Sweet Potato Fries

Grow Alabama has started delivering sweet potatos again and not being a big fan of sweet potatoes I've been at a loss at what to do with them. So this week I set out to make something other than sweet potato casserole and so I searched Tasty Kitchen and came up with this recipe for Sweet Potato Fries. I made them last night and they were even tasty for me! Charlotte thought they were too spicy though so tomorrow when I make some more since we have sweet potatoes coming out of our ears I will omit the seasoning on a few for her. But this was a really easy recipe that didn't require a lot of work and the fries came out really great. And one of the best parts was that they were baked so they were a relatively good way to eat veggies.

Sweet Potato Fries
Serves 2

2 whole sweet potatoes
3 T Olive Oil
1 t Salt
1 t Pepper
1/2 t Smoked Paprika (couldn't find this at the grocery store so just used paprika, use less than 1/2 teaspoon!)
2 T Brown Sugar
- Preheat oven to 425
- Peel potatoes (if desired). Cut into wedges until you get the size fry that you want.
- Put potatoes in a bowl. Combine with other ingredients and mix thoroughly with your hands so that every wedge is covered.
- Set a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray with non-stick spray. Lay wedges on the wire rack. Bake for 25 minutes. Rotate pan and put back in for 20 minutes. (Time is approximate, cook them to whatever your desired doneness level is.)

Baked Parmesan Fish

When I was reading my friend Catherine's blog a few weeks ago I saw this recipe and thought I'd give it a try. Jason and I are always up for a fish recipe. I took Catherine's advice and added a small jar of Bruschetta sauce to the recipe and it was fantastic. Jason picked most of the mushrooms out (of course) but Charlotte and I loved them. And it was really easy! Great meal for when you only have a little bit of prep time. I also used salmon like Catherine did and I was worried about getting the skin off once I had cooked the fish, but the skin sticks to the roating pan (which is the kind of pan that I used) and so it wasn't a problem at all! Catherine got this recipe from the Nestle Cookbook.
Baked Parmesan Fish with Pasta
1/3 cup grated fat free Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon all purpose flour
3 thyme springs, leaves removed and crushed (I used regular thyme in the bottle)
4 white fish fillets (6 oz each) (I used Salmon and it was great)
1 package (9 oz) Buitoni Refrigerated Angel Hair Pasta
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup halved mushroom caps (I used sliced mushrooms)
1/2 cup finely sliced green onions
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small jar of Bruschetta sauce (I added this to the recipe)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Place cheese, flour, and thyme in paper bag (I used ziploc). Individually coat fish by gently shaking in bag; discard coating ingredients. Place fish in baking pan with rack.
Bake for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily.
Prepare pasta according to package directions.
Heat large, nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onion, mushrooms, green onions, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are tender. Season with salt and ground black pepper.
Place past on oven-warmed plates. Attractively arrange fish over pasta. Serve with mushroom medly over fish and pasta. Garnish with thyme, if desired.

TIP: you can use most firm, white fish fillets, including swordfish, sole, halibut, or red snapper.
Prep: 15 min
Cooking: 25 min

Prairie Pork Chop Bake

We hadn't had pork chops in a while so I went back to Tasty Kitchen to look for a pork chop recipe and found this recipe that looked SO SIMPLE! So I tried it and it was really good. Just as simple to assemble as it looks in the instructions (cutting the fat off the pork was the most time intensive part!) and tasted great. It has a little bit of a sweet taste but I'm not sure if that was the kind of mustard I used (Boar's Head Deli Mustard) or just all the brown sugar. But regardless this is definitely a recipe I will be using frequently. It would probably be great over chicken also if you don't like cooking pork.

PS One thing I love about Tasty Kitchen is that you can change the servings online for whatever the recipe is and it will do all the math for you. If you haven't checked it out make sure you look at it next time you're looking for a recipe!

Prairie Pork Chop Bake
Serves 4

4 whole Pork Chops
1/4 c Prepared Mustard
1/4 c Brown Sugar
1/2 box Stove Top Stuffing (6 oz box)
1/2 can 15 oz Niblet Corn
1/2 c Water

1. Mix brown sugar and mustard together. Cover each side of each pork chop evenly.
2. Then combine stuffing, corn, and water. Top each chop with 2-3 spoonfuls of stuffing mixture.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Simple Spanish Rice

I made this rice a few weeks ago as a side to chicken and it was really good.  The rice tasted like the rice that you get at a good Mexican restaurant.  I will definitely be making this again!

Simple Spanish Rice

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

½ whole Onion, Chopped
1 cup Long Grain White Rice
1 pint Chicken Broth
¼ pounds Tomato Sauce

1. In a medium-sized pot, heat the olive oil (or your oil of choice). When hot, add the onion and rice. Cook, stirring frequently, until rice is light golden brown.
2. Add chicken broth and tomato sauce to the rice; stir to combine (this is the only time you’ll stir it). Bring just to the boiling point and immediately reduce heat to low. Cover and cook on low for about 20 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
3. Remove from heat. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

A few weeks ago I was looking for a dessert recipe for Bible Study. I wanted something that had chocolate in it but wasn't a brownie and was something that could be eated without any utensils. So I searched my trusty recipe source (Tasty Kitchen) and came up with a few options. I gave Jason the choice of which one to make since he would get leftovers and he chose the Chocolate Peanut Butter bars. I'm so glad he did because they were so good! And while making them I might have stumbled upon my new favorite, super guilty pleasure of peanut butter and brown sugar (don't worry I was cleaning the spoon after everything had been safely put into the pan and the pan was cooking in the oven!). These are really good and very easy. And they have oats in them so they're healthy right?? Oh... just because they have oats doesn't mean they're healthy?? I will choose to ignore that you just told me that! Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Bottom layer:
1 box Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
1/2 cups Butter, melted
1 whole egg

Top layer:
1/2 cups smooth Peanut Butter
3 tablespoons Butter
1/2 cups packed Brown Sugar
1 cup Oats
2 tablespoons All-purpose flour
Semi sweet chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix cake mix, butter, and egg together until well combined. Press into bottom of pan.
- Melt peanut butter and butter together in a microwave safe bowl until butter as been melted. Stir in brown sugar, oats, and flour until oats and flour have been incorporated. Sprinkle over chocolate layer and gently press peanut butter crumbles into chocolate layer.
- Top with chocolate and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cut into squares and serve. Great warm or cooled.

Apple Dip

I had never had this dip until a friend of mine brought it to a party Memorial Day weekend. The first bite I had I fell in love with it. I had a chance to make it for our last Bible Study gathering a few weeks ago and everyone there asked me to post the recipe. It is a really simple recipe that is better the farther ahead of time you make it. I made one recipe with six cut up apples for our Bible Study and we ate most of it. If you're having more than 10 people I would double the recipe.


Apple Dip

1 package of cream cheese (softened)
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 package toffee chips/heath bar chips (in chocolate chip section)

*Mix all ingredients together, then fold in toffee chips.
*Refrigerate for at least 2 hours prior to serving to allow flavors to be absorbed.
*Serve with tart apples (Granny Smith). Put lemon juice on the apple slices to keep longer...

Fried Okra and Fried Green Tomatoes

We have been loving our Grow Alabama boxes this summer. It has provided us with very fresh, varied produce that is all organically grown in Alabama and the surrounding states. A few weeks ago we got some green tomatoes and one of Jason's co-workers brought some fresh okra into work to share so we took the challenge and fried up our first ever batch of fried okra and fried green tomatoes! I went to my trusted recipe source of Tasty Kitchen and found two recipes and went with them.

The okra was pretty good. We should have added a little more spice into the breading because we added salt and pepper afterwards but we were scared to go too spicy with our first batch. In the future we'll know. This was a traditional southern recipe and it did taste like the fried okra that you get at the local country restaurants.

The fried green tomatoes were really good. This recipe is NOT the traditional southern recipe. The parmesan cheese gave it a different kick that was really good once you realized you shouldn't expect the typical tomato fare.

Overall, both great recipes that we will try again. It might be next summer before I have the desire to make that mess again, but we will try it again eventually!

Southern Fried Okra
Serves 2
1 lb fresh okra pods
2 whole eggs, beaten
1/4 c Buttermilk
1 c All-purpose flour
1 c Cornmeal
2 t Baking Powder
1 t Salt
1 dash Black Pepper
3 c Oil for frying
1. Wash and slice okra; pat dry with paper towels.
2. Combine eggs and buttermilk; add okra, and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and pepper.
4. Drain okra, small portions at a time, using a slotted spoon.
5. Dredge okra in flour mixture.
6. Pour oil to depth of 2-4 inches in a Dutch oven or fryer and heat to 375 degrees F.
7. Fry okra until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.
Panko-Parmesan Crusted Fried Green Tomatoes
Serves 6

2 whole green tomatoes
1 cup Buttermilk
1/2 c All-purpose flour
1/3 c Panko Bread Crumbs
1/3 c Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
5 T shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 t Kosher Salt
1/2 t Ground Pepper

1. Slice the tomatoes into about 1/2 inch thick slices. Place in a bowl and cover with buttermilk while you combine the other ingredients.
2. Place flour in a shallow container and season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Combine panko bread crumbs, Italian bread crumbs, and parmesan in a shallow container. Season well and also season with salt and pepper.
4. Bring about 1 inch of oil up to 350-375 degrees F in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven.
5. Dredge the buttermilk-soaked tomato slices through the flour, back into the buttermilk, then into the bread crumb mixture. Fry until golden brown, turning once and being careful not to knock off the breading.