Sweet Potato Casserole

I've been meaning to post this on here for months, but just came across it again. I'm not the biggest fan of sweet potatoes cooked...well...sweetly. (I'm more of an oven-fries kind of girl).... So when I was assigned sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, I panicked a little. Bless AllRecipes.com, though, where I found this recipe. It got lots of compliments, and even I enjoyed it! (That's saying a lot, for the record). =)

casserole
5 sweet potatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 2)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream

topping
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Boil or bake sweet potatoes until soft. In a large bowl, mash.
2. Preheat oven to 350
3. To the mashed sweet potatoes, add salt, butter, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, and heavy cream {I MIGHT have added an extra splash or two of cream...and it MIGHT have been mighty tasty to do so}. Mix together thoroughly.
4. Spread mixture in a lightly greased 9x13" pan
5. In medium bowl, combine butter, flour, brown sugar and pecans. Mix with a pastry blender to the consistency of coarse meal. Sprinkle over potato mixture.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, until topping is crisp and lightly browned.

Guacamole Salad

(by Ina Mae Garten)

Ingredients

* 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
* 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1/2-inch diced
* 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
* 1/2 cup small diced red onion
* 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
* 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
* 1/4 cup good olive oil
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
* 2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Directions

Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.

(Note: This is an amazing side dish, but it would also be really yummy served over romaine as a main dish salad. I usually leave out the onions, jalapenos and cayenne because I don't like things too spicy.)

Pear Bunnies

My mom used to make these for us. Kids think they are great. Not to mention they are pretty good for you. They would make a great Easter treat.

Ingredients:
1 Can Pear Halfs
Raisins
Cottage Cheese
Carrots (I used mini carrots)
Lettuce

Directions:
Take a leaf of lettuce and lay it nicely on the plate.
Place one pear half on top of the lettuce
Use the raisins to make eyes and a nose.
Put a dollop of cottage cheese at the large end of the pear half for a tail.
Take a vegetable peeler and "peel" the carrot (Not really peel it, but make strips of carrot). These are the ears.

Enjoy.

Oven Roasted Red Potatoes and Asparagus

This recipe is a tweaked version from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
- 6 red potatoes, cut into 2 inch chunks
- 1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- ½ -1 tsp rosemary
- ½ - 1 tsp thyme
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- pepper (which I forgot, but it was still so good)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. In a 9x13 baking dish toss potatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, 1 tsp salt. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes in oven.

3. Put the asparagus on top of the potatoes. Drizzle remaining olive oil and sprinkle remaining salt over asparagus. Replace foil and bake 7 more minutes.

4. Take off the foil and bake 5 more minutes. Pepper to taste (if you want). We ate it with grilled chicken. It was delicious. I'm sure it would be great with another vegetable if you don't like asparagus.

Sweet Potato Souffle

This is the recipe of a friend's grandmother who is from the deep south. It's yummy!

3 C sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 T sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 C milk
1/2 t vanilla

topping:

1 C dark brown sugar
1/2 C flour
3/4 stick butter
1 C chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Add to sweet potatoes the sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Pour potato mixture into a well-buttered baking dish.

Mix topping: melt butter; add sugar and flour. Blend well. Add pecans. The mixture should be paste-like. Spread the topping over the potatoes. Bake at 350 for 40 min. Let sit for about 10 min before serving.

Veggies: Bean and Corn Salad

How easy is this?

Mix together 1 can of rinsed black beans, 1 can of corn, 2 cups of chopped tomatoes, 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, and 1 bunch of green onions. Toss it with a dressing made of 1/4 cup lime juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon cumin.

Red Skin Potato Salad

I use red skin potatos because you don't have to peel them. And the peel is the healthy part, anyway.

I usually start by making mashed potatos. Just wash, chop and boil red skin potatos until slightly firm. Then mash roughly (I use a plastic cup as my masher), leaving some chunks. We usually eat some of the mashed potatos the first night, but I don't season the whole batch with butter and salt because we will turn these mashed potatos into potato salad the next night.

So, once potatos are cool, add:
mayonaise
mustard
chopped pickles
olives
green onions
sliced hard boiled eggs
chopped celery

I usually add a cup or so of mayonaise in the beginning to get the potatos to be stirable, and then once the other ingredients are added, I add more mayonaise to cover it all. Once mixed to your satisfaction, add a few more sliced hard boiled eggs to the top and sprinkle with paprika.

This is really good with fried chicken.

Pineapple Bread Pudding

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
4 eggs
1 (20oz) can crushed pineapple, drained slightly...
5-8 slices of cheap white bread, torn into pieces (I prefer 8, but you might like it less 'bready' and more 'fruity.' If you're using the cheap stuff, 8 slices is terrific, but if you're using regular white bread, you might want close to five)

-Cream butter and sugar until fluffy
-Add eggs and beat well
-Fold in pineapple, then bread
-bake in greased 9x9" pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes

We like to serve this as a side dish to a ham dinner....and also for breakfast or brunch.

Garlic Fries

If you have ever been to a baseball game and ordered the garlic fries, this is hte healthier version. I got it from Cooking Light. You will love it if you like garlic!

3 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch strips
4 tsp. vegetable oil
3/4 tsp. salt
Cooking spray
2 Tbsp. butter
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley (I also use dried parsley but only put in 1-2 tsp.)
2 Tbsp. freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Preheat oven to 400. Combine first three ingredients in ziptop bag, tossing to coat. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 for 50 minutes or until potaotes are tender and golden brown, turing after 20 minutes.
PLace butter and garlic in a large non-stick skillet; cook over low heat 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add potatoes, parsley and cheese to pan; toss to coat. Serve immediately. 6 servings

calroies 256, fat 7.7, protein 5.9, carb 42.3, fiber 3.5