Tonight's Dinner

What can you do with a half-full bag of small sweet potatoes? Well I'm sure there is a long answer to that question, but I decided to roast mine for dinner tonight following a recipe I found on pinterest and they were SO good. I believe the exact phrase used was "Make these again!!" The recipe can be found at Teenie Cakes. Since I started with a side dish I had to work backwards to figure out what kind of meat I was going to make...chicken goes well with sweet potatoes...nah, don't want chicken again. Turkey goes well with sweet potatoes (Thanksgiving!)...nahh, that would take too long. Pork chops! Super easy! And I found a yummy recipe at The Pioneer Woman, making things even easier. I just needed one more thing...what goes with pork chops? Apples! Baked apples with butter and brown sugar to be exact.

What would I do without the internet with me at all times to look up recipes and determine what I will make for dinner? If I don't already have a plan, it gets to be about 1 or 2 and I start browsing my phone while the kiddos nap at work. And I always come up with something that sounds good! Without pinterest and Google search I'd have to wait 'til I got home and actually look things up in a cookbook...crazy.

Friday night taco seasoning

Happy Friday! It has been a very long week of work (after a long week of being deathly ill) and I am so thankful to have a night to lay on the couch and watch TV like a bum. Friday night means lots of wedding shows on TLC, and [since I drove by Little Caesar's on my way home from Target] it also means pizza :)

Recently I have been pinning a lot of recipes on pinterest and have been trying to cook more real meals and have lunches to take to work. Yesterday I made a beef stew in the crock pot and (just like my mom) I couldn't find a recipe I really liked, so I just dumped a bunch of stuff together. Stew meat, potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, AND sweet potatoes! I will never make stew without sweet potatoes ever again! It was so yummy. The sweet potatoes fall apart a lot more than regular potatoes and give the stew a great consistency and sweet taste.

Tomorrow I am planning on making chicken in the crock pot that I can shred and use for tacos, wraps, sandwiches, salads, and more during the week. This is the recipe I am planning on using. Hopefully it comes out as yummy as it sounds!

One of the things I need for tomorrow's chicken is taco seasoning AND I just happen to come across a recipe for homemade taco seasoning this week on pinterest. So tonight I made my own mix of taco seasoning to use on my chicken tomorrow. I feel so domestic making taco seasoning, but it was really easy! And the sodium intake will be much lower than seasoning from a packet. Looking forward to using this seasoning on a variety of different meals!

Sweet Potato Muffins

Yesterday I was shopping at Whole Foods and I came across canned sweet potato puree, which I had never seen before. Maybe this is a regular thing elsewhere, but I have only seen sweet potato puree in baby food jars and was very excited to get a whole can of it! I started thinking, "What can I do with this? Muffins? Pie? Casseroles?" Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite things ever, especially around Thanksgiving time :) So tonight I got down to business and started searching for a good muffin recipe. I couldn't find one that I love so I just sort of created my own and the result was amazing! Luke and Janelle were big fans even though they were a little skeptical at first. If they pass the boyfriend and roomie test you know they must be good. (Tomorrow we'll see if they pass the brother test!) For now, here's the recipe....

Using a hand mixer combine 3/4 cup white sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup vegetable oil

It looks a little crumbly, almost like brown snow. But keep going! It gets better! Next mix in 2 eggs.

 Here comes the part where you add the sweet potato puree. I used one 15 oz. can.

In a separate bowl combine 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2(ish) tsp. cinnamon ~ you can never have too much cinnamon! (I have a kiwi friend who would tend to disagree with that statement, but he'll never see this, hah)

Then stir to combine the two mixtures.

I made muffins this time, but I'm sure you could do a whole loaf of bread and just bake it for longer.

I didn't have enough chocolate chips or raisins to add a good amount to the whole batch, so after doing a tray of regular muffins I split the rest of the batter in half and did 6 of each. (I think those ones turned out best!)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 16-18 minutes. Keep an eye on them at the end and when a toothpick comes out clean you're good to go!

These will definitely become a regular fall treat! Maybe next time I'll add some marshmallows to the top...what's better than sweet potatoes and marshmallows?! Thank you Whole Foods for carrying this yummy can of orange goodness!

Sweet Potato Muffins

3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 15oz can sweet potato puree
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2-1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins OR chocolate chips, optional

Using a hand mixer or whisk, blend together the sugars and oil. Add eggs until combined and then add sweet potatoes. In a separate bowl mix flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Slowly fold together the two bowls of mixture and then fold in raisins or chocolate chips if you desire. Pour into muffin cups or a loaf pan and then bake at 350- 16-18 minutes for muffins, probably closer to 50 minutes for a loaf.