Baked Sweet Potato Fries (Image © Dexie J Wharton)

INGREDIENTS:
3 large sweet potatoes, washed thoroughly
2 tbsp olive oil
dried basil
dried parsley
dried oregano
garlic powder
paprika
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 365°.

Cut the fried in thin strips. Peel them first if you prefer ‘e, that way. Leaving the skin on is good too.

In a bowl, put the sweet potato fries. Drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle dried parsley, dried oregano, dried basil, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix everything together with your hands making sure everything is coated.

Using two cookie sheet pans, drizzle half a tbsp of olive oil on the pans. Brush the oil all over. Lay the sweet potato fries on top.

Bake it in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Ranch dressing is a good dip for Baked Sweet Potato Fries.

Post from: Blisstree

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

This particular recipe, because it includes rum soaked raisins, may be just a late-night, no kids dessert for me and my husband, but that’s ok. After a day of cooking and standing around an oven and stove, kicking back after the kids are in bed with a sweet and savory treat and maybe a good movie is the perfect way to wrap up our favorite holiday.

If you want to make this so everyone can enjoy it, the raisin can be soaked in a bit of warm water instead.

Rum Raisin Sweet Potato Pie
from Recipezaar

1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 egg
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean seeds
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup dark raisin, soaked 2 hours in 1/4 cup dark rum
1 pie shell

~ Preheat the oven to 425.

~ Combine all the ingredients except the raisins and rum and pie shell in a large mixing bowl.

~ Mix on medium speed with an electric mixer until the texture is smooth.

~ Fold in the raisins and rum, then pour into pie shell and bake for 10 minutes.

~ Reduce the temperature to 350. Bake for an additional 45 minutes or until the filling is set. Cool on a wire rack.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Blisstree

Rum Raisin Sweet Potato Pie

I got all my materials ready, made sure my camera was close by, then I noticed that the boxes they sent me were clearly marked with, “Not For Food, Ornamental Use Only.”  Uh oh. Dang.

Oh well, I decided to figure something else out.  I moved some plants around and now I’ve got some flowers started in the planter boxes and my vegetables seeds are planted in deep plastic pots.

This is one of those times when I feel lucky that I run into so many roadblocks in life – it helps me to think of creative solutions.

You have to be able to adapt with gardening and container gardening in particular. Not enough sun, move the pot to a different location. Too many snails, move the pot up onto a table, clear out all the darn snails. (My method?  I pluck those suckers off the plants then throw them as far across the lawn as I can. I used to squish them. Gross. Slimy. And it freaked the kids out).

I’m doing a little experiment. Did you ever sprout a sweet potato when you were a kid?  You know, put toothpicks in the sides, hang it in a glass of water and watch it go crazy?  Well, I had a sweet potato sitting with my fruit and it was sprouting all over. Mom told me to cut the sprouted pieces and to plant them. I did and I’ll let you know how that goes, too.

I can’t wait until the day comes when I walk out on the patio and grab some fresh tomatoesoff the vine for salad. Ahh. Now that’s my idea of luxury.

Image credit: Michelle Smith

Post from: Blisstree

GroGood Project Moving Along

Regular potatoes – swap for sweet potatoes. Not necessarily Grandma’s sweet potato casserole (which is loaded with sugar) but cooked sweet potatoes with a little butter are a good alternative. They won’t spike your insulin as much, they’re less caloric, and they contain more fiber.

Cranberry sauce – swap for sugar-free Jello with fruit. We always have a Jello dish during the holidays, which I eat instead of the cranberry sauce (chock full of sugar and extra calories). My favorite is the raspberry flavor with real raspberries inside. You can put the fruit in before you put it in the fridge to set.

Eggnog – swap for hot chocolate made with Splenda. All the alcohol, sugar and fat in eggnog won’t be kind to your waistline. If you make the hot chocolate with skim milk, it’ll be around 90 calories per cup.

Got any more swap ideas? Post them in the comments!

Claire

Post from: Blisstree

Healthy Swaps For Favorite Christmas Treats