Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes with Blackberry Salsa

 Ever since I discovered the fact that I like sweet potatoes last fall, I have been buying a couple every few weeks and cooking them in the microwave to use throughout the week.  I even planted some sweet potato plants in my garden.  I happened to have some sweet potato chunks in the fridge when I saw this recipe and I decided to make it for dinner.

I have made the quinoa patties that this recipe is adapted from (and they are superb!), so I knew these would be delicious.  They were easy to make and the salsa was the perfect topping.

Other people in my family are not fans of sweet potatoes, but I didn't mention that these quinoa cakes contained sweet potatoes and no one really noticed too much.  My youngest daughter had a little bit of trouble finishing hers, but the rest of us liked them.  I liked them a lot.

Here is the recipe for Sweet Potato Cakes with Blackberry Salsa

Rocky Road Brownies

   My son brought home a sheet of paper that told me he had volunteered to bring a dessert in for the last day of school.  I knew, without even asking him, that he wanted brownies. 

  He decided he wanted me to try a new brownie recipe, instead of the usual Mint-filled Brownies (from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes) that I make for his birthday every year.  We looked at a couple recipes on the internet and as soon as he saw this one for Rocky Road Brownies, we didn't have to look any further.

The brownie batter comes together quickly and the chocolate chips, marshmallows and nuts are layered on top after they have almost completely baked through.   I made them the night before and the melted chocolate chips hardened into a nice, almost solid chocolate layer that could've passed for a frosting of some sort.  My self control was in high gear the night I made these and I didn't try even a nibble.  My family each tried a small bite and declared them delicious.  My son said they disappeared at school before he could even take one! 

 Here is the recipe for Rocky Road Brownies from Martha Stewart

Avocado Frog Dip and Potato Mice

   My kids like to look at cookbooks almost as much as I do.  Well, maybe not quite as much, but they do enjoy flipping through and marking recipes that they want us to make together.   A week ago, my 7-year old daughter marked quite a few recipes in this Mom and Me Cookbook and she asked  if we could get the ingredients and make them for dinner.  

The first thing she wanted to make was this Avocado Frog Dip.  It is a basic guacamole dip and my girls had lots of fun making it with me.   It was quite easy.  We took turns cutting and scooping out the avocado, mashing it and stirring in a few other ingredients.  Then my girls wanted to get a pretty tray and arrange all the veggie dippers and make the face.

 I thought it turned out great.  My kids aren't huge fans of avocado, but they ate this with the veggie dippers because "It's good for me" and "I know it's healthy".   They said it, not me! They actually both ended up liking it more than they originally thought they would and we had fun putting it together.  We made the dip while the potatoes were baking in the microwave.

 Here is the recipe for Avocado Frog Dip
* We used plain Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream

   To complete our meal, we made these Potato Mice.  We baked them in the microwave, so that the prep time wouldn't be quite as long.  Our potatoes were pretty small, so we didn't use as much butter or milk as the recipe called for.  We just used a little bit of each, and mashed it together until the texture was perfect.   These were tasty as well and the girls were very proud of the dinner they helped me make. 

 Here is the recipe for Potato Mice
* We used mozzarella cheese to top our mice
* We baked our potatoes in the microwave (minus the oil brushed on the skins of course!)


 

Buttermilk Wafffles with Strawberry Topping

 My kids love having breakfast for dinner.  They think it is so much fun.   A few weeks ago I found this recipe for Buttermilk Waffles with a fresh strawberry topping in Shape Magazine and I ripped it out because I really wanted to try it.  It comes from Ellie Krieger, whom I absolutely love, because her recipes are healthy and they always turn out to be very delicious.  Plus, she uses mostly low-fat buttermilk instead of a ton of oil or butter, which is something I do all the time when I make quick breads or muffins.  I also really liked that she only used honey to sweeten the waffles as well as the topping. 

I made the topping a few days in advance when I was cutting up strawberries for something else and I am glad I did because I think it tasted great chilled.   I doubled the recipe for the waffles, so that I could freeze some for a quick breakfast option on school days and I was really glad that I did that too. These were yummy and the sauce was perfect with the waffles.


Buttermilk Waffles with Strawberry Topping

by Ellie Krieger via Shape Magazine

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole-wheat flour

2 Tablespoons toasted wheat germ

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberry Topping, recipe follows

confectioners' sugar, optional

 Preheat a waffle iron.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through salt). In another medium bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil, honey and vanilla.

 Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to combine them. The batter will be somewhat lumpy.

Coat the waffle iron with cooking spray.  Ladle enough batter to cover 3/4's of the surface, close lid, and cook for 3 minutes or until golden brown.  Repeat with remaining batter.  Serve topped with strawberry mixture and an optional dusting of powdered sugar.

Strawberry Topping:
16 ounces strawberries, fresh or frozen (unsweetened, thawed)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons maple syrup

  In a medium saucepan over a low flame, stir together strawberries, lemon juice, maple syrup, and bring to a gentle boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes, until the liquid has thickened slightly.  Flavor with additional maple syrup if desired.  Remove from heat and set aside.

 

A few quick Meal Ideas

Mini Meatball Pita Pizzas-  I made extra mini meatballs when I made Homemade Spaghetti-O's and Meatballs and put them in the freezer for a later date.   A couple of weeks later I quickly sauteed them with a little chicken stock and turned them into mini pizzas.  We used whole wheat pitas as the crust and dinner was ready in no time at all.

Pepper-Cheese Muffin from Weight Watchers Magazine

Heat skillet sprayed with nonstick spray. Add 2 slices Canadian Bacon; cook 1 minute per side.  Top 1/2 toasted English Muffin (I used 1/2 of a Vitabuns since I had them in the freezer, usually I have the Ezekiel variety) with bacon, 1/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese and 1 sliced pepperoncini.  1 slice cantaloupe on the side

Hummus Chicken Salad-1/2 cup chopped chicken, 2  chopped radishes, 1 stalk celery-chopped, 2/3 cup chopped cucumber, mixed with 1 1/2 Tablespoons hummus, on top of 1 1/2 cups spinach, 1 1/2 cups romaine w/ 8 cherry tomatoes

Sweet Potato, Cauliflower, Turkey Bowl (idea from Clean Eating Magazine)
  I combined 2/3 cup leftover ground turkey breast/ pinto bean mixture, with 1 cup cooked sweet potato, 1 cup steamed cauliflower, 2 Tbls chopped cilantro, and 2 Tablespoons salsa.

Elmo's Sweet Potato Biscuits

 There isn't a child in my home who still watches Sesame Street, but that didn't matter to me when I saw the new book- B is for Baking . This cookbook uses the characters from Sesame Street and I couldn't resist it.  I have had C is for Cooking for quite a few years and we use it all the time.

 I made Sweet Potato Biscuits last fall that we really loved and I noticed the version in B is for Baking was a little bit different and that it didn't use butter at all.  I was intrigued and decided it would be the first thing that we tried from this cookbook.  I made them on a night that we had a family favorite for dinner.  Whenever I make this stew, we have some sort of bread/biscuit to go with it and  I  knew these sweet potato biscuits would be great with it.  They didn't have the exact texture of a normal biscuit, but they were soft and fluffy and we loved them.   I froze a few of the leftovers and we made breakfast biscuit sandwiches the next week.  I will be making these again!

Elmo's Sweet Potato Biscuits

from  B is for Baking by Susan McQuillan

1 large sweet potato, cooked and mashed to equal 1 cup

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 Tbls baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup skim milk

2 Tbls honey

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (ap flour to salt).  In a medium bowl, with a wooden spoon, stir together egg, oil, milk, and honey.  Stir in the mashed sweet potato.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the sweet potato mixture and stir until just combined.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  With your fingers, gently pat the dough out to a 9*12-inch rectangle.  Cut into 12 squares.  Places biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly on rack and serve warm.

 

Green Chile Tamale Pie

  One of the other pies we had during Pie Week was this Green Chile Tamale Pie.  I was intrigued by the recipe and had never eaten or prepared any sort of Tamale Pie, so it was a new adventure for all of us.  I stuck to the recipe and used ground sirloin (shocker!) instead of subbing in lean ground turkey.  I added some pinto beans and switched up the cheese I used on top, but other than that I stayed pretty close to the recipe.


I had a little bit of trouble with the topping.  The recipe said to "Dollop and spread" it on top of the filling.  I actually had to roll mine out with a rolling pin and then transfer it to the top of the filling.  I had a few little patches that I had to pinch together.  Not too pretty, but it worked.


 I think my entire family was pleasantly surprised by this dish.  It had good flavor and was a fun twist on something we have never really tried before.   A perfect addition to our very fun Pie Week!

Here is the recipe for Green Chile Tamale Pie
* I added a can of drained and rinsed pinto beans to the filling
* I used feta cheese instead of queso fresco 
* I chopped the onion, garlic, tomatillos, and poblano chile in the food processor before added them to the skillet