Recipes Discovered

Sweet Potato Pancake Recipe

Inspired by my success with the sweet potato burrito, I decided to try the sweet potato pancakes again. Early this week they were a complete flop, but I’m sure I was to blame for that.

I tried to follow the recipe this time. I even weighed my sweet potato at the grocery store. I couldn’t get my blender to puree it though, so I used a hand masher. The batter was still really thick, so I added a splash of milk to thin it out. I cooked the pancakes over medium low heat to give them a chance to set up, and I waited until they were really brown. The results this time? Yum! It actually tasted like a pancake. It was light and fluffy and had little pieces of sweet potato all through it (I think the hand mashing probably turned out better than if I used puree). They had a really surprising flavor that paired perfectly with maple syrup. These were the results I was hoping for the first time, and I’m glad I tried the recipe again. It’s definitely a winner!

Orange-Cranberry Muffin Recipe

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Recipe

Continuing on my healthy muffin quest, I made two more batches of muffins today.

The first recipe was an Orange-Cranberry muffin. The recipe called for half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour (similar to the Apple Pecan muffins), but it used fat-free yogurt instead of buttermilk. There is only 2 tablespoons of oil in this recipe, which is surprising, but I’ll get to that later. The recipe calls for a half cup of sugar, which is twice as much as the previous recipes. To try to make up for this, I used a container of Danon Light and Fit Vanilla Yogurt (there are only 7 grams of sugar per container), but since they are only 6 ounce containers, I also added 2 tablespoons of plain fat-free yogurt. Also, the recipe calls for fresh cranberries but I had half a bag of dried cranberries begging to be used, so I used those instead. >> Read more

Simple Marinana Sauce Recipe

Lately I have enjoyed making homemade dressings and sauces rather than buying them at the store. I found this recipe for a really simple and easy marinara that makes a great pasta sauce. I has a classic tomato flavor that pairs well with any pasta dish. I’ve tried a variety of canned tomatoes, included fire roasted diced tomatoes and San Marzano chunky crushed tomotatoes. They all turn out great, it just depends what consistancy and flavor you like. I have even reduced it longer and used it for pizza sauce!

Sweet Potato Burrito Recipe

Refried Beans Recipe

After my disaster with the sweet potato pancakes early this week, I was afraid to even try this recipe. But I still had left over sweet potatoes that I needed to do something with. The recipe is easy and straight-forward – basically refried beans topped with mashed sweet potatoes. Since I have my own recipe for refried beans that I love (and I was only making one burrito), I made that recipe and then just added the extra seasonings to the sweet potato.

The refried bean recipe is easy and probably a lot better for your than other refried beans I have had. Sauteed half an onion until it is soft and then add some garlic, chili powder, pinto beans (drained and rinsed), and chicken broth. Heat the beans through and then mash it up. I like thick beans, so I usually cook them a couple minutes after I mash them to get the consistency I like. I also skip the cilantro because I really don’t like the taste, but sometimes I add parsley for color. Add some salt (if needed) and pepper, and it’s done. It’s a really simple and quick recipe, but the beans taste outstanding.

Moving along… I made the refried beans and then heated up leftover mashed sweet potatoes (about a half cup) and mixed in the cumin, soy sauce and mustard. I put the mixture on a tortilla and topped in with about a half cup of the refried beans. I added a little cheddar cheese, folded it up, and baked it for 10 minutes. When I took it out of the oven, I topped it tomatoes. The results were very surprising. It was actually good! Somehow the sweet potato and the refried beans melt together into this sweet and savory filling. The tortilla was a little too crispy for me (I would probably bake it less next time since the filling it already hot), but overall, it was a successful try and very tasty. I may have to give the sweet potato pancakes another try.

Homemade Caesar Salad Recipe

For dinner last night, we had Tortellini with Marinara Sauce. I wanted a salad to go along with it and thought a Caesar salad would be good. I didn’t want to use eggs in the dressing though, so I had to quite a bit of searching to find a recipe. The one I found was simple to prepare since you just add everything to the blender. The ingredients were olive oil, lime juice, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, cumin, salt, pepper, chicken brother, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and anchovy paste. I wasn’t so sure about the anchovy paste, but I figured I was already cutting out the eggs, I might as well try the anchovy paste. I blended everything and gave it a taste. It was pretty bland. I added more of all the spices and it was still pretty bland. I added more cheese and more anchovy paste and it was still pretty bland. I thought maybe it needed to sit for awhile to develop it’s flavors, so I put it in dish and set it in the refrigerator.

In the meantime, I decided that Caesar Salad needs croutons. I cut up 2 thick slices of wheat bread, sprayed them with olive oil and then sprinkled them with garlic powder and salt. I gently tossed them around and put them in a 325 degree oven. After 5 minutes, I turned each one over and let them go for another 5 minutes before I took them out of the oven and let them cool a bit.

I tore romaine lettuce and put it in a bowl and topped it with Parmesan cheese and the croutons. Then I got the dressing out and gave it a taste. It was edible, but definitely not what I would consider good. I didn’t have a lot of flavor and it was very runny. Maybe I should have just used a recipe with the eggs. On the plus side, the croutons turned out great. They had a nice flavor and were crisp, but not too crunchy. At least I had that going for me.