Tag Archives: Fruit and Vegetable

Tasty Tuesday: Acorn Squash and Carrot Soup

4 Replies

How do I name a soup to convey its deliciousness? The title of this post isn’t all that enticing but wowza this soup is amazing. It’s fresh, flavorful, and surprisingly filling. I was starving so I made a batch of this stuff and threw a couple of pieces of toast on my plate. I got so wrapped up in the soup that I forgot the toast! I ate two bowls and couldn’t have fit anything else in my belly. Plus, it’s really EASY.

I don’t make soup often but I never regret it. I made a big batch in half an hour. I probably could have eaten it all in one sitting but then I would have to roll myself to bed. So I froze half of it and now we have dinner for another night.

SquashCarrotSoup Continue reading →

Tasty Tuesday: Honey Yogurt Dip

Leave a reply

We had some people over on Saturday. A melting pot of people from all the different areas of our life. We ladies had some fun with makeup (more on that Friday) while the guys watched basketball. Then we all went line dancing! I’m getting pretty good at it by now.

So for the get together at our place, I decided that I would cook appetizers. I settled on 4 relatively simple recipes. When people started arriving and I was only half done cooking, I realized I may have been a bit ambitious. BUT, I did discover this amazing recipe. It took a total of 3 minutes and was one of the tastiest things on the table.

YogurtHoneyDip-Published

Honey Yogurt Dip

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup plain yogurt (organic and/or goat is better, raw is best)
  • 2 Tbsp honey (local is best)
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla (optional)
  • Any fruit that’s in season

Instructions:

  1. Cut up your fruit into bite-sized pieces.
  2. Mix remaining ingredients together and serve!

Also, it snowed here again! About 5 inches in 24 hours. I had the day off and managed to catch the flu so it was the perfect weather to snuggle up on the couch, watch marathon TV, and drink pots of tea. But just to prove how amazing the Midwest is, a random, kindly citizen cleaned off my car! There is no way for me to know who did it so they just did it from the kindness of their heart. Peoria really isn’t so bad 🙂

Snowed In

 

I hope you’re having a happy day. Love and hugs – Ash

Tasty Tuesday: Sweet Potato Fries

4 Replies

Sweet potato fries. I’ve only had them once or twice in restaurants but I ALWAYS love them. So when I saw this post from Snack Girl, I figured I’d try it. Holy Bajolies these things are good. I did it a tiny bit differently from Snack Girl’s original recipe so here is my version:

photo 1

We ate them with Santa Fe style scrambled eggs: eggs, almond milk, red pepper, spinach. Then salsa and avocado on top. YUM.

photo 2

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

  • 2 large sweet potatoes (yams)
  • coconut oil or grapeseed oil (because it’s high heat)
  • cumin
  • garlic powder
  • salt
  • pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Peel sweet potatoes then cut them into thin lengths. The thinner the cuts, the more crispy and delicious the fries.
  3. Lay out the sweet potato in single layers on the baking sheets.
  4. Sprinkle them with oil then with all the spices. Be conservative with the spices.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes then grab some tongs (or burn your fingers) and flip every fry. Continue cooking for 5-10 minutes or until the fries are golden brown.
  6. Enjoy!

Ashley Life Update: It’s snowing here again! The second storm in a week! Since I can work from home most mornings and my workouts are all here too, I’m loving this. I can just sit at our dining table, working and looking at the pretty snow 🙂

photo 3

 

Tasty Tuesday: Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie

4 Replies

Sweet potatoes are flippin’ awesome. They are fantastic for digestion, heart health, skin health, and blood sugar levels. Specifically, they are high in Vitamin B6, Vitamin A, Fiber, Potassium, Vitamins C and E, and Manganese.

This recipe was my attempt at making my mom’s amazing shepherds pie but without the starch of potatoes. With that in mind, it was GROSS. But once we stopped thinking of it as Shepherds Pie and started thinking of it as a dish on it’s own, SO DELICIOUS. Isn’t it weird how your brain can trick you like that?

This was incredible easy to make and I just kept it in a crockpot in the fridge and reheated it (on the lowest temperature possible) for 3 nights straight. Thank you bulk-cooking!

SweetPotatoPotPie-Published

Sweet Potato Pot Pie (6-8 servings)

Ingredients:

  • 7 organic sweet potatoes, chopped into small chunks
  • 3/4 cup organic milk (almond, coconut, dairy, whatever)
  • 1 organic yellow onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 pounds organic ground turkey
  • 1 package of organic gravy mix
  • 8oz organic frozen mixed veggies (carrots, peas, etc)

Instructions:

  1. Boil sweet potato chunks in a large pot until soft. While they are cooking, mix gravy. 
  2. Drain water from pot add the milk and mash it all together. Set aside.
  3. In a separate, deep pan, sauté onions and garlic for 5 minutes on medium-high heat.
  4. Add turkey to pan and cook until brown.
  5. Add gravy and frozen veggies to pan and mix together.
  6. Either in the large pot or in a crockpot, layer the meat mixture, then the mashed sweet potatoes. Heat in the crockpot or oven on low for 10 minutes. This allows the juices to mix together. YUM
  7. Enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday: Guacamole!

6 Replies

Who doesn’t love guacamole? And all you people out there that are shaking their head, “no I hate guacamole, that delicious healthy fat combined with all those savory veggies and awesome spices, I hate it.” Obviously something’s wrong with you. The great thing about making your own dip is that you can take out any flavors you don’t like!

With this batch, I decided to try to add some protein. I put in some black beans and they are so tasty. Definitely be doing that again.

Guac is great to bring to parties with some crackers/chips or to put on top of salads. And it makes taco night SO much better. Plus, it’s so easy! This took me about 20 minutes to make and it will (hopefully with some restraint from Mike) last at least 3 or 4 days.

Easy Black Bean Guacamole

Ingredients

3 ripe avocados

1 small onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, pressed

6 oz salsa or 1 medium tomato, diced

juice from 1/2 lime, 1/2 lemon, OR 1 orange (I didn’t have anything else and it actually worked really well)

1 tsp cumin, to taste

2 tsp sea salt, to taste

1 tsp ground pepper, to taste

dash of chili powder

6 oz black beans

Instructions

photo 1

1. Our avocados were unripe yesterday so I took them out of the fridge and wrapped them in a brown paper bag. For some reason they ripen faster in paper bags. This morning they were perfect.

photo 2

2. Cut avocados in half, take out the pit, and scoop into a large bowl. Add all other ingredients besides black beans. Mash it all up with a fork or masher.

photo 3

3. Stir in beans or other add-ins. Taste test it! Mess with the spices however you see fit. It looks kinda gross but it is OH SO GOOD!

What is your favorite way to eat guacamole?

Hope you’re all having happy days 🙂

Tasty Tuesday: Sweet Potato Pancakes

3 Replies

I am a big believer in spending some time on breakfast. One of my favorite things about having a day off or being on vacation is being able to spend time cooking and enjoying breakfast.

A yummy pile of food + a book/newspaper + a good cup of tea or glass of mulled cider + good company = AWESOME MORNING.

This past Sunday, Mike and I enjoyed a new (and now frequent) recipe. I hope to enjoy an equally lovely breakfast every day of this Thanksgiving holiday.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped small

3 eggs

1/2 cup almond butter (or whatever nut butter you have)

1/2 cup milk (unsweetened almond, coconut, whole milk, whatever…)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp sea salt

high heat cooking oil (coconut, grape seed, or sesame oil)

Instructions

Boil sweet potatoes until soft when stabbed with a fork. Start heating pan on Medium during this last step. Drain then add sweet potatoes and all other ingredients to blender. Blend until smooth.

After preheating pan for 5-ish minutes, pour two small pancakes at a time. Flip when the centers start bubbling. Cook on other side for 3-5 minutes.

Stack a pile, add a topping (bananas, sautéed apples, raisins, honey, maple syrup, etc.) and ENJOY!

*this recipe was adapted from Sammie Kennedy.

By the way, thanks to everyone that commented on my post yesterday. Recognizing the amazing qualities of the people around you starts to make you more amazing too! If you want to add to the comments, there’s still time! I’ll be reposting them on all Friday.

What are some of your favorite breakfast traditions?