Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes

I got this from Pinterest too....adapted my recipe from Dlyn. Jeremy told me he wasn't so sure about them while I was making them, but raved about them after he ate them....and he ate about 4 or 5 of them the night I made them. He also raved about them to both of our families and told me that I HAD to make them again....so I guess I will.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium or 1 large sweet potato (I had 1 HUGE one....I guess they are growing well this year)
• 1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/8 tsp. garlic
• 2 tbsp. melted butter
• 2 tbsp. oi

Steps:

• Peel and Cut the sweet potato(es) into disks (about 1-1/2 inches thick)

• Preheat oven to 375
• Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil, add in potatoes, and let boil for 10-12 minutes....just until soft, but not soft enough for them to fall apart or be cooked through, they still need some form to them. (let them sit in the pot for 10-12 minutes....don't wait on the water to start boiling again if it stops.....it's easiest to just put them in the water for 10 minutes only)
• Drain potatoes, and let cool for about 10 minutes
• Blend spices and sugar together well in a small bowl.

• Melt butter, and add oil in a separate bowl
• Place some wax paper on your baking sheet, place the potatoes on the wax paper, and squash each potato slightly with a fork - just to flatten them out a little, but don't flatten them out so much that they start falling apart.
• Drizzle the butter/oil mixture on the tops of all of the potatoes, then sprinkle some of the spice mixture on the tops, pressing down into the potato slightly.
• Turn each potato over on your wax paper, and repeat the butter/oil and then the spice mixture.

• Roast potatoes for 15 minutes, remove from oven, turn them all over and roast for an additional 10 minutes.  (they will have a little brown/caramelized appearance to the edges - to give it a little crisp) if they look this way, they are done.....just eyeball it, it won't hurt if they need to stay in for another minute or 2. 

• Serve with main dish of your choice (we had sweet onion steak with caramelized onions)

• DELICIOUS!  and of course....Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Shredded Chicken in a White Cream Sauce

I found this sweet potato gnocchi at World Market (yes....I cheated a little and didn't make homemade gnocchi - maybe when I have more time) - but this gnocchi was still delicious - a little sweet. Jeremy loved it - and well - he is the only judge of my food other than me, so his thoughts are important to me. I found the recipe for the sauce on The Barefoot Kitchen Witch, added chicken and changed the amounts of a few things.  It was my first time using fresh fennel....and I was impressed. 

Ingredients:

• 1 package of sweet potato gnocchi (or you could make your own - see link above)
• 1 lb chicken
• 1 can chicken broth (for boiling the chicken)
• 1/4 cup sliced fennel
• 1 tsp. minced shallot (I used about 1/2 shallot bulb)
• 1/4 cup sliced white onion
• 1/2 cup sliced roasted red pepper

• 3 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 cup cooking white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp fresh basil (I forgot this - so I used dried basil)
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tbsp. grated romano cheese
• Handful of baby spinach
• salt and pepper

Steps:

• Boil chicken in 1 part chicken broth, 1 part water for about 45 min to 1 hour

• Cook gnocchi according to package, and drain

• In skillet - heat oil over medium heat
• Add onion, fennel and red pepper and saute for 2-3 minutes

• Add garlic and shallots - cook for 1 minute

• Add white wine, basil and brown sugar

• Add cream and reduce by 1/3

• Add butter, salt and pepper - cook, stirring occasionally until butter is melted

• Add in cooked chicken - stir

• Add cooked gnocchi and spinach

• Add romano cheese

• Stir occasionally, cooking until the thickness of your liking (only a few minutes, I turned the stove down to low during the end)

• I served mine with a little garlic bread - it was very filling - no need for lots of other sides.

• We loved it - it will definitely be made again! (and I am sure it would be good with regular gnocchi)

Shake N Bake Buffalo Chicken w/ Oven Fried Sweet Potato Ravioli

Jeremy has a slight obsession with 2 things - buffalo chicken and sweet potatoes....so this meal was made specifically for him (and the oven fried ravioli was his suggestion - b/c we couldn't really figure out what to eat the sweet potato ravioli with other than butter?!) So, I am NOT a deep fryer or a pan fryer....I don't enjoy it and I feel like it's hit or miss when you are frying foods - so I don't do it. That's where the oven fried comes in and the use of shake n bake - chicken comes out crispy and PERFECTLY cooked EVERY TIME!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins
• 1 package crispy buffalo shake n bake bread crumbs
• Hot sauce
• 1 package Monterey Sweet Potato Ravioli
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. basil
• 2 tbsp. parmesan cheese
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp water
• oil (might be easier to use Pam or spray cooking oil - I just don't use spray oil)
• Veggies - for a side dish

Steps:

• Combine bread crumbs, oregano, basil and parm cheese in a bowl

• Mix egg white and water in another bowl.
• Dredge ravioli 1 or 2 at a time in the egg/water and then place in the bread crumbs and cover well with crumbs - set aside 

• Preheat oven to 400 
• Spray or pour a small amount of oil on the top and bottom of the ravioli in order to get the "fried" effect in the oven

• Shake n Bake states to soak your chicken with water before dredging in the mix in order to make sure it sticks, I poured some hot sauce on mine to "wet" the chicken before placing them in the bag and shaking - it definitely helped with the buffalo taste (especially if you like them a little hotter) and kept the chicken moist, rather than drying out.

• Place chicken on a baking sheet.
• Place chicken in the oven and set for 20 minutes

• Once there are 12-14 minutes left on the timer, place the ravioli in the oven and cook both until the timer goes off.

• I didn't have any ranch dressing, they were still really good without, but if you like to have something to dip your chicken in....you could always use ranch or bleu cheese.
• Serve alongside some veggies or the side of your choose!

• Enjoy!!!

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

I found this recipe on "Natalies Killer Cuisine," it was an instant favorite for Jeremy (he has even made it for me in the past!!) I have changed a thing here or there, but I have to give credit where it's due!!

Ingredients:
1 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
About 1/2 a box of chicken broth (or as much as you need)
1 medium onion - diced
1 bottle of hot sauce (or BBQ sauce, use whatever you prefer)
2 large sweet potatoes
1/2 tsp nutmeg (per potato)
1/2 tbsp butter (per potato)
Cheese to top the potato (optional)

I started off this morning putting 1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast in the crock pot, with enough chicken broth (reduced sodium of course) to cover just the top of the chicken. I put the crock pot on low (8 hours)

About 2-3 hours later, I checked the chicken, just stabbed it with a fork and it started to shred apart, so I knew it was done. I pulled the chicken out of the crock pot, poured out the broth. Shredded the chicken on my cutting board, returned it to the crock pot and poured a whole bottle of Frank's hot sauce on the chicken (just enough to cover the chicken so it doesn't get dried out....you can of course put as much as you prefer or even use BBQ sauce instead of hot sauce.) I kept the crock pot on low (8 hours) and checked it occasionally to make sure it wasn't drying up...but it certainly wasn't!

About 1 hour before dinner, I cleaned and dried 2 large sweet potatoes, poked a few wholes in them with a fork, pre-heated my oven to 400, put the potatoes on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven for 1 hour.

Right after putting the potatoes in the oven, I diced up a small onion and stirred it in to the chicken ( we like our onions a little crispy, so thats why I put them in so late...but you could put them in whenever, depending on your taste!)

When the potatoes were done (you will know, they need to be soft), I split a small cut down the center, and removed a small square of the skin. I added about 1/2 tbsp. butter and mashed the potato down w/o breaking the skin (it is a BAKED potato after all, not mashed potatoes!) after mashing it up, i added about 1/2 tsp nutmeg for taste (Jeremy doesn't put butter or nutmeg in his potato and says it tastes just as good....just doesn't want the added calories!)

After mashing up the potato, place a heap of the chicken mixture into the potato, top with cheese, and put back under the broiler for 1 minute....(Again, Jeremy doesn't put cheese on his potato, but I still threw his back under the broiler just for a little crisp)

We love this meal and it is now a staple for us!

As a side, I just made a little spinach salad with carrots and tomatoes and vidalia onion dressing. I also broke up some of the dried bread from the bruschetta, into small pieces for croutons. It was delicious!

Appetizer:
Caprese Salad

• Fresh mozzarella sliced up into rounds
• tomato sliced
• a little extra virgin olive olive
• a dash of basil (i used dry basil, tasted just as good as fresh to me)

Bruschetta

Rolled up prosciutto (from fresh market....yum)

Enjoy!

Tonight's Menu....

Starter:
Bruschetta on toasted garlic french bread
A little thinly sliced prosciutto, mozzarella and tomato

Salad:
Spinach Salad w/ vidalia onion dressing

Entree:
Shredded buffalo chicken stuffed sweet potatoes (One of Jeremy's favorites)

I will post the completed meal later!! :)