Sweet Potato Cottage Pie

Whats on the menu? Sweet Potato Cottage Pie (find it HERE)

How easy was it to make?  This is a back post for this weekends "Whats for Dinner." I am behind on my posting but I wanted to be sure I got it in here! This is the third time I have made this delicious-ness... Hubs and I both love it. Its pretty easy to make and you really cant go wrong. It is super easy to make and we usually already have sweet potatoes mashed in the fridge... even EASIER! Even I can brown beef and saute onions! Give it a shot, you will love it!

So... how was it? I cant say enough how yummy this one is! Its certainly a "cheat" for us as it contains cheese... but Oh My, what a wonderful cheat it is! The cheese layer on top... YUMMO! I am sure you could make it with plain sweet potato on top, but if you want to add the cheese, you wont be sorry! 

Will I make it again? Absolutely!

Creamy Chicken Verde Bake and Sweet Potato Banana Mashed

Whats on the menu? Creamy Chicken Verde Bake (find it HERE) and because they are kick ass and delish  Sweet Potato Banana Mashed (find it HERE) again!

How easy was it to make? This was the easiest thing I have made over the last few weeks. The hardest part honestly was going to Market Basket for the stuff to make it. I hate that store. I usually stop at Hannaford and on a Friday night its usually not too bad. Well, I heard that Market Basket had coconut flour on sale and since I was going to be making dessert for the gym I needed to get there to get some. Thats shiz is expensive and I was almost all out. Anyway. What a zoo. Plus, even though I have "Grocery Store Anxiety" (yes that is self diagnosed) I have an easier time with Hannaford because I know the store and I know where to get the stuff we typically buy. One would have thought they were giving shit away at Market Basket. It was horrific.

Anyway. Once I got home the prep of the chicken was quick and the coconut milk and salsa verde couldnt have been any easier. I didnt really get the point of the arrow root powder. I know that it isused to thicken sauces, but I honestly dont think it did much of anything. I think next time I would use a little less of either the salsa or the coconut milk, it was a little thin. I also used boneless skinless and not thighs.

So... how was it? I thought it was excellent. Hubs said that he really liked it a lot and went as far as saying "you can make this one again." So I think it goes in the keep pile for sure. Along with the Cottage Pie. I will post that one again someday.

Will I make it again? Yepper! For Sure! Next time I will remember to add the cilantro after its done!

Baked Chicken with Artichoke Sundried Tomato Tapenade and Sweet Potato Banana Mashed

Whats on the menu? Baked Chicken with Artichoke Sundried Tomato Tapenade (find it HERE) and Sweet Potato Banana Mashed (find it HERE)

How easy was it to make? Well, I have to say, I am afraid of chicken. I dont like to make it because I am scared that I am going to under cook it.  This was quite an adventure for me. So I started to mix up the tapenade ingredients as they are listed in the recipe and I wasnt really happy. The quantities of the ingredients were hard to understand (because I didnt know if it was before or after chopping them up or whatever) so I just started to eyeball it. I mixed everything in the food processor first except for the artichoke, than added that slowly. I tasted it than added things I thought it needed more of. Than I followed the rest of the recipe for the salt, pepper and garlic on the chicken... than the tapenade... than in the oven with olive oil.

The sweet potato was easy peasy... mostly because we had some already mashed in the fridge. I just popped the bananas in the convection oven for 15 minute at 400 with holes poked in (as it instructed) than mashed them into the sweet potatos as I heated them up.

Hubs came home and everything was timed out right. It was done.

Going in the Oven

So... how was it? I am sure hubs will give his honest opinion as well, but I thought overall it was pretty good! The chicken had sort of a weird consistency I think because it was baked in the oil. I am so used to crock pot chicken that has been in the fridge a few days so that could be it too. It was really "moist" (damn I hate that word). The tapenade had great flavor... the only thing that could have made it better was cheese, but I didnt use any. The sweet potato... all I have to say is YUM! I thought they were great and it was really nice to have something a little different from the normal sweet potato that I have all week.

Will I make it again? I think this one can go it the "yes" pile on both accounts. The chicken and the sweet potato!

Get in my Belly!

Bacon and Sweet Potato

After discovering (or so I think) my sensitivity to eggs I had to come up with an alternative for breakfast. Alas... we had some bacon, when dont we have bacon in the fridge, and some onion... and a sweet potato... it resulted in a FANTASTIC breakfast!!

What you need:
- 1 Small Sweet Potato (cut into small pieces)
- Olive Oil
- Onion
- Mushrooms
- Bacon

What you do:
- Coat sweet potato in a little olive oil and roast at 300 degrees for about 8 minutes
- While they are roasting on medium heat cook sliced up bacon
- Once it starts to brown add onion
- When bacon is almost crispy add mushrooms
- About 2 minutes later pull potatos from oven and add (oil and all) to pan
- Cook for another minute than remove from heat and serve
- I like mine with a little balsamic vinegar on it... thats optional...

Sweet Potato Pancakes

These are DELISH!! We started making them and now they are a staple at least once a week. They are so easy and they taste great! You can modify as needed, and if you dont like spicy, dont add the green onion or Cayenne... experiment as needed!!

*Disclaimer: Sweet potatos are considered paleo in moderation. If you are trying to maintain the Paleo Lifestyle be careful when you consume these. If doing a Paleo Challenge typically sweet potato is "allowed" only within 30 minutes of a WOD.*

What you need:
- Two Sweet Potatoes (this makes 8 pancakes)
- 4 Pieces of All Natural Bacon
- Green Onion
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Tsp Sea Salt
- 2 Tsp Cayenne
- 2 Tsp Black Pepper

What you do:
- Fry up bacon while peeling sweet potatoes.
- Use cheese grater and shred 2 sweet potatos

- After bacon is done, drain grease and leave pan coated and add grease as needed. 

- Cut up green onion and bacon, add to potatoes.

- Add 2 eggs to shredded potatoes and mix by hand.

- Add sea salt, Cayenne and black pepper

- Mix up very good by hand, mix will be very sloppy

- Preheat nonstick fry pan at Medium heat.

- Shape pancakes, try to make them about only about 1/2 to 3/4 of inch thick.

- We save bacon grease when we make bacon any time, so either add some more bacon grease right before starting to cook them or add a little olive oil to pan before dropping them on.

- Should take about 7-8 minutes per side but just watch them so they don't burn, only flip them once and dont handle them a lot while cooking or they will fall to pieces! 

These are GREAT reheated with lunch for work the next day... we had them above with sausages... YUMMY!!