Curry-Spiced Sweet Potatoes

This recipe came from the My Recipes website as featured in "Cooking Light"...my favorite magazine! It was mighty delicious. I used a little bit of the unflavored cooked potatoes, with a dash of curry powder, to make some baby food as well. Two birds with one stone. Enjoy!


INGREDIENTS

• 6 1/2 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato (about 2 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/3 cup half-and-half
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

PREPARATION

• 1. Place potato in a medium saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well; return to pan. Keep warm.
• 2. Melt butter in a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallots to pan; cook 6 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in brown sugar, salt, curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, and red pepper; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add shallot mixture, half-and-half, and lemon juice to potato. Mash potato mixture with a potato masher to desired consistency.

Fresh Peach Pie

Two posts in one day- Anna won't believe it!

Yesterday, our ward had a pie making competition for the Pioneer day celebration activity, and I thought I would participate. Being summer, I thought it only fitting to bring a fresh fruit pie. I debated only shortly between strawberry and peach once I remembered I'd read this recipe on Debbie's blog. So peach I brought- and Third place I won!

Now what to do with my prize of canned imitation snow and Utah Jazz thunder sticks?

Peach Pie

Step 1: Bake Pie Crust (you can make your own, or just buy the Pillsbury pie crust and then bake it) I used the recipe from Annie's eats blog. It was delish!

Step 2: Jello Mixture
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
5 TBL corn starch
Bring to boil and cook on stove top until thick
Add 6 TBL peach jello (1 pkg)
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBL butter
Let this mixture cool

Step 3: Cream Cheese Filling
Mix 8 oz. softened package of cream cheese 1 cup of cool whip
1 cup of powdered sugar
Smooth in bottom of pie crust

Step 4: peel and slice 10-12 peaches (My pan only allowed for 6 peaches)

Line pie crust with cream cheese filling, sliced peaches, and top with jello mixture and chill.

*Slight alterations I would recommend: Add the peaches to the jello mixture before you put it all in the pie pan. And I served it with fresh whipped cream!

**This is NOT a healthy dessert. But some things are worth the calories...

CHICKEN CURRY POT PIE

This is a delicious recipe I am posting that I got from my sister-in-law, Afton. I've made very slight adjustments as noted below:

For the filling:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup of chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 teaspoon curry powder (I used more of both kinds of curry)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 red onion, sliced into half moons
2 sweet potatos, peeled and cubed
1 chicken breast, cooked and cubed
1/2 cup frozen peas (I used shelled edamame)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro


1. Melt butter, add the flour, and stir the paste for a while. Add the chicken stock and stir. Add the coconut milk and stir. Add the curry paste, curry powder, and salt.
2. Add the onions and sweet potatoes to the pan, and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
3. Add the chicken, frozen edamame, and chopped herbs. The filling is done!

4. Make some pie crust. Fill up the ramekins with the filling, then cover with a circle of pie crust. Cut a slit in the crust. You can freeze them at this point, or cook them for 15-20 minutes at 325 right away. (Mine needed 25 min)

Note: I like to use the whole can of chicken stock and the whole can of coconut milk, so I don't have leftovers. I just guess on all the other ingredients, increasing them by about 50 percent. In my opinion, you can't have too many sweet potatoes or too much curry paste and powder. Then I just make as many pies as I can with the filling I have. This recipe as it is should make about four ramekin-sized pies, I think.

Sweet Pepper Sauce

I am addicted to this sauce! It has deliciously increased my intake of fresh vegetables and has made sweet peppers, from Costco, a staple in my fridge. Enjoy over anything from tilapia (our favorite) to potatoes, or as a dip for pita chips or a butter toasted baguette. I like to serve this over tilapia with an accompanying dollop of mango salsa and fresh avacado bits, with buttered bread on the side. I just had it for lunch today over a baked potatoe with some sour cream.


INGREDIENTS
10-15 Sweet mini peppers or equivalent amount of red, yellow and orange bell peppers
*DO NOT USE GREEN PEPPERS they will make the sauce a very unappetizing brown color
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

It's that simple and it's delicious! Enjoy.

Oatmeal Pancakes

As per Anna's request, I am posting another recipe to our food blog. I have some more recipes saved up on my computer, so lucky for you, Anna- I'll be contributing a lot more hopefully! And soon.

Oatmeal Wheat Pancakes
Adapted from Smitten Kitten

Makes about 18 pancakes

3/4 cup oat flour (you can make this by pulsing rolled oats into a food processor or blender until finely ground; 1 cup of oats yielded 3/4 cup oat flour for me)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon Kosher or coarse salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (may need more depending on how your batter looks)
1 cup cooked oatmeal (cook separately- 1 cup water with 1/2 cup dry oats)
1 tablespoon honey
2 large eggs

Whisk the dry ingredients (oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, honey and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a light hand is important for tender pancakes; the batter should be slightly thick with a holey surface.

Heat a griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed onto the pan. Working quickly, dollop 1/4-cup mounds of batter onto the griddle. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is dark golden-brown, about 5 minutes total. Continue with the rest of the batter.

They taste delicious with buttermilk syrup and fresh fruit. How's that for Fiber? I love it!

P.S. Here's the syrup:

Buttermilk Syrup

1 1/2 cup white sugar
2 TBSP corn syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla

Heat on medium heat: sugar, corn syrup, butter, buttermilk, and baking soda. Bring to a boil and cook for 7 min. Remove from heat. Add vanilla.

{ Deviled Eggs Get Even Better! }

Thanks to The Neely's, the latest library cook book on my shelf, I have found the next best thing to add to hard boiled eggs since mayonnaise and mustard were invented...BBQ sauce!  Just add a bit of this winning ingredient to you next set of deviled eggs or egg salad and man will you be saying pass me some more lickety split! 


This whole cook book is chalk full of delicious southern comfort food. And I must say I'm such a big fan of their show, "Down Home With the Neely's"! Can you see Hubby and I hosting something like that? Maybe?!

{ Traditional English Bread and Butter Pudding }

I'd like to give a big thank you to TLC for posting this recipe and hosting "The Take Hom Chef" show, and to Netflix for streaming it, so I could find this delicious dessert. It's wonderful.


Ingredients
3 1/2 C milk
3 C cream
1 1/2 C granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla
9 whole large eggs
9 egg yolks
1 C raisins
6 croissants (each torn into 8-10 pieces)


1) Preheat the oven to 275°F.  Stir the milk, cream, sugar and vanilla in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the milk mixture is warm, about 10 minutes.

2) Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Whisk the whole eggs and the yolks together in a large bowl, then gradually whisk into the warm milk mixture. Place the croissant pieces in a 13x9-inch baking dish.

3) Pour the custard over the croissant pieces and sprinkle the raisins over. Press gently to submerge the croissants and raisins. Let stand for 20 minutes to allow the croissants to absorb some of the custard.  Place the baking dish in a large roasting pan. Set the roasting pan on the oven shelf. Add enough warm water to the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the baking dish.

4) Bake until the pudding is firm to the touch, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Serve warm.

You can add an even more delicious and extravagant touch by melting some white chocolate and pouring it over the top as a sauce.


"Traditional English Bread-and-Butter Pudding"  30 June 2010.  HowStuffWorks.com.  03 May 2011.