Sweet Potato Fries

I've just discovered the sweet potato, and boy am I smitten. This is the only thing I can do with them so far, but it might be all I ever need.

I looked at some recipes for common tips on making fries, and then just kind of made it up as I went along. The result: sooooo delicious. I had them with some tofu and arugula in a PC garlic and rosemary marinade.




I used a whole sweet potato, on the smallish side. I peeled it, cut in half and then into strips. Then I boiled them for 5 minutes at the suggestion of the internet (and dried them off a little afterward to make sure the oil would stick). I put a layer of tin foil on a baking sheet, and sprayed it with low-cal canola oil. After spreading out the strips so that none were touching, I gave them a coating of spray-oil, and sprinked sea salt, black pepper, and cinnamon over them. Mix them up so that everything's coated in spice, and it's good to go. I put them on the top rack of the oven at 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Beans and Vegetables

Today was the Hamilton Potter's Guild sale; there was tons of great stuff and I bought myself a really incredible plate. It demanded a good-looking dinner, so this is what I made:



I made two portions of this and saved one for tomorrow. Here's what's in it.

1/2 c. green lentils
1 c. pinto beans
1 c. chick peas
3/4 broccoli crown
1/2 can green beans
1/2 package frozen spinach
1 zucchini
3/4 c. pasta sauce
parmesan cheese

Instead of using regular oil in the pan, I tried this spray kind I found with hardly any calories - 10 per 1 second spray. It worked just as well, and I love not having to add an extra 100 to whatever I'm eating.

It was pretty good, but I think next time I'm going to try out some fresh herbs or something.

Also, the other day I made sweet potato fries and they were amazing. I was too excited to blog it, but I'll do it again this week for sure.

It was warm today!

Today's dinner involved a trip to the grocery store and I wasn't really in the mood to cook, so I got a couple of weirdo items as inspiration. I've been doing the teriyaki thing for days so this was supposed to be more fresh and springy.


I used (in the order they went in):
A whole zucchini
Half an orange pepper
Cremini mushrooms
about 1/2 c. black beans
about 3/4 c. fava beans
about 1/2 c. diced tomatoes
A big handful of rapini cut into 2" pieces (I blanched this first)

Around the end I threw in some garlic powder and herbes du provences, but would skip the powder next time.

I've never had rapini before - it looks like a broccoli/lettuce hybrid and the internet thinks it's an acquired taste. It definitely had a distinct flavour, a bit like brussels sprouts, but I liked it. And the mushrooms smelled soo good at the beginning of this.

The whole thing was pretty good, but I wish I was better at spices and sauces. It could have done without the tomatoes, because they made it feel like it should taste more like something else. It might have been nice just to have the flavours of the different vegetables. I'll do some reading and come up with a new sauce that has nothing to do with asian cooking and still has almost no calories. Or possibly, eat more teriyaki.

Feefy Stuff

When I was a kid, one of the regular meals in rotation was Beefy Stuff: a glorious mix of ground beef, tomato sauce, and macaroni. It was the best. But for some reason, I've never even tried to make it as an adult. So I did! (With fake beef of course).


I set up 1/2 c. macaroni to boil, and microwaved my vegetables (spinach and broccoli). I put a bit of oil in a pan and tossed in 2/3 c. ground soy. When the pasta was almost finished, I put some pasta sauce in with the soy and added the spinach and broccoli. At the very end, the pasta went in to absorb some flavour. Then eating! It was delicious.

Stir Fry: TNG

I like stir frying.

Today at the grocery store I got a bunch of vegetables I wouldn't normally even look at, and used them for dinner tonight. It's probably totally regular for everybody else, but I'm new at this whole thing so it was exciting for me.


It was basic stir-fry procedure, but full of:

1/2 package Tofu marinated in Teriyaki sauce
1 Zucchini
1/2 Eggplant
3 stalks of Bok Choy
1 stalk of Green Onion

I didn't like the texture of the eggplant at the end, but I think that might be because I should have put it in sooner. I still have half of it left, so I guess we'll see what happens next time.

What kind of beans go with teriyaki? Any?

Muffins!

I attempted a low-cal oatmeal muffin. It came out a little sticky, but greatly improved over time.

They were super tasty, and I had a nice breakfast snack for weeks afterwards.

Here are the ingredients:
1 c. old fashioned rolled oats
1 c. non-fat milk
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened apple sauce
2 egg whites
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
(I also threw in some allspice)
Top with:
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. sugar

Soak the oats in milk for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 400F and spray the muffin pan (I used cups.. but wish I hadn't.)
Combine the oat mixture with applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined.
In a separate bow, measure and whisk the dry ingredients together.
Add wet to dry and mix until just combined. Too much, and they'll be tough.
Spoon into pan and top with cinnamon and sugar.
Bake for 20-25 mins or until done
Remove from pan, cool, and enjoy.

It was supposed to make 12 (although I only got 11) and they're about 95 calories per muffin.

Spinchlette!

Tonight I had breakfast for dinner. This is soooo filling I can't even believe it. I could only eat about half of it (although I'm ashamed to say I'll be eating it cold later on, I'm sure). This is something I accidentally invented the other day - scrambled eggs outnumbered by vegetables. So this specific one is really easy but so tasty.

I used 3 eggs because I was really hungry tonight, but you could easily use two. I added several handfuls of spinach (maybe 4), just beyond the point where you think it's a ridiculous amount. It shrinks down like nobody's business so really overdo it in the bowl.
I added a couple thick slices worth of cheese, grated, in the form of cheddar and swiss.
Mix the whole thing together and then toss it in a pan with some oil (I used sunflower, but whatever). I cooked it like scrambled eggs - the eggs grew and the spinach shrank.

When it was almost done, I added salt and pepper and put some bread in the toaster.

Then eating! Easy peasy. This was such a quick dinner and super healthy with all that spinach. The only bread we had was white, but if you use multigrain, you'll win some sort of good person award. Goooood times.