Sweet Potato Fries, Take #1

I've had a hard time finding a baked sweet potato fries recipe that doesn't just result in limp pieces of baked sweet potato. This recipe from The Art of Doing Stuff promised to make them crispy and fry-like, and included sriracha mayo.

You cut up the sweet potatoes, soak them, coat in cornstarch and oil, and bake.

Here's what mine looked like right before going in the oven:

And when done:

As part of a meal with crockpot jerk chicken and citrus slaw:

They were NOT a hit (except for the sriracha mayo, that was tasty). The cornstarch made the fries gluey and gave an off taste. They were definitely not very crispy. The recipe says you have to play with the cornstarch and oil proportions - and I also thought I might have cut them too thick - so I tried again on another night, with thinner fries, less cornstarch, and more oil. I also baked them longer. The results were similar - mushy and gluey.

Verdict: Didn't really work. Maybe you could do batch after batch and find just the right methods, but I'm not going to keep trying. On to the next sweet potato fries recipe....

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.

Roasted Cabbage

The pin for this roasted cabbage recipe from Martha Stewart came with the standard fawning caption "So addicting! Like crack! OMG!" or whatever. *eyeroll*

Like a sucker, I fell for it. Here's an original image:

I roasted the cabbage at 400 degrees, but by the recommended 40 minutes, mine looked like this:

And even overdone like that, the center part was still hard and a tad undercooked. Maybe a lower temp would work better? But you'd have to get it just right to still get the browning effect.

As for the flavor, I used salt, pepper, and cracked fennel seeds for seasoning, and I loved it. I thought they were delicious.

However, my husband and almost-3-year-old (both of whom will generally eat ANYTHING) each took one bite and pushed the rest to the side of the plate.

If you're keeping score at home, that's two of three non-picky eaters who thought this tasted bland, greasy, and just blah.

Verdict: Not a crowd-pleaser. 

Zucchini and Carrots "The Best Way"

I'm always looking for flexible recipes - I hate repeat dinners, so I like to find things where you can vary the seasoning and come up with something different.

This zucchini and carrot recipe from Voracious Vander has been pinned a bunch. Here's a pic from the original recipe:

I like that you can use different spices to complement your menu.

The recipe says to roast at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, or "until browned". The first time I made this, after 25 minutes the veggies were well-cooked but not browning. They were OK, but didn't really taste "roasted".

A couple weeks later, I found myself with zucchini and carrots on hand. I don't usually repeat failed recipes, but I thought this had potential.

I tried again, this time I upped the oven temp to 475 degrees. That seemed to do the trick. I also chopped the carrots smaller than the zucchini because they seemed to brown more slowly. Here's what mine looked like:

I used Herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper. They were really delicious. Highly popular with parents and toddler alike.

 I served them with broiled steaks from our locally-grown-and-butchered cow, and whole wheat pearl couscous with lemon and parsley.  (Yep, I didn't even wipe the plate before I took the pic. Sorry to those readers who have a compulsive streak)

Verdict: Success!

Roasted Grape, Goat Cheese and Honey Sweet Potatoes

 This recipe is originally from  How Sweet It Is, a blog with lovely, delicious-looking pictures and well-explained recipes.

This is one of the original pics:

I usually make sweet potatoes by microwaving, then adding butter and cinnamon sugar. Not terribly healthy, but pretty good. I thought this recipe might be a little something different.

I started by roasting the grapes,  350 degrees for 45 minutes. This was the result:

Carbonization! Someday, someone will be able to radiocarbon date these. OK, tried again, this time for 35 minutes. Success.

The recipe called for baking the sweet potatoes, but I microwaved them. After the grape debacle, my after-work dinner prep time was nearly up.

Followed the rest of the recipe as written, except that I didn't save out any goat cheese or honey for garnish - I just mixed it all in. Garnish is not a weeknight family thing, as far as I'm concerned. If they want garnish, they can take me out to dinner.

So, they came out looking edible, though not as GORGEOUS as the ones on the blog.

I know the pictures are ugly, but I want to show how it might look in your actual kitchen, not some magical place you can get to with an expensive digital SLR camera and food-staging expertise.

The taste, however, was just OK, the goat cheese added a nice tang. The texture was the big problem. It was like eating caulk. Maybe it was because I microwaved it, or maybe I stirred everything in too vigorously.

Verdict: This recipe is finicky at best. For the average home cook, I'd look for something else to change up your sweet potato routine.