Tag Archives: sweet potatoes

Spicy Soup

I was very excited to see baby bok choy in our box this week. For those not familiar with bok choy, it is a Chinese cabbage. When it is picked young, it is really tender and makes a good salad. The bok choy in our box was just a bit too tough for a salad, so I decided to put it in a soup.  I saw this recipe for Chicken and Bok Choy soup on Allrecipes.com. However, I wanted to go with an Asian flavor (since it is a Chinese cabbage).

Spicy Bok Choy Soup

We ate this as a light main dish, but it could also be a soup course for a larger meal.

Spicy Bok Choy Soup
Recipe type: Main or Side
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2-4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 small head bok choy, chopped
  • 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1 quart chicken broth
  • 1-2 tablespoons chili-garlic sauce
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in Dutch oven. Add onion and garlic, saute until onions are translucent.
  2. Add bok choy, sweet potatoes, chicken broth, and chili-garlic sauce. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, until sweet potatoes are soft.

 

Recipe Help

I’m continuing my series of shared recipes. Life has been really crazy, so I haven’t been as creative as usual. Fortunately, there is lots of recipe help on the internet! I am so happy that Taste of Home has most of their recipes online now. This recipe for Roasted Kielbasa an Vegetables was really good. You can’t go wrong with Taste of Home.

Roasted Kielbasa and Vegetables

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

Football season is here! It is hard to be a Packers fan in New Mexico. There are lots of us here, but more Cowboys fans; so we rarely get the Packers early afternoon games. We used to just tough it out and hope for highlights, but about 3 years ago we decided to go to a sports bar to watch. We rarely miss a game now. Since we ate lunch at the bar yesterday, I wanted to make a light evening meal.

Sweet Potato Quesadilla

These were pretty simple. I baked the sweet potatoes on Saturday, so I just had to scoop them out and mash them up tonight. Feel free to add more cheese; I was running low, so I was a bit stingy.

Sweet Potato Quesadillas
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds sweet potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • dash of cayenne pepper
  • 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 8 tortillas (I used whole wheat and flour)
  • ½-3/4 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
  • Salsa and additional sour cream for topping.
Instructions
  1. Bake sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for an hour. Cool.
  2. Scoop pulp out of the sweet potatoes, place in a bowl. Add sour cream and seasonings. Mash to combine.
  3. Spread a generous ½ cup of the mashed sweet potato on a tortilla. Top with 2 heaping tablespoons of black beans and about 2 tablespoons of cheese. Cover with another tortilla.
  4. Grill quesadilla in a panini press, quesadilla maker, or a skillet until cheese is melted and tortilla is golden. Cut in wedges. Top with salsa and additional sour cream.

 

The Ultimate “Do Ahead” Dinner

I love sweet potatoes, but they do take a fairly long time to cook. Too long to make them on a work night. I was searching for something to do with the sweet potatoes in our box, when I came across several different recipes for a southwest salad. I decided to do some prep ahead work over the weekend, so that I could get dinner ready quickly during the week. Since the salad required cooked and chilled foods, this became the ultimate opportunity to cook ingredients ahead and have a great dinner during the week.

Southwest Chicken and Sweet Potato Salad

The recipe I used for the dressing is adapted from this recipe from Hispanic Kitchen. It was less spicy than I anticipated, which was actually a good thing!

Southwest Chicken and Sweet Potato Salad
Recipe type: Main, Salad
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup olive oil, divided
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 ears corn, husks removed
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 2 teaspoon ground cumin, divided
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 6 cups lettuce
  • 1 tomato, chopped
  • ½ cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained.
  • 2 limes
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, coarsely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • handful of fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
  1. Peel sweet potatoes and cut lengthwise into ½ inch thick slices. Brush the sweet potatoes with ¼ cup of olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat grill to medium heat. Grill sweet potatoes until cooked through, turning once. At the same time, grill the corn, turning frequently. This will take about 15 minutes.
  3. Combine chili powder and 1 teaspoon of cumin. Rub over chicken breasts. Grill chicken breasts until cooked through, turning once. (About 10 minutes.)
  4. Let sweet potatoes, corn, and chicken cool. Cut corn kernels from cobs. Thinly slice chicken.
  5. While everything is cooling, make the dressing. Zest one of the limes, and juice both limes. In a blender, combine lime zest and juice, jalapeno pepper, garlic, cilantro, and remaining teaspoon of cumin. Blend until smooth. With blender running, drizzle in the remaining ¾ cup of olive oil.
  6. The above steps can all be done ahead, with everything refrigerated until serving time.
  7. Divide lettuce among plates. Top with tomato, cooked sweet potatoes, cooked corn, black beans, and sliced chicken. Drizzle dressing over.

 

Packet Grilled Sweet Potatoes

I’m always on the lookout for good sweet potato recipes. I am trying to find new and different flavor combinations. I was really excited when I found this Bobby Flay recipe on the Food Network website for sweet potatoes grilled with lime and cilantro. Grilled Cilantro Sweet Potato Packets

These sweet potatoes have a really nice flavor. Not too hot. They were a hit at our barbeque. I was too lazy to do all the steps of pre microwaving, so I threw everything in a foil packet. (Actually, 2 foil packets.)

Packet Grilled Sweet Potatoes
Recipe type: Side
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds sweet potatoes
  • ½ cup cooking oil
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • grated rind from 1 lime
  • ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
  1. Thinly slice potatoes. Divide them between 2 sheets of heavy duty foil, which has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. Combine oil, salt, and pepper. Divide over potatoes. Fold foil into packets.
  3. Cook packets over medium grill approximately 30 minutes, turning at least once. Potatoes should be soft.
  4. Remove potatoes from foil. Top with lime rind and cilantro, toss to combine.