baked sweet potato with "cheese sauce"

i did my own thing for dinner tonight. still adhering to the basic principles of thrive, aside from baking at a rather high temp. it was delicious! here's the recipe for 1, sean's driving tonight and i had already made milo his banana buckwheat pancakes before i ever got around to thinking of what to have myself.....

1 sweet potato, ends trimmed. (brush with olive oil all over & a sprinkle of sea salt if you so desire.)

bake the potato on a baking sheet (they tend to get a little sticky while baking) in a 385* oven for 35-40 min.

while the potato is in the oven...

prepare a 1/2 recipe of CREAMY NUTRITIONAL YEAST SAUCE (click for link to previous post, you'll have to scroll to the bottom for the recipe),

fry 1/2 a diced sweet onion in a little live oil until it begins to caramelize,

AND chop up a handful of baby spinach.

when potato is out of the oven, slice down the center with a serrated knife and open up as you would a regular baked potato.

top with chopped spinach, followed by the creamy nutritional yeast sauce and lastly the caramelized onion.

i also just remembered that i was going to top the whole thing with some crumbled leftover almond burger....actually what prompted me to think up the recipe in the first place....i forgot. next time! i will definitely be making these again.

crisp peppernuts

for as long as i can remember, our family has made peppernuts @ christmas time. tiny little bites of goodness.....so good that it is nearly impossible to stop after just one handful. the recipe we use every year is on page 25 of a little book called peppernuts plain and fancy , given to my mom during the winter of 1979 from my grandpa swanson who wanted her to be able to make them for my dad as they were his favorite : ) on christmas day this year my mom and i rolled out peppernuts here at our house with our good friends carolin and her family and dear paula! it was so much fun. mid peppernut extravaganza there was a knock @ the door and the smiling faces of the dos santos family appeared in our doorway bearing even more cookies : ) i quickly wrapped up a bag of peppernuts for them and they went on their way. lee-ann has requested the recipe as little amelia just can't get enough "nuf-nuts". i am posting the recipe here to share with all, but especially amelia & lee-ann dos santos. : ) they take a whole lot of work and are best made with the help of as many friends as you can fit around the table but they are well worth the effort!

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp syrup
2 tsp baking soda
3 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2-1 tsp oil of anise, or ground anise (i used 1 1/2 tsp anise extract)
the recipe does not call for the next two ingredients but we add them anyway : )
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp nutmeg

basic directions for mixing peppernuts:

1) cream butter & sugar until fluffy.
2) add eggs one at a time, beating well.
3) add syrup
4) sift dry ingredients with spices and flour.
add 1/2 the amount of flour, mixing well,
add remaining flour & knead thoroughly.
5) store dough in tightly covered container or plastic wrap in refrigerator overnight or longer. this helps the dough to season and spices to blend. ( i find it best to leave dough in fridge for 2 days. the peppernuts do not spread out as much while baking and as far i am concerned, the smaller and crispier the peppernut, the better! )
6) roll dough into thin ropes and slice with a sharp knife.
7) place pieces separately on a baking sheet that has been greased or lined with parchment paper.
8) bake @ 375* for 7 minutes or 'til golden brown. baking time depends on how brown you like peppernuts. different degrees of browning change the flavour and texture of the peppernuts.

manje!

*milo's supper* quinoa pilaf turned pancake!

milo had been asking for pancakes ALL DAY. i took his portion of pilaf and combined it with 1 egg, mashing the chickpeas with a fork. i added a little rice milk, a few tablespoons of flour 'til it formed a pancakey batter along with about a 1/4 tsp each of baking soda and baking powder, a dash of cinnamon and a little honey. milo was not super excited about having his photo taken, but he DID love his pancakes!

quinoa chard pilaf with chickpeas & roasted red pepper

today is day 1 of attempting to eat a month without dairy and very limited grains & sugar. i had a bit of a rough day.....i think the mental aspects of such a task are far more daunting for me than trying to figure out what to cook! i have NOT given up my afternoon coffee however and i very much enjoyed sitting down this afternoon with my americano-chai and savoured EVERY last drop! okay. on to the recipe...

this, was SUPER easy.

cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of veggie broth according to package directions. add herbs and seasonings of your choice in with the quinoa, tonight i used a pesto epicure seasoning mix.

while this is cooking, saute 1 medium onion, finely diced in a little olive oil over medium heat til translucent, splash with a little balsamic vinegar and continue cooking a little longer 'til it starts to caramelize slightly. turn down heat if necessary.

remove stems from 4 chard leaves of your choice ( i used red chard tonight ), coarsely chop and set aside.

2 cups cooked chickpeas, i used canned chickpeas tonight as i was feeling a little lazy : )

1 roasted red pepper, diced (again, feeling lazy i used a roasted red pepper from a jar : ) if you don't feel like roasting peppers and have none on hand a diced red pepper will suffice!

toss onions, chard, chickpeas, and roasted red pepper in with the quinoa and combine.

i sprinkled hemp hearts over the whole thing along with a little more seasoning mix and topped with cloves from a whole roasted garlic. the hemp hearts added a nutty flavour and you can never go wrong with roasted garlic!

manje!

double chocolate hemp-heart muffins

protein from the hemp-hearts and deliciously chocolate filled. milo gobbled one up as soon as they were cool enough to eat!

pre-heat oven to 325*

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup hemp hearts
(if you don't have hemp hearts on hand, just add an extra 1/2 cup of either of the flours.)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2-2 cups chocolate chips, depending on how chocolate-y you'd like it to be :)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups light buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup butter


-in a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, sugar & chocolate chips.

-in a separate small bowl whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla.

-pour over the dry ingredients and stir til just mixed....leave lumps. add the melted butter and stir gently.

-spoon batter equally into 24 greased or paper-lined muffin tins.

-bake @ 325* for 18-22 min.

manje!

*poutine* with balsamic reduction & feta cheese

sean received a christmas gift from maple leaf foods down in lethbridge while driving for the business a couple of weeks ago consisting of two giant bags of fries, some bacon and a pork roast. yesterday while noticing our fridge and cupboards are rather barren and ready for a new years restock, we remembered the fries :) i haven't a photo but what we decided to make with them was DELICIOUS!!! i had some feta in the fridge, red peppers and onions & had the idea to make a balsamic"gravy" for a sort of poutine.

-while the fries are in the oven, reduce about a cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan set on medium-high.

-add a tsp or two of grainy dijon mustard and some pepper while stirring often.

-at the same time add a coarsely chopped small vidalia onion to a little olive oil and
saute it in a small frying pan til nicely caramelized and golden brown.

-crumble the feta & dice a red pepper. set aside.

-when the fries are almost done, add about a 1/2 cup of light cream to the balsamic vinegar along with a tsp of cornstarch stirred into a little warm water to thicken the mixture just a little bit more.

-load fries onto plates, sprinkle crumbled feta on top and move around a little to get feta bits mixed thru-out. throw on a handful of diced red pepper. spoon the balsamic gravy over all and top with caramelized onion!

manje!

of course, you can use any fries you have...make your own...whatever you would like. i imagine sweet potato fries would be excellent as well. next time i'll take a picture. we were just too hungry to hunt for the camera. today i am attempting sweet potato gnocci from rocco dispirito's book, *now eat this!* i'll let you know how it turns out.