Sliced Baked Sweet Potatoes

Sliced Baked Sweet Potatoes

Recently, I’ve come to enjoy sweet potatoes more and more and wanted to incorporate them into my cooking. My roommate Emily eats sweet potatoes often and I was inspired by the way she prepares them. She makes sweet potato chips by slicing them very thinly, drizzling them with olive oil, and baking them. I found that I actually liked the thick, chewy pieces and so I started purposely cutting the potato in thicker slices and baking it that way. This is a savory spin-off of the sweet potato chips she made recently, which you can find the recipe for on her blog, Stay Healthy, Stay Happy – right here.

 

your ingredients

Start by slicing your sweet potato...

...and arranging them on a cookie sheet, with olive oil and spices.

Sweet potatoes are still a large source of carbs (as are white potatoes), but are full of vitamins A and C. They’re a great side choice along with white meat, such as chicken. There are endless options of what you can do with a sweet potato: bake it, mash it, fry it, eat it in dessert form; you name it. I like this this particular method because there is more flavor with each bite than if you were to bake the potato whole, and it allows the edges to get slightly crispy while the center stays chewy. It’s also very quick and easy for a weeknight.

Moist, sweet, and spicy.

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp chili powder or ground cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash your sweet potato gently and dry off. Feel free to peel the potato if you’re not a fan of the skin – I find I don’t really notice it when it’s baked.
2. Slice the potato into 1/4 inch thick slices.
3. Lay a piece of aluminum foil on a large cookie sheet and lightly spray it with cooking spray. Arrange potato slices on foil so that none of them are overlapping.
4. Lightly drizzle olive oil over potato slices. In a small bowl, mix all of the spices together. Sprinkle evenly over potatoes. You probably won’t need to use all of the spice mixture.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes. I recommend checking them around 10 minutes by poking it with a fork, since everyone’s oven is different and you don’t want to burn them. When your fork pierces a slice easily and the edges are golden brown, you know they’re done.

I like to eat my sweet potatoes with Greek yogurt. I like how the tangy flavor balances out the sweetness of the potato. Ketchup or other dressings are also a nice complement. This time I served them alongside these Chili Lime Chicken burgers, which you can find the recipe for here.

Sliced Baked Sweet Potatoes along with Chili Lime Chicken Burgers

:)

Jennie’s Peanut Butter White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jennie's Peanut Butter White Chocolate Chip Cookies

First off, Happy Easter to everyone!

I know I’ve been terrible about posting lately, but I’m going to try to make more of a conscious effort to post at least every couple of weeks. My friends and I spent spring break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and I was pretty swamped with school work when I came home – one or more exams every week! Things have temporarily calmed down, though, and I only have a little over a month until graduation, which is just crazy to think about.

Also, last weekend I got to meet my adorable little niece, Naomi Cecilia. She was born on St. Patrick’s Day, but I wasn’t able to see her until a couple weeks later. She is too cute and I just can’t wait to spend more time with her when I come home after graduation.

Naomi Cecilia

big blue eyes

Onto the food. This recipe was created by my roommate Jennie and she was generous enough to let me post it here. These cookies are so good that they never last more than 48 hours in our house before they are completely devoured. They are chewy, moist, and are the perfect balance of salty and sweet. I haven’t posted any dessert recipes so far, so I thought Easter would be an appropriate time to do so.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 to 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together.
3. Add in peanut butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
4. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients (EXCEPT for the white chocolate chips) and mix until well-incorporated.
5. Combine the dry ingredients with creamed butter and sugar. Mix thoroughly. Add in white chocolate chips and stir.
6. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and refridgerate for about 2 hours, or until dough is firm. This step is important because chilling the dough prevents it from spreading out too much in the oven, and keeps the cookies thick and moist.
7. Once firm, use a tablespoon to form the dough into 1-inch balls. Arrange on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden-brown around edges.