Tag: sweet potato

What’s On Your Menu?

 

 

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Cauliflower & Sweet Potato Soup w/ scallions and bacon

Majority of the time, Sunday’s are dedicated to food shopping, meal prepping and getting ready for the week. Yesterday was no exception.

What usually happens is, I go through the store circulars, store coupons and manufacturer coupons and plan our meals based on the deals of the week. I’m on a budget! “Look babe! Turkey is 99 cents per pound. Are you good with turkey this week?” “Yea, anything is good,” says my husband.

Yesterday was not one of those days…

$178.00 later: 2 lbs ground turkey, chicken breast, fresh salmon, shrimp, fruits, cauliflower, sweet potato, mozzarella cheese, eggs, almonds, strawberries, apples etc…. And my small list became this ginormous list and I was overwhelmed by the cost but the food was already scanned and bagged and the next thing I know, I am home prepping 1,000 things I had not planned on.

I stumbled upon Peas & Crayons Slow Cooker Sweet Potato & Cauliflower Soup recipe and had to give it a try. If any parents are reading this and have trouble getting your kids to eat their veggies, this is a good one. The sweet potato overpowers the cauliflower taste.

This recipe also gave me an excuse to purchase an immersion blender  and I am in love. It is way better than a handheld mixer that you use for baking… I dread using those things because most of the food ends up on the walls.

Yields: 16 cups (8oz) and freezes well!

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds Sweet Potato (Approx 2 large potatoes)- peeled and cubed
  • 2 pounds fresh head of cauliflower- roughly chopped
  • Original recipe calls for 1 quart veggie broth, I used chicken broth for extra flavor
  • 1 large onion-diced
  • 5 cloves garlic peeled. I minced my garlic
  • 4 stalks scallion- chopped
  • 1 tsp dried thyme- I did not have this so I used oregano
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you really like a kick)
  • 1/4 tsp salt or to taste- My hubby said it was enough salt. I had to add more to my soup
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2oz. cream cheese

Directions:

  • Put everything into your crock pot except for milk and cream cheese. Set on high for 4-5 hours or until veggies are fork tender (took mine 4 hours)
  • Once tender, turn slow cooker off, add milk and cream cheese and blend using an immersion blender.
  • I topped our soups off with crumbled bacon, scallions and shredded cheese.

Stay tuned for a Caprese meatball recipe. So good!

XOXO,

Rachel

 

 

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Caribbean Jerk Shrimp and Sweet Potato Avocado Mash

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No offense to Paula Deen or my Russian ancestors, but we do not need to use butter in everything! “What do you mash with your potatoes to make them moist and flavorful?”
::insert heavy Russian accent::

 

Say hello to my little friend, Avocado.

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I promise I will get to the recipe in a second but first lets see the difference between avocado and buttah:
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Ingredients for one serving:

  • 1 sweet potato
  • 1/2 avocado
  • Salt and pepper
  • Cayenne pepper optional
  • 1/2 onion chopped
  • 1 tbs minced garlic
  • 1 tbs evoo or coconut oil
  • Walkerswood Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
  • Lemon juice for the avocado and shrimp
  • 3 oz shrimp (I used Target’s Market Pantry small shrimp): 60 cal/13g protein

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 F
  • Pierce holes around sweet potato and bake for 45-1 hour or until soft or microwave for approx 10 min turning sides once
  • Soak shrimp in cold water for about 15 min
  • Once shrimp have defrosted place in ziploc bag and mix with jerk seasoning. Cook on pan for about 3-5 minutes or until translucent
  • Chop onion and garlic, saute for approx 3 to 4 minutes until translucent
  • Drizzle half avocado with lemon juice, salt and pepper
  • Mash baked potato and avocado together and mix in onions and garlic
  • Serve with cooked shrimped and lemon wedge

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Sweet Potato Avocado Smash

 

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Can I still call it a “recipe” if it only requires two ingredients and a microwave?

Healthy eating for one is hard. Fresh produce goes bad quickly, and buying small quantities isn’t always possible.

Avocados and Sweet Potatoes to the rescue. Here is a quick and healthy recipe that can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

You’ll need:
1 or 1/2 avocado
1 sweet potato
salt
Optional: 1 egg, any style

  1. scrub the sweet potato, especially if you intend to eat the skin.
  2. pierce sweet potato with a fork 5-10 times, then wrap sweet potato in a lightly moist paper towel
  3. microwave sweet potato 5-7 minutes, depending on strength of your microwave. Let it cool for a few minutes once its done
  4. cut sweet potato in half, scoop out insides.
  5. smash sweet potato insides together in bowl with avocado and salt to taste
  6. Optional: throw an egg on top for a filling and nutritious meal

 

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YUM!

 

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