Sweet and Savory Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes may not remind you of spring, but I love to make these Sweet and Savory Roasted Sweet Potatoes as a side dish during barbecue season.  Considering that temperatures have been in the 70s around here for the past week, barbecue was on my mind.  Plus, our grocery stores have been featuring sweet potatoes on sale since Easter is on the way and people are preparing for elaborate and traditional family feasts.

This side dish takes a food that you associate with fall and winter (sweet potatoes) and gives it a fresh, light take for spring and summer.  Plus, it's so easy that you don't need a recipe... I promise.

You'll need 3 peeled and diced sweet potatoes.  I dice mine into 1/2-inch pieces.  You'll also need 6 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, salt, pepper and about 1/4 cup of olive oil.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spread the sweet potatoes, garlic, and green onions on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil.  I also add a little salt and pepper (I like 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and about 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper).  Make sure you have everything spread in a single layer on your baking sheet and just roast the whole thing for 30 minutes, or until your sweet potatoes are fork tender.

Serve as a side dish with your favorite meal.  We like to make chicken, burgers and/or hot dogs on the grill and serve this as a side.

The sweet potatoes get nice and soft and caramelized around the edges, but you still get a nice savory bite from the green onions and the garlic.  It's yummy!

I still haven't been up to doing much elaborate cooking and baking (my sense of smell is out of control and I'm still sleepy all the time).  But, I do have news on the baby front... IT'S A BOY!  All of the old wives' tales (and nearly all of our family and friends) told us were were having a girl, but to our surprise we have a son on the way.  We're pleasantly surprised and we're looking forward to meeting him.

Check out his Phillies gear:

We haven't really bought much baby stuff, but I couldn't resist these.  As a matter of fact, I purchased them back in February as a baby gender-neutral Valentine's Day gift for my hubby... now we know they are for our little boy!

I can't wait to meet him and I still can't believe that our family of 2 (plus 2 dogs) is now going to be a family of 3 (plus 2 dogs)!  Wow!

Seven

My husband I celebrated our 7th anniversary on March 6th.  Last year we did a fun wine tasting voyage to New York's Finger Lakes region.  For our 5th anniversary we returned to the spot where we were married.   This year we kept it closer to home and a bit more low key... I've been sleeping 10+ hours a night and it takes all of my energy just to work all week.

We decided to celebrate at the highly recommended Chesapeake Inn.  It's only a half hour from our home, but it felt like we were much further away.  The restaurant is owned by the same family who owns La Casa Pasta, my favorite Italian restaurant in Delaware and the site of our rehearsal dinner back in 2005.

Chesapeake Inn is located right on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in quaint Chesapeake City, Maryland.

There are water views from nearly every table.  The menu as some of the the Italian/Mediterranean influence of La Casa Pasta, but has more of a surf and turf spin.  We enjoyed our meal.

Calamari - I think I always order this on our anniversary!

Filet mignon

Wolf Fish - fajita spiced and pan seared with a citrus-agave beurre blanc, topped with a scallion-roasted red pepper confetti

It was a nice (early) evening.  We had an early reservation, so we dined before 5:00.  That worked out well for me because I go to bed at 7:00 on weekends these days.

We enjoyed our meal and the atmosphere, but I must say that I prefer the menu at La Casa Pasta.  However, La Casa Pasta doesn't have the beautiful water views.

We had banana cream pie for dessert.  It had a buttery shortbread crust and was filled with fresh pastry cream.  The whipped cream topping was fresh.  Believe it or not, it was my first time trying this dessert.  I liked it all... except the white chocolate shavings.  I'm not a fan of white chocolate.

Oh, and look who decided to show up...

The baby bump!  At 18 weeks I'm finally leaning more toward looking pregnant than looking like I have a healthy beer belly.  I still get the stink eye when I'm out shopping (I think people think I let myself go) and I'm looking forward to looking more pregnant soon.  I'm also looking forward to feeling our baby kick!

Cravings

I blame the baby, but I've been eating a lot of cereal these days!  Special K, Corn Pops, Fruit Loops, Fiber One... I haven't eaten this much cereal since high school.

Of course, I'm concerned about calories, sugar and nutrition, but sometimes the only thing that feels good to my picky stomach is cereal, so I just give in and go for it.  I also figure that I'm not drinking any alcohol, I'm avoiding most fried food and I haven't had a taste for dessert or many other sweet things, so I'm giving in on the cereal craving.

Of course, eating a few boxes of cereal a week doesn't really encourage me to get to creative in the kitchen.  I need to work on that :)  If I'm not posting a new recipe, you can bet I'm at my kitchen table with a bowl of cereal and some 1% milk.

Anybody else ever dealt with a strange craving or temporary food obsession?

Chicken Pot Pie

Now that I have my appetite (mostly) back and I'm feeling up to doing some real cooking, I figured I'd make a real dinner.  Valentine's Day weekend, E left for work early Saturday morning and I had high hopes of having a chicken pot pie on the table for an early dinner.  We had a little snow and ice that weekend and I thought it would be the perfect stick-to-your-ribs meal.

Not surprisingly, I got exhausted after grocery shopping and laundry, so by the time he got home I was curled up in bed with the Cooking Channel on the bedroom tv.  Oh well, I tried.  I give myself permission to be lazy on weekends because I get up early and make it to work five days a week.  A pregnant woman deserves a break, right?

It turned out that chicken pot pie is a great collaborative meal.  E is trying to help more with meal preparation in anticipation of the baby's arrival (he already does his share, but cooking isn't his thing).  He washed and chopped the ingredients and I did the cooking.  We started at 3:00 and had dinner on the table by 5:00.  Not bad.

Chopped veggies... perfect job for a sous chef (or a nice husband)

Mixing it all together...

Thick and creamy... check the seasonings before putting it into the pie crust.

Somehow we ended up with enough filling for two pies, so we went ahead and made two.  Of course, that's enough food for about 10 people, so we gave the other pie to my grandmom.  I think she enjoyed it.  :)

I modified this recipe from one found on Short Stop, which isn't necessarily a food blog, but it is written by a woman who is a great home cook.  Of course, I changed some of the ingredients to suit our tastes, but the basic method is Sarah's.

I didn't make a homemade pie crust because I haven't mastered one yet.  Plus, I had tons of leftover frozen pie crusts from my Christmas baking, so I figured I'd clear out the freezer before learning how to make pie crust.  However, I do think that this recipe would be even better with a homemade crust.  It really makes a difference.

Chicken Pot Pie
adapted from Short Stop
yield 2 10-inch deep-dish pies (10 servings)

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 large Russet potato (a white baking potato), peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cups potato)
1 large onion, diced
1/2 cup flour
1 cup chicken stock (plus more if, needed)
2 chicken boullion cubes (or you can use a teaspoon or so of concentrated chicken stock)
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper, to taste
seasoned salt, to taste
top and bottom crust for two a 10-inch pies
1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Melt three tablespoons butter in saucepan with olive oil. Add chicken and cook until done. Remove chicken from pan. Set aside.

3. Melt additional 3 TBS butter in pan. Add onions, carrots, and potatoes. Cook 10-12 minutes until onions are translucent and carrots and potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Add flour and cook 1 minute until flour is absorbed. Add chicken broth and milk plus additional bouillon cubes/chicken stock concentrate. Cook until thick and creamy. Add additional chicken broth as needed to make creamy consistency. Add chicken, peas, and nutmeg.

5. Divide evenly between two 10-inch uncooked pie crusts. Top with additional pie crust, remove excess dough and flute edges. Cut out heart shapes from leftover pie dough and place in center of pie. Cut 3 small slits in pie crust to vent.

6. Combine 1 egg and 2 TBS water. Brush egg mixture on pie shell.

7. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Let the pie settle for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Photo Stream Update

I've been pretty quiet lately, but since I'm up early on this cold Saturday morning I'm going to share some photos that have been chilling on my computer since... Christmas.

In December I took Amtrak up to New York with my mom and aunt to see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.  It wasn't my first trip to NYC, but it was my first time seeing the Rockettes!  I loved it.

Of course we had to go around the corner and see the big Christmas tree and ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center... I've seen both before, but I love to go.  Plus, it reminds me of the TODAY Show.  I'm such a nerd.

Just like last year, E and I took about 100 photos to come up with our final image for our Christmas card (this isn't it, but this is typical of the chaos that ensues when you try to get two dogs to look at the camera).

We spent Christmas Eve enjoying a seafood feast at my mom's house...

And we unexpectedly enjoyed our final Christmas with my mom's beloved dog, Jonesie.  She passed away unexpectedly in January.  She was truly a member of our family and we miss her so much...

I didn't grow up with family pets, but my mom adopted Jonesie the same day we adopted Zelda.  All of our dogs are a huge part of our family and now we understand the pain of losing a pet.  She was such a sweet pup and she loved her mama more than anything.  I miss my "little sister".

We took some family photos outside on Christmas...

For Christmas 2012, this photo will have another family member... we're expecting our first baby in August!

To tell you I am excited is an understatement.  I'm feel excited, blessed, thrilled, anxious... all kinds of good stuff.  Of course, this may explain why I haven't been cooking much lately!  Food aversions and exhaustion are in full effect.  It's all worth it, though.  I'm thankful for the prayers from family and friends and we pray for our little one every single day.

And yes, I am going to continue blogging!

How's your weekend?  Anyone else have any big changes for 2012?

Sweet Potato Waffles

I know I say this all the time, but I love a good breakfast.  The best weekends are the ones when no one has to work, but we still get up early to spend time with the dogs, listen to music and enjoy a good, hot breakfast.  We break out the juice glasses, coffee mugs and placemats.  We roast a pan of bacon in the oven.  Often we have pancakes, french toast or grits.  Sometimes we have waffles.  I'm in love with this recipe that I discovered last year.  But recently I looked over at a five-pound box of sweet potatoes and got another idea:  sweet potato waffles.

Of course, I didn't invent sweet potato waffles, but I've noticed that they are pretty hard to find on a restaurant menu and it's not like you can walk down the aisle of any grocery store and find some "sweet potato waffle mix".  So, I took matters into my own hands and made an (easy) adaptation of my favorite waffle recipe.

All I did was stir in a bit of mashed, cooked sweet potato with the wet ingredients and whisk in some spices with the dry ingredients.  That's it!

The result?  A sweeter, hearty waffle with just enough autumn spice to remind you of your favorite cold weather desserts.

You may be thinking, how am I going to come up with a cup of mashed sweet potato?  You can scrub a fresh sweet potato, poke it with holes and microwave it for 5-10 minutes (or until soft).  Let it cool a bit, then just scrape out the flesh and proceed with this recipe.  Or, you may have leftover sweet potatoes from some other event or holiday. If your leftover potatoes have added sugar, just omit the sugar from this recipe.  That's it!

Sweet Potato Waffles
adapted from Waffles of Insane Greatness (found all over the food blogisphere)
yields 3 Belgian waffles

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Butter and syrup, for serving

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; mix well. Add the sweet potato, milks, vegetable oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes. (I cook bacon, brew coffee, and set the table while the batter sits.)

Preheat a waffle iron. Do not use non-stick spray on the waffle iron; the oil in the batter will allow the waffle to release easily. Follow the directions on your waffle iron to cook the waffles. Serve immediately with butter and syrup.

Homemade Bagels

I think bagels may be my favorite breakfast bread.  Sure muffins, biscuits, English muffins and raisin toast are great, but I love the chewy texture of a nice, fresh bagel.  I never considered making my own bagels until I noticed that a few bloggers (mostly who live outside of "good bagel" territory) had experimented with making bagels at home.  There are a few places to purchase bagels in Delaware, but nowhere near as many options as in New Jersey or New York.  While grocery store bagels are acceptable, I was looking for that slightly crisp exterior and that dense, chewy interior.  Once I figured out that bagels weren't that difficult to make, I decided to give it a try.

I did some research and noticed that some (delicious, I'm sure) bagel recipes called for exotic ingredients like malt syrup and I wasn't in the mood to go to the store on to wait a week for special supplies to arrive from an online store.  I opted for a recipe that utilized ingredients that were actually in my pantry.

I opted to start my dough the night before, let it rise in the fridge overnight and continue making my bagels the next morning.  This allowed me to actually get the bagels finished before we died of hunger.

After a slow overnight rise in the fridge I had a big, puffy ball of dough...

I deflated the dough and shaped it into 8 equal rounds...

I poked one hole in the center of each ball and stretched it to make sure it would stay open after baking...

My holes closed up a bit after the second rise, but my bagels were still yummy!

I've learned that the step that separates the "real" bagels from the "fake" bagels is boiling bagels in water before baking them.  It only takes a few minutes and it really helps you get that nice, shiny, chewy exterior...

Dip the surface of your wet bagels into your desired toppings and set the bagels on a baking sheet... you're ready to bake!

I made all of my bagels plain, but topped some of them with seeds or spices.  I ended up with an assortment of plain, sesame seed, and everything bagels.  I picked up my Everything Bagel and Bread Topping from King Arthur Flour.  You could also make your own by combining sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onion, dried garlic, and coarse salt.  Next time I'd like to try making some sweet bagels with dried fruits like raisins or cranberries.

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Ready for the oven!

I ended up with 8 delicious, chewy bagels that somehow lost their holes.  The lack of holes did not impact the taste one bit!  After enjoying one with cream cheese, I got extra greedy and used one to make a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich...

And that, my friends, is how breakfast is done.  

You may be wondering why make bagels when you can buy them for less than a dollar each at the store?  Because it's easy and you can flavor them any way you'd like.  Plus, a lot of people don't live near real bagel shops.  I feel your pain... I question the bagel choices in my area, too.

If you're venturing into homemade bread, try making bagels!  Don't be intimidated by the two-day process. I broke it down to two days to make it easier to get breakfast on the table.

Homemade Bagels

adapted (slightly) from The Galley Gourmet

yields 8 bagels

2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 1/3 cups warm water

3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus extra for kneading

1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt

Poppy seeds (optional)

Sesame seeds (optional)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachement, add the flour, sugar, yeast and salt.  With the mixer on low, slowly add the water.  Switch to the dough hook attachment.  Continue to mix until the dough comes together in a mass, about 4-6 minutes.  Increase speed to medium-high and knead for another 8-10 minutes until soft and smooth.   Put the dough in a bowl sprayed lightly with non-stick baking spray. Cover with a towel or lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise overnight in the refrigerator.

Gently deflate the dough and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425º F and bring a large pot of water to a boil; then reduce to a simmer. 

Divide the dough into 8 pieces.  Press each piece down to get rid of air bubbles.  Form into balls and roll the balls between your palm and the work surface, rotating to form a smooth ball. Coat a finger in flour and press it through each ball to form a ring.  Twirl the ring around the index of one hand and the thumb of the other, stretching the dough and widening the hole to about 1/3 of the bagel’s diameter. Place the bagels on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat and cover with a towel. Let rest for another 10 minutes.

Gently lower the bagels into the water in batches, 2-3 bagels at a time. Boil uncovered for about 1 minute. Turn them over once and boil for another minute. Using a perforated skimmer, remove the bagels from the pot, letting the water drain; return to the baking sheet. (Optional:  sprinkle the top of the bagel with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or both). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Enjoy with butter, cream cheese, jelly, or my favorite way:  topped with bacon, egg and cheese!