Tag Archives: Pinterest

Project ‘Get it Together’: sweet potato goodness

One of these days, I need to share a little about the sweet girl here in Sandefjord who was our inspiration to try a vegetarian diet. Yeah, I’ll put that on my To Do list!Anyway, skipping meat means seeking out new recipes and new menu ideas. I’ve been finding some cool – and sometimes outlandish – ideas on Pinterest. And I wanted to share one that Zack and I really enjoyed.

We made these black bean sweet potato nachos for dinner tonight, and they were awesome! I used a low fat white cheese instead of cheddar (after two & a half years, I’ve learned to substitute and use what I can get!). And I added a little diced onion along with the black beans.

Photo: www.holajalapeno.com

Here is the link to the recipe from Hola Jalapeño:
http://www.holajalapeno.com/2014/05/sweet-potato-nachos-with-smoked-cheddar.html

On the Table: Hearty Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Apples

Healthy food can taste good. Really good. Case in point: this one-skillet dish that has become a family favorite for us.

Zack found it on Twitter, from the Beach Body website (here). He challenged, I accepted.
Of course, as is usually the case with recreating an American recipe in Norway, I made some modifications.
It all starts with the sweet potatoes. A food that made me gag as a child has now become a favorite in my quest for mixing it up when trying to cook healthy.
Two potatoes, ready for baking

And the rest of the ingredients, sitting and waiting while the potatoes bake. I used ground chicken instead of chicken breasts, and I was very pleased with the results.

I also have quite an assortment when it comes to spices. Sage brought from the states. Pepper from Norway. Paprika purchased in Germany. And Hawaiaan sea salt that was a gift from some Norwegian friends. Also included: apples, raisins, red onion, and olive oil.

Apples and onions. With a little OO. Yum.

Chicken, raisins, and spices.

Toss that all together.

Throw it all back in the skillet with the diced sweet potatoes, and let it brown a bit. Then get ready to devour it.

Yeah, you can thank me later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hearty Chicken, Sweet Potato & Apples
Ingredients
3 teaspoons Olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2-3 apples – recipe called for cooking apples, I used what was on hand: Gala – cored, diced (the menu said peeled – I did not peel them)
2 cups cubed baked sweet potato (I baked two medium sweet potatoes)
¼ cup raisins
400 grams (@1 lb) ground chicken
1 tsp. dried sage
¼ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
¼  tsp. paprika
Preparation:
  1. Bake the sweet potatoes. (Oven is always best, but use the microwave if you must)
  2. Remove from oven. Cool slightly, remove skin, and cut into cubes
  3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
  4. Cook chicken, using a little bit of the seasonings listed above (I ended up using more paprika & sage than the recipe suggested). Place in a large bowl.
  5. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in the skillet.
  6. Add onion and apples; cook, stirring frequently, for 6 to 7 minutes, or until mixture begins to brown. Place in bowl with chicken.
  7. Add all other ingredients in the bowl; mix well.
  8. Heat remaining 2 tsp. oil in skillet over medium heat.
  9. Add mixture, pat into an even layer in pan; cook, without stirring, for about 5 minutes.
  10. Stir gently; cook an additional 2 minutes, or until it begins to brown. Serve immediately.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pinterest, and a few of our favorite things

Sometimes the blog becomes my spot for confession.You may recall that in the past I’ve shared my strong attraction to things like

  • Coffee (read that here. and here.)
  • Pizza (read about that here. and here.)
  • Chocolate (read about that here)
And now it’s time to admit one more. I’m here to share that I am addicted to really like Pinterest. A lot.
Pinterest has been our source for a lot of new meals, home remedies, restaurant copycat recipes, and homemade versions of things I can’t find in Norway. I’ve learned to improvise on things we miss from the states, and find healthy alternatives to some of our favorites. And of course, the occasional guilty pleasure is included as well!
One of my Pinterest boards is entitled Pinterest Success, where I save all the things that have received positive reviews from some pretty tough critics…
I thought I’d share a few of of our favorites, and ask if you have any Pinterest success stories to share.
Our Top Five Favorite Pinterest Finds, in no particular order
  1. Avocado Chicken Burgers: we all love avocados. And chicken. So this was a no-brainer. I didn’t have any breadcrumbs so I made some using a couple of slices of my homemade bread (see item #3 below). These were great!
  2. No-mayo Tuna Salad: Zack and I like tuna, but we don’t like mayo. Because of this, we’d never made tuna salad. But thanks to this great recipe, we make it often and really enjoy it!
  3. Peasant Bread: like I’ve talked about in a previous post (here), I make most of our bread from scratch these days. And peasant bread is my go-to recipe. I bake it in a bread pan instead of a bowl, and I change up the types of flour or throw in some seeds or herbs, depending on what’s on hand.
  4. No-yeast No-rise Cinnamon Rolls: here’s one of those guilty pleasures I mentioned. These are not at all healthy (although I do replace some of the white flour with whole wheat). But they are incredible!
  5. Sloppy Joes on Cornbread Waffles: I’m now learning there are lots of non-traditional ways to use your waffle iron. But our first adventure was a HUGE hit with the whole family. I made a healthy sloppy joe mix, with lots of diced veggies and ground chicken. Then we put that on top of waffles made with corn bread batter. Delicious!
What are some of your favorites – or maybe even disasters – from Pinterest?
Here are a just few Pinterest-inspired projects and recipes we’ve tried over the last couple of years…
Easter bunnies & Easter chicks
Coffee filter snowflakes
Paper chain Christmas trees
Peanut butter & jelly muffins
Grinch Christmas cookies
Homemade black bean burgers on
homemade wholewheat buns
Cranberry Sauce
Oven-grilled burgers on homemade buns
No-yeast No-rise cinnamon rolls
Peasant bread