's better!  Okay, not really.  Cooked chicken doesn't have much to offer in the food photography department either, does it?

Ok, now this is BETTER!  Yeah, add in that nice and thick sauce and cover every piece of chicken with it.  YUM!

 Sweet and Spicy chicken.  Yes, this is definitely much better than Chinese take-out!

Hope you love this one and make it this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

Spinach and Cheese Quiche-RECIPE

I love quiche.  It's one of those meals that sounds all fancy and gourmet but is actually really easy to put together.  Making a quiche is also a great way to use up random ingredients in your fridge.  The basic egg/cheese part of the recipe stays more or less the same but you can add or remove ingredients (think different cheese varieties, bacon, onions, spinach, mushrooms, artichokes, etc) to suit your tastes or your refrigerator :-)  

With this particular recipe you can make a traditional quiche in a pie plate or change it up by making mini quiche (aww cute!) in mini muffin tins to entice your little ones to give it a try or maybe you need a delicious appetizer for you next big soiree.  I made this exact recipe for the girls' Vintage Birthday party seen here!

Spinach and Cheese Quiche (makes 2 regular size quiche or 48 mini quiche)

1 pie crust (pre-made refrigerator pie crust works great in a pinch!)

1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 16 oz container of cottage cheese

2 cups shredded cheese 

4 eggs

1 bunch of green onions, chopped (whites only)

Place the pie crust in an ungreased pie plate or divided into the tins of a mini muffin tin and set aside.  Press and drain the spinach well.  In a large bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, shredded cheese, eggs and green onions and spinach and mix thoroughly.  Place into pie crust and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes for mini quiche or 40 minutes for larger quiche.

I love to use shredded swiss cheese with this quiche recipe, mmm...swiss cheese is so good.  But you could really use any combination of shredded cheese out there.  If I don't use swiss, I'm also partial to buying that container of parmesan reggiano/asiago shreds in the refrigerated section too...one container is about 2 cups!

You can make your own pie crust or just use one pie crust from a refrigerated package, the outcome is just as tasty.  If you are using spinach in your quiche, make sure you drain your spinach well before adding it in with the rest of your ingredients, otherwise your quiche might be runny!  Instead of spinach you could also add chopped mushrooms, artichokes, bacon, ham, etc. the options are endless.

When I make mini quiche I cut circles out of the pie crust with a small biscuit cutter, then press them into each mini muffin tin.  One pie crust will make 24 mini quiche.

You will have enough of the mixture leftover to make a regular sized quiche with the other pie crust...bonus!

Delish!

The perfect light lunch, dinner...or hey, appetizer for a crowd!

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

XOXO,