Sweet Potatoes

If you remember, in my bountiful basket about 4 weeks ago I got a couple of gigantic sweet potatoes. Yes, almost 4 weeks ago. I finally used the last of them today. I tried sweet potato soup and it was a huge flop. I tried sweet potato fries, and that wasn't so good either.
Finally I scored with this sweet potato bread:
http://www.chow.com/recipes/11150-pecan-and-sweet-potato-bread
The kids gobbled it all up and really enjoyed it.
Today I made some sweet potato cookies and they turned out so interesting I had to share them. I got the recipe from here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Potato-Cookies-II/Detail.aspx
But I changed some things so I wanted to post what I did.

Sweet Potato Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp grated lime zest
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 cup grated raw sweet potato

Cream the sugar, butter, and coconut oil. Add the rest of the wet ingredients. Then the dry ingredients. Bake at 350 for 9-10 min.

So basically I just substituted some oats for some flour, cinnamon instead of nutmeg, and lime instead of lemon. I also used part coconut oil for some of the butter. Other than that I stayed pretty true to the original recipe.

I asked my son how he liked them and he said, "Well, you know Mom, they're kind of yucky."

I however think they are pretty yummy. I think he is caught off guard by the lime flavor. Who would have ever thought to add lemon or lime zest to sweet potato cookies? I never would have thought it, but it makes a fascinating combination and makes them taste quite refreshing.
I would be interested to hear about it if anyone else tries these and likes them! I think cookies are a great way to get a vegetable serving in for the day ;)

How to Cut a Melon

Okay, y'all probably know this already, but this is what Susan, Jen's mother-in-law, taught me once, and it works with any melon I've ever tried.

First you cut a thin slice off each end of the melon. Then you cut the whole thing in half crosswise. Then scoop out the insides (of course, you don't have to do that if it's a watermelon). Then put one of the halves cut-side down on your cutting board, and use your knife to take a slice of the rind off from the top to the bottom. Work your way all around till the rind is removed from the entire half, then, without moving it from its upside down position, it's easy to simply cut it into eight sections. From there I put a bowl over the whole thing and, using the cutting board to keep it all together, turn the bowl right side up and remove the cutting board, and wa-la! the melon is in the bowl ready to serve.

This honeydew melon that we cut into today was oh-so-good. I have enjoyed it tremendously!

Roast Vegetables

Tonight Dad and I tried something for the first time: Rutabaga. I guess it's also called a yellow beet. Anyway, I remember last Fall when I was visiting Talena, we roasted some red beets that were wrapped in aluminum foil, then peeled and cut them up and put them in a green salad. I didn't expect to like them, but I did. In fact, they were really good. I've tried canned beets before, which I didn't like because they were pickled. I've tried boiled beets from the garden before, and they just tasted like dirt. But that roasted beet, now, it was good.

So here's how I did it tonight: I peeled the beet and cut it up, and I peeled the rutabaga and cut it up, and I peeled an onion and cut it up. Then I put them all in a plastic bag with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper and shook them around. Then I dumped them into a glass cooking pan and baked them in a hot oven for about an hour. I actually baked them at too hot of a temperature, and they got a little overdone. But they were still really good. Something about the little bit of oil at the hot temperature causes them to caramelize and turn sweet on the outside. The little bits of onion that stuck to the bottom of the pan were especially sweet and yummy.

Serve that with some baked salmon, a generous serving of dark salad greens, and a bite of dark chocolate for dessert. Mm-mm! I ate like a queen tonight!

Here's the recipe where I got the idea.

Sausage Lentil Kale Soup

This recipe appealed to me because of the "healthy" foods in it, i.e., the kale and the split peas, but also the appeal-to-Dad food in it, i.e., the Kielbasa Sausage. The original is found on Kitchen Parade, here. Make sure you read her tip for how to prepare the Kale, as the hardest thing about eating kale (I think) is the stringy texture. So anything you can do to remove the strings can only help. Of course, I adapted it to what I had on hand, which is lots of cannery-canned dry soup mix, and a package of frozen tomatoes that needed to be used. But I did buy the kale and the sausage especially for this recipe. So here's how I did it:

4 oz. Kielbasa sausage
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 onions, chopped
1 quart tomatoes
1 quart water
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
1 cup dry soup mix
1 bunch kale
2 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot over medium high heat while you prepare the sausage. Cut the sausage in quarters lengthwise, then slice into little bits. Add to the hot pot (it should sizzle) and stir around. Chop the onions and the garlic and add them as well, being careful that the sausage doesn't burn while you do. In other words, turn the heat down if you have to, and stir often. While the sausage and veggies simmer, blend the tomatoes up on high. Then add the blended tomatoes, the water, and the bouillon granules to the soup pot. Stir in the dry soup mix (or split green peas or lentils or whatever you're using). Prepare the kale by soaking it in a sinkfull of water for a couple of minutes then remove the stems and just keep the curly leaves. Chop the leaves finely then add them to the soup pot, along with the carrots. Turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for 90 minutes or until the peas and lentils in the soup mix are cooked through. Stir in the vinegar and salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Garden Vegetable Soup

I'm putting this recipe on here so I have quick access to it. This version came from here. In fact, I think I'll add her blog and a few others to the sidebar of this blog.

WEIGHT WATCHERS ZERO POINTS GARDEN VEGETABLE SOUP RECIPE

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 1 1/4 hour
Makes 9 cups

6 cups broth 

Cooking spray
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
4 teaspoons garlic, minced 
1/2 cabbage, chopped 
1/2 pound frozen green beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large zucchini, diced

Bring the broth to a boil in the microwave. (This is a time-saving tip that can be skipped if there's no hurry.)

Spray a Dutch oven with cooking spray and heat on MEDIUM HIGH. Add the carrots, onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the zucchini and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to MEDIUM and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the beans are tender. Add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini are tender. Serve and enjoy!

ALANNA'S TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES 
 BROTH Canned broth or bouillon granules work fine but for more freshness, consider using Homemade Vegetable Bouillon or Light Vegetable Stock. 
 GARLIC Use garlic from a jar or substitute about four cloves minced garlic. 
 CABBAGE Fresh cabbage is best but you can use a bag of pre-cut slaw, just look for the biggest chunks you can find versus the fine angel-hair slaw. Don't skip the cabbage, somehow it makes the soup. 

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cup: 61 Calories; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 13 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb10; 701 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; 4 g Protein.  WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points .5 & WW PointsPlus 1

WHAT? HOW DOES A ZERO-POINT RECIPE HAVE POINTS? This soup is low-cal, low-carb, high-fiber and no-fat. But hmmm. What about the claim that it has no points in the Weight Watchers world? I suppose so, since all the ingredients are "free". But the way I calculate points, a calorie's a calorie and so I count every one of them whether from chocolate cake or fresh vegetables. In my book, Garden Vegetable Soup counts as 1 point but if you want to count it as Zero Points, go ahead. Either way, it's a winning recipe.