Loaded Sweet Potatoes

Pinch of Yum (great spot for healthy recipes) has a recipe for Healthy Mexican Sweet Potato Skins that gets pinned a lot as "loaded sweet potatoes."

It's not super quick for a weeknight, but it's not too complicated either. Skillet roast some corn, then mix with beans and set aside. Saute some onions. Mix the corn, beans and onions with a bit of cilantro, the flesh of baked sweet potatoes, and some cream cheese, sour cream, and chipotles. Put it back in the sweet potato skin, top with a little shredded cheese, and bake till warmed and melty.

I followed the recipe as written, except I put powdered chipotles in with the roasting corn, rather than adding chipotles in adobo later.

They came out looking pretty decent. (The one on the right has a cablanca goat cheese topping, because my littlest guy was still nursing with a cow's dairy allergy, so I had to avoid the cheddar).

It was a very delicious, hearty meal! The 3-year old loved it, the sweetness of the sweet potatoes is a great way to get veggies in kids. It takes a little more effort than some of the "easy weeknight" recipes, but I think it's worth it because it's a solid one-dish meal.

Verdict: Tasty and healthy, a great vegetarian meal.

30-Minute Meals: Coconut Shrimp Curry

Mel's Kitchen Cafe has a big list of 30-minute meals (39 of them, in fact). This is the first in a series testing them.

The image I see pinned all the time is this one:

I made the Coconut Shrimp Curry, pictured here from Mel's.

The recipe is really simple. Just saute aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger, etc.), add canned tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Add coconut milk and some shrimp you've marinated. Cook till the shrimp are done, add some cilantro, serve over rice.

I followed the recipe pretty much as written, though I added some red bell pepper and broccoli. It looked like this:

I served it over brown rice.

It was fantastic. Good enough for company, and extremely easy. It's going to be a weeknight go-to, for sure. I did use full-fat coconut milk, so I'm sure that part of the appeal was the delicious fat content. But I think it would still be pretty darned good with the reduced fat coconut milk.

It's also a nice kid-friendly curry - not too spicy (you can vary that, obviously), but very flavorful.

Verdict: Mel's is 1 for 1 with me!

Update: I tried this with light coconut milk, and it wasn't NEARLY as good. Use the full fat stuff.

Double Recipe Test: Creamy Avocado Pasta, and Honey Mustard Greek Yogurt Dressing

I was slightly skeptical of this recipe for creamy avocado pasta from the health and lifestyle site Greatist. It just seemed a little TOO easy, and the picture wasn't totally appetizing. But avocados are a favorite around here, so I gave it a try.

It didn't seem like a full dinner on its own, so I added a substantial salad with this honey mustard Greek yogurt dressing/sauce from The Hungry Runner blog. I pinned this image:

The pasta recipe is incredibly easy. Just toss some avocado, basil, lemon, garlic, olive oil, and salt in the blender or food processor. Process till smooth, and toss with cooked pasta.

I followed the recipe as written, and used Barilla Plus multi-grain pasta. This is how the sauce looked.

The dressing is also a snap. Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, Greek yogurt and honey.

Dinner came together in about 15-20 minutes!

It was delicious, too. The pasta is AMAZING. This is definitely my new go-to. Creamy, lemony, and fantastic. My husband actually couldn't even identify the avocado flavor. It tastes like a rich pesto. Love it.

The dressing was pretty good too, though it definitely had that Greek yogurt taste. I might try regular plain yogurt next time, or half and half regular yogurt and mayo. It was still better than bottled dressings, and a nice change from standard vinaigrette french dressing.

Altogether, this was a great success - popular with even the littlest eaters.

Verdict: A perfect healthy, quick weeknight dinner.

Double Recipe Test: Cupcake Pizzas and Pizza Dough

This is a meta-Pinterest blog post. This recipe for cupcake pizzas is from a food and craft blog called All My Great Ideas Are Really From Pinterest.

The pin I used had a caption saying that cupcake tins would work as well as muffin tins. The recipe calls for Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough, and just "pizza sauce."

I wanted to do a homemade dough so I could use partly whole wheat flour. So I used the dough recipe from this Pizza Hut Personal Pizzas from cdkitchen. It gets pinned a lot too.

The cupcake pizza recipe was pretty obvious: layer dough, sauce, cheese, toppings, and bake.

The dough recipe was also easy: mix ingredients, knead, divide into portions, let rise in the pan, top and bake.  I deviated a bit from the recipe, but nothing to major. I used half whole wheat flour and I skipped the powdered milk. I also skipped the NINE OUNCES of oil. That's just waaaaay too much.

Anyway, I used cupcake tins, and here's what my risen dough looked like:

The recipe made a LOT of dough. Perhaps more than I needed? This is how they looked topped:

As you can see, I worked in some veggies. I used Classico fire-roasted tomato pizza sauce and regular old mozzarella. At this point, I was getting concerned about the dough-to-topping ratio. They came out of the oven looking like this:

You can see the problem: They look like dough muffins topped with a bit of cheese. Breaking one open confirmed it.

I guess if you used the more-than-a-cup of oil that the dough recipe called for, or bigger muffin or cake tins, or just a smaller amount of dough per cup, this might taste good. But this version was way too bread-y, and didn't really seem like a satisfying dinner. It was like eating a half loaf of bread with a little tomato sauce and cheese. The guys were not pleased.


I don't think I'll be making these again. They don't offer any improvement over plain old round pizza in a pizza pan.


Verdict: Pizza night should be a treat, and these aren't really all that special.

Turkey and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

The Skinny Taste blog gets lots of pins, and I can see why - the recipes are usually tasty and successful. This turkey and sweet potato shepherd's pie looked healthy and yummy:

I pinned this image:

I followed the recipe pretty much as written: brown turkey, saute veggies, add seasonings and flour, add liquid and simmer. Cover with mashed sweet potatoes and bake. I used one big dutch oven instead of individual portions, and that seemed to work fine.

Here's what my filling looked like, and then the finished product after baking:

It was very good. Every bit as tasty as the usual beef-and-potatoes shepherd's pie.

Verdict: A solid, easy, healthy recipe.

Ratatouille

I was a little hesitant to make this ratatouille recipe from The Comfort of Cooking. Veggie dishes for dinner sometimes get an "I'm still hungry!" around here. Also, watery veggies like eggplant and zucchini can make for an insipid dish if they're not cooked right. But I couldn't resist the beautiful pic.

I couldn't find my 9 x 13 baking dish, so I used a dutch oven. Other than that, I followed the recipe. It's super easy, you basically just layer thinly-sliced veggies in a tomato sauce and bake.

Before cooking, it looked like this:

Not quite as gorgeous as the blog. Of course. After cooking, and served with whole wheat pearl couscous:

At this point I was pretty worried that it might just be bland veggie mush.

Roasty tomatoes and herbs to the rescue! It was very tasty. The thyme, oregano, and red pepper really added flavor, and the tomatoes took on a nice, acidic, roasted taste. The guys loved it, and didn't seem to miss the meat.

Verdict: Delicious, and very easy! This one is going into rotation, for sure. It could also be a nice meal for company if you need a vegan/vegetarian option.

Crock Pot Beef Carnitas

The charming blog Eat, Live, Run offers a beef carnitas recipe for the crock pot. I'm learning that very few things really work in the crock pot - most things turn mushy, with muddy, bland flavors. Your house smells great, but dinner tastes like boiled socks. But some things really work, mostly dishes that you would otherwise cook for hours in the oven.

Carnitas are traditionally braised slowly, so I thought this yummy-looking recipe was a good bet:

It's a simple recipe. Rub the meat with spices, add the veggies, and cook. Serve with cilantro, lime, salsa, avocado.

Here's what mine looked like at the end of the cooking time:

I shredded the meat, mixed in some of the veggies, and added the toppings:

They looked fantastic. Unfortunately, they suffered from crock pot syndrome - very bland and mushy. It tasted like there was too much liquid, and the flavors weren't concentrated enough. I was expecting taco-truck deliciousness, but was disappointed. Maybe there's a spectacular slow-cooker carnitas recipe out there, but this one didn't work for me.

Verdict: Blah and mushy is the opposite of what Mexican food should be.

Arugula Salad with Mango, Macadamia Nuts, and Avocado

The vegan blog Healthy Happy Life offers a beautiful salad of arugula, mango, avocado, and macadamia nuts. I pinned this image:

It's very simple - just the four title ingredients and a variation on a basic french vinaigrette. I'm sure you could use a wide variety of vinaigrette-style dressings.

I used mandarin oranges, because the mango I bought in Alaska in December... yeah. Not so nice. But mandarins are in season, and it came out great.

  

The avocado and nuts make this a more substantial salad. I served it as a side with some broiled salmon, and that was all we needed. The guys loved it, and so did I. It would make a great salad to bring to a potluck. 

The verdict: Success! Yummy, super easy, and flexible. This one will go in heavy rotation.

Double Recipe Test: Brisket and Yeast Rolls

The 30-minute yeast roll recipe from Your Homebased Mom gets a lot of repins, and crock pot brisket is a perennial favorite too. I used this food.com recipe. I tried them together, with slaw to make a sandwich.

Here are the pinned images I used:

I also used Bobby Flay's Creamy Coleslaw recipe (not from a pin).

The yeast rolls came together easily in the mixer, a great recipe if you have a small "helper". I made a half recipe - we don't eat much white bread-type stuff, so I knew a whole recipe would go to waste. Due to all the enthusiastic "helping," my rolls were unevenly sized.

The brisket was a very easy crock pot recipe, just put a spice rub on the meat, throw it all in there and cook. This is how it looked right when I took it out.

The ingredients for the sandwiches:

And the finished product:

These were a HUGE hit.

The rolls are light and soft. Probably too cake-y for my taste most of the time, but great in this particular sandwich. And you can't beat it for only taking 30 min. If I make them again, I may do a punch-down-and-second-rise to get them a little bread-ier/chewier.

The brisket is delicious. I think the liquid smoke really makes it. It wasn't something I had on hand, but I wouldn't skip it. Often crock pot recipes are bland and mushy, but this dish is really well-suited to slow cooking. With a little hot sauce, it was divine.

The coleslaw was yummy too. Usually I do vinaigrette dressing for coleslaw rather than mayo-based, but you have to have the mayo kind for brisket sandwiches. I followed the recipe as written, except I used a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon of dried mustard (was that a typo? a tablespoon of dried mustard?).

The verdict: YUM. Good enough for company, for sure. Must have beer to accompany.