Crispy Microwaved Sweet Potato Chips

I stumbled across the recipe for these sweet potato chips when I spent Sunday avoiding doing anything productive, like writing a paper due the end of this week for my Women and the Law class or working on my closing argument for trial advocacy I have to give on Tuesday.  I swear, I am not a procrastinator by nature.  3L is just sucking any and all motivation from the marrow of my bones (mmm … roasted bone marrow sounds good, doesn’t it …?), and I’m still managing to be more or less ahead.  So, instead of outlining why the government snitch is an unreliable witness, I perused every square inch of the food related internet, and found this recipe.

I can’t be too mad about my decision, though, because these chips were super yummy.  The applewood smoked sea salt was the perfect complement to the sweet potato, but I’m sure kosher salt would be pretty darn good, too.  The most challenging thing about these chips was not eating them all in one sitting – other than that, it’s basically a matter of thinly slicing and putting in the microwave.  They make for a delicious, healthy snack.

Crispy Microwaved Sweet Potato Chips

From Our Best Bites

1 medium sweet potato, as uniform in width as possible, scrubbed clean

Non-stick cooking spray

1 tsp. yakima applewood smoked sea salt

Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the glass plate in your microwave.  Using a mandoline, slice potato 1/8″ thick.  Lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Season with smoked salt.

Set microwave to 50% power.  Cook 8-10 minutes, keeping an eye on the potatoes after about 5 minutes, until edges are golden brown.  [Note: My microwave power button is broken, so I microwaved mine on high for about five minutes per batch, for a total of three batches.]

Let cool completely before eating.  Store in airtight container.

Creamy Kohlrabi Soup

I am very glad one of my readers suggested a puréed kohlrabi soup, because this was absolutely delicious.  The kohlrabi, once cooked and puréed, has a hint of sweetness and a hint of radish-y spice.  This soup is simple and easy, and due to the starchiness of the kohlrabi, actually pretty filling.  Zak added some cooked pearled barley to his to make it more substantial, turning it into a sort of porridge.  I personally enjoyed the velvety smooth texture of the simple puréed version.

Also, my cold is about a million times better since last night, so I’m fairly sure this soup has magical powers.  I can’t prove it or anything, but if you have a head cold and some kohlrabi around, you might want to test my theory.  At the least, you’ll get a yummy soup out of it.

Creamy Kohlrabi Soup

2 medium to large bulbs kohlrabi

2 tbs. butter

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

2 tbs. apple cider vinegar

3 cups vegetable stock

1 cup 1% milk

1 lime, quartered

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

1 package white button mushrooms, cleaned

2 tbs. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400º.

Using a knife, peel the tough, bright green outer layer off the kohlrabi.  Roughly chop.

In a medium Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and sauté 8-10 minutes, until onion is translucent and soft.

Add kohlrabi and apple cider vinegar.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.  Cook 2-3 minutes until apple cider vinegar is evaporated.  Add vegetable stock and bring to a simmer.  Cover and simmer 20-25 minutes until kohlrabi is fork tender.

Meanwhile, place mushrooms on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Place in oven and roast 20 minutes, tossing once, until deeply caramelized.

When kohlrabi is tender, add milk to the kohlrabi mixture.  Simmer 3-5 minutes.  Using an immersion blender, puree until smooth.  Taste for seasonings and adjust salt and pepper as necessary.

Ladle into serving bowls.  Add roasted mushrooms.  Squeeze some lime over and serve immediately.

Artichoke Heart Stuffed Peppers

These stuffed red peppers are simple, using only a handful of ingredients and a few minutes of hands on time.  The end result is bold in flavor, with creamy, cheesy provolone, slightly acidic artichoke hearts, and a hint of heat from the green pepper sauce.  To create a hearty dinner, serve this over polenta or rice.  This would also make a nice side accompanying chicken or pork.

I’m always happy when I can coax a lot of flavor from only a few ingredients and very little time – especially so where the dish is a great candidate to freeze.  Simple freeze a single pepper it in a snug-fitting Tupperware, and you can remove it the night before to the refrigerator so it is defrosted by lunch time the next day.  Pop it in the microwave and you have a delicious main component of a lunch.

Artichoke Heart Stuffed Peppers

4 Red Carmen peppers (or other long, narrow, sweet pepper)

1 can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and roughly chopped

1/3 cup provolone, shredded

2 tbs. mayonnaise

1/2 tsp. green jalapeño pepper sauce, such as Arizona Gunslinger or Tabasco brand (or 1 tbs. minced jalapeño)

1 tbs. garlic powder

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Non-stick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350º.

Spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Add the peppers and spray to coat with non-stick spray.  Place in oven and roast, turning once or twice, about 20 minutes until slightly tender but not fully roasted.

Set aside to let cool, but leave the oven on.

Mix together artichoke hearts, provolone, mayonnaise, pepper sauce, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until thoroughly combined.

Once peppers are cool enough to handle, cut through 3/4 of the top to create a “flap.”  Reach in and remove seeds.  Using a spoon (or your hands) stuff the filling into the peppers, leaving about 1/2″ at the top.  Return to the casserole dish, closing the top “flap” of the peppers.

Bake 30-40 minutes until peppers are lightly charred and the filling is heated through.  Serve immediately.

Loaded Alfalfa Sprout Sandwich with Rhubarb Vinaigrette

While out running some errands out in Mentor, Zak and I saw a Marc’s and decided to do our grocery shopping there instead of the store closer to home.  I am very pleased we did, because they had a few things which “our” Marc’s is generally lacking – including alfalfa sprouts.  Zak wanted to make some sandwiches using them, so we did.  These were both intensely delicious and very healthy.  Whole wheat bread, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, onions, and peppers – what’s not to love?  A light smear of mayonnaise holds the whole thing together.  By grilling the sandwich on either a panini press or by using a grill pan and a weighed down cast iron skillet, you fuse all the flavors and create a sandwich of manageable size.

Loaded Alfalfa Sprout Panini with Rhubarb Vinaigrette

2 slices whole wheat bread

1-2 tbs. mayonnaise

1/3 cup alfalfa sprouts

1/2 medium tomato, sliced 1/4″ thick

1/4 cup leftover fajitas

2-3 tbs. rhubarb vinaigrette

Nonstick cooking spray

Spread each slice of bread with a little bit of mayonnaise.  On bread, stack tomato, then alfalfa sprouts, then dressing, then fajitas.  Top with the other slice of bread.

Cook on a panini press about two minutes per side.  Alternatively, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat and spray with nonstick.  Meanwhile, heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Add sandwich to the grill pan.  Spray the bottom of the cast iron skillet with nonstick spray and place on top of the sandwich.  Add a large can of tomatoes (or something similar) and lightly press the skillet down. Cook about two minutes until bread is toasted.  Serve immediately.

Vegetarian Burrito Bowls with Creamy Cilantro Pinto Beans, Corn Salsa, and Fajitas

When we received three different types of peppers in this week’s CSA share, my mind immediately jumped to Chipotle’s fajitas (I had been bemoaning the lack of a Chipotle near school the day before).  I decided to make a burrito bowl with rice, creamy pinto beans, sautéed peppers and onions, and cold esquites as a corn salsa.  I was particularly excited to make this due to the fact that we had received a variety of salts, pepper flakes, and hot sauces as one of our wedding gifts from our friend Diane.  Though I love to cook from scratch, sometimes it is super helpful to use some flavor enhancing shortcuts.  Here, the bacon salt (which was artificially flavored) meant I could make the beans flavored with the smokey, meaty flavor of bacon without actually using bacon – which means Zak could happily eat them.  The jalapeño pepper sauce imparted spicy jalapeño flavor without the need for chopping and deseeding.  I can’t wait to use more of the awesome products she gifted us, especially some of the fancier salts that I would usually not justify purchasing on my own.

Combined together, the separate components of this dish were excellent.  Spicy and sweet, hot and cool, creamy and crunchy.  It was filling from the rice as beans but not overwhelmingly heavy thanks to the fact that it was heavy on vegetables, including the corn, peppers, and onions.  This also reheated really well (I packed the esquites separately and everything else together).  While it wasn’t a dead on knock-off of Chipotle, or anything, it was pretty darn good.

Vegetarian Burrito Bowls

with Creamy Cilantro Pinto Beans, Corn Salsa, and Fajitas

Creamy Cilantro Pinto Beans:

1 lb. dried pinto beans

1/2 cup white onion, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 1/2 cups cilantro, stems included, roughly chopped

1 tsp. bacon salt (or 3-4 strips bacon, roughly chopped)

1 tsp. Arizona Gunslinger Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce (or 1 jalapeño, finely chopped)

6-8 cups vegetable stock

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Pick through beans to make sure there are no stones or deformities.  Place in a pot and cover by 2″ with cold water.  Let soak overnight, or at least 8-10 hours.

Add all ingredients to a medium stock pot.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium to maintain a low boil and cover.  Simmer 3-5 hours until beans are creamy and tender, stirring occasionally and adding more stock if necessary.  Mine took about four hours.  When done, the beans will be tender and the liquid in the pot will coat the back of a spoon.  Taste for seasonings, adjusting as necessary

Esquites (Mexican Street Corn Salad):

Follow recipe, posted here

Serve the esquites chilled.

In this recipe, I substituted the jalapeño with 1 tsp. Arizona Gunslinger Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce.  Additionally, I doubled the cilantro and used both the whites and greens of the scallions.  I used garlic salt rather than garlic (because I had forgotten to chop it when I was adding the ingredients at the end), and chipotle pepper flakes rather than crushed red pepper flakes.  The original recipe, of course, would be fine as is.

Faijitas:

1 green bell pepper, sliced lengthwise

1 red bell pepper, sliced lengthwise

1 medium onion, halved and sliced lengthwise

2 tbs. canola oil

1 tsp. chipotle pepper flakes

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

In a grill pan or cast iron skillet, heat canola oil over medium-high heat.  Add onions and peppers and cook, stirring frequently, until charred and soft.  Season with pepper flakes, salt, and freshly cracked black pepper.

Assembly:

1 cup white rice, cooked according to instructions

Creamy cilantro beans, see above

Corn salsa/esquites, see above

Fajitas, see above

Plain Green yogurt or sour cream, for serving

Starting with rice, then beans, then fajitas, then corn (or however you like it!) layer ingredients in desired amounts.