Crispy Microwave Sweet Potato Chips

*Yep, I ate these. They were delish.

I had my mind blown today by an article in The Awl about using the microwave. The article also included a method for making sweet potato chips (and others, including beets) in the microwave.

In retrospect, I'm not sure why I was so surprised by how well this worked. After all, I used to make pita chips* all the time in almost exactly the same way. I guess I just never thought of it for vegetables before.

Anyway, my chips turned out extremely crispy and crunchy, which is exactly what you want in a sweet potato chip right!? Obviously, they're not quite the same as a fried chip, but I suspect these are a bit healthier (and, they had more sweet potato flavor, which I consider a bonus). I only prepared a sweet potato; it's up to you to read the original article if you want ideas for using other veggies.

What you need:
A sweet potato, or several, depending.
Olive or vegetable oil
Salt
Seasoning, if you're into that.

A mandoline slicer will help you immensely for this recipe. If you don't have one, you'll need to slice your sweet potato very evenly and super thin. I wouldn't recommend a knife; a vegetable peeler might be better.
You'll also need some paper towels, a microwave-safe plate or dish, and... duh... a microwave.

What you do:
Wash and dry your sweet potato. Leave the skin on, obvs.
Using your mandoline, slice the sweet potato into even, thin slices.
Place the slices in a single layer on a layer of paper towel. Place another layer of paper towel on top and press gently to dry your slices. You'll never get them totally dry, so don't try, just get as much as you can by blotting and move on.
Toss your slices in your oil or spritz the oil on if you've got a mister. You want to coat each slice but you don't want them dripping oil.
Place a fresh layer of paper towel over your microwave-safe plate.
Next, put a single layer of oiled sweet potato slices on top of the paper towel.
I recommend salting at this time, but you can play around with this. ((My first batch I salted after I finished cooking them and the salt didn't stick. The second batch I salted at the halfway mark, and they were a little saltier. Next time, I'd salt them right at the oiling stage.)
Put the plate in the microwave and cook on high for 2-3 minutes**.
Remove them from the microwave, flip each slice, and put back in for 2-3 minutes on high.
They're going to get a little brown in the middle. That's ok; just don't let them get too brown. Obviously, this means you have to watch them fairly closely while you make them.
Once cooked, take them out of the microwave and just let them rest*** for a few minutes. If you're using a seasoning, now's the time to add it.
Once they're cool, you can eat them right away. I have no idea how you'd want to store these yummies but I will update this recipe once I've tried a few methods. Feel free to leave suggestions below. :)

*To make pita chips: cut pita bread (the kind that is like a pocket) into pieces of the desired chip size. Place pieces on paper towel on a microwave-safe plate and nuke them for however long it takes for them to get crispy; I haven't done this in a while but I feel like I was doing 1-2 minutes on high per side in the past.

**As the original article says, all microwaves are different so you may need too experiment with cooking times. I did 3 minutes on high on one side, 2 minutes on high on the other. I tried 2:30 on the second batch and half of them burned... so play around and see what works for you.

**I actually used my wire baking rack to help cool them; I just lifted the paper towel and sweet potato slices right off the plate and set them on the rack. If you don't have a rack, you might consider putting another paper towel layer down on a cutting board or other flat surface and lifting your microwaved paper towel and sweet potato onto it.

Tasty Protein Smoothie

*That is my empty blender bottle. I liked my smoothie so much I guzzled it before I remembered to take a pic. Oops. Yum. 

I'm a huge advocate for eating "real food". I think it's important to practice portion control, eat a healthy variety of foods each day, and always avoid "pills, powders, and potions". 

I really mean it. I'm not going to put a big lecture here about why I'm against supplements and the three Ps; that's not what this blog is about. However, I am about to post a recipe for a smoothie that uses protein powder, so I figured I'd best explain it a bit. The brief version: I needed to make a radical change in order to actually lose pounds on the scale, so I chose a specific, short-term plan and incorporated a protein supplement in order to shake up my metabolism (or whatever it is that is helping me to lose... and it is, by the way, helping). I do not advocate using supplements or any of the three Ps long term, but I do believe that within a defined, short-term diet plan, they can be useful. 

The issue with using protein powder is it tastes awful and feels gross in your mouth. I hate it. It makes me gag. But I have found with this particular recipe that I not only tolerate but actually enjoy getting my protein in, and the added bonus is it satisfies me for a very long time. I'm less likely to indulge or over-eat after I have this smoothie, so I'm trying to have it regularly. 

What you need:
1/2 C of cold, strongly brewed coffee, plus a little more
1/4 C of 1% milk
4 tsp granulated sugar
1 scoop of chocolate-flavored protein powder. 

Approx 1/2 C ice cubes

Blender

Blender Bottle

Notes: 

Regarding the protein powder: I use Optimum Nutrition's Platinum Hydro Whey (chocolate). I admit, the reason I'm using it is that we had some in the house already from our former weight-lifting days. There may be better options out there for weight loss, but I have found that in terms of meeting my current specific goals (filling, low calorie, tolerable on the palate) it's fine. 

I brew a large pot of coffee on the weekends for use during the week. I use Panera's Italian Espresso because I find it good and strong without being too bitter. I put it in the fridge in a pitcher unsweetened once it has cooled.

What you do:

In my blender bottle first, I mix the coffee, milk, sugar, and protein. Shake vigorously, until the powder is (mostly) mixed in. I then add enough ice cubes to bring the total volume in the bottle up to just below the lip, then dump the entire mixture into my blender. If you're doing it this way, do not forget to retrieve your blender ball before you turn on the power blender. Metal in your shake? Not delicious. 

I use the "ice crush" setting on the blender and blend the hell out of the ingredients. It gets kind of frothy, which I think is a good thing. Once it's all smooth, I pour it gently back into my blender bottle. I use a big plastic straw so I can drink while I'm driving. Up to you how you get it into your mouth. 

That's it. The great thing is, it's about 240 calories and it fills you up for hours... I'm normally so full that I only want a little fruit or veggies for lunch, and I'm good until dinnertime. What I love about this recipe is that you honestly cannot tell there's protein in the smoothie at all... it gets so well-blended, it's just like drinking an iced coffee. Plus, I get my caffeine fix too. :)

One thing: be sure to hydrate well throughout the day. I've heard protein powders can have some less-than-ideal side effects in terms of digestive regularity. So drink lots of water... you should be fine. :) 

The Easiest Most Delicious Pasta Sauce from Scratch

*oh look, my tomatoes from last summer! Yes, that's my picture. I ate that orange one about two seconds after snapping this photo. 

I've been feeling a little uninspired in the kitchen lately. My hubby has been out of town a lot, and it's hard to get back into "cooking for one" mode. Then again, last week I made that amazing, incredible cauliflower casserole... and that thing was inspired, man.

Anyway. The point is, when I got home tonight I had a few leftovers and absolutely no ambition whatsoever to make anything fancy, but I was craving pasta badly. Cue the carb-fest!

I adapted this recipe from my Simply Shrimply Spicy Pasta. You can, and probably will, adapt it to suit your taste and the contents of your fridge. My one regret tonight is that I didn't have any soft cheese to add to this in globs... ricotta or even goat cheese would have been welcome.

What you need:

1 28oz can of diced tomatoes (I am still using Meijer's "organic" petite diced ones.)
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 clove garlic (or 1 tsp of minced from the fridge, ya'll)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
+EITHER:
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
OR:
2 tsp minced fresh basil (or more? I LOVE basil...)
OR:
2 tsp Italian seasoning

Garnish: Fresh-grated Parmesan cheese, to taste

What you do:

If you're going to eat this now, start your water boiling first and get your pasta going. You'll want the pasta to be finished around the same time as the sauce. Tonight, I used elbow macaroni.

Set your skillet on medium and put the olive oil in to heat.

Add the butter.

Once the butter melts, add the garlic and stir slightly. Let the garlic soften but don't brown it.

Add the whole  can of tomatoes, juices and all. Add all the spices. Stir together well.

Let simmer for 5-8 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly. Using a potato masher or some other method of your choosing, mash your tomatoes to a consistency you want to eat. If you like big chunks of tomato, don't mash. I prefer a more blended sauce, personally.

You should probably be ready to drain your pasta by now... please do. I'll wait.

Turn off the heat under your sauce, then toss your pasta into the skillet and stir it all up. The sauce probably won't coat the pasta very well but you still want to marry them together as much as you can.

Serve, preferably with Parmesan cheese all melty and gooey on top.

Seriously, this takes a total of maybe 10 minutes to do if you've got everything handy.

Roasted Cauliflower, Goat Cheese, and Tomato Casserole

*My picture of my amazing dinner... omg, just looking at it makes me want to eat more!

I know I say this every time I make something new but… seriously, this is the best thing I've ever made!! Hands down, it's my new favorite. I made it tonight because my hubby is out of town, and he's a little less enthusiastic about cauliflower than I am. That said, I'm 100% sure he's going to love this if I make it for him, it's that good.

This Roasted Cauliflower, Goat Cheese, and Tomato Casserole is originally from The Iron You. You can see it here; I made a few changes, of course, so this is my mouth-watering version. It's supposed to serve six, but it will not. I ate half of it in one sitting. If you're serving six people, I suggest you triple your recipe, or just make three. (Seriously.)

What you need:

1 medium head of cauliflower
Olive Oil (total of 3Tbsp)
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp pre-minced garlic (or 1 clove fresh, minced)
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp ground coriander (finally used my coffee grinder for this, worked great!)
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
2 large eggs
3/4C crumbled goat cheese

What you do:
Preheat your oven to 450F.
Cover a cookie sheet with foil, set aside.
Rub a medium casserole dish with oil and set aside.

Trim the stem and leaves from the cauliflower

Cut the cauliflower into "steaks", about 1/2 inch wide. Some florets will fall off, not a big deal.

Toss the cauliflower in 2 Tbsp olive oil, with a pinch of salt and pepper. You want it all to be coated.

Spread in an even layer onto a the prepared baking sheet.

Roast the cauliflower in the oven for 20-25 minutes, turning the largest pieces about half way. When I make this again, I might cut the whole thing up into smaller pieces from the get go… but anyway, this time I did the steaks and it was great.

While your cauliflower is cooking, start preparing the sauce. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

When hot, toss in your chopped onion and cook just until softened.

Add garlic and sautée for about a minute (don't brown it!).

Toss in tomatoes, spices, and salt. Stir together, then cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes. The sauce will thicken some.

Remove your cauliflower from heat and toss into a large bowl. Chop or break the biggest steaks into smaller pieces.

Add the tomato mixture to the bowl with the cauliflower and stir it all to combine it. Place in casserole dish and flatten out the top a bit.

Scramble your eggs, then add the goat cheese and mix well. I whisked the two together until they made a thick cream; I recommend doing this, as it adds the goat cheese flavor to the entire dish!

Pour mixture over the cauliflower / tomato.

Place casserole in oven uncovered and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Remove from heat, rest for 5 minutes, then cut and serve.

One serving yields 170 calories, 13 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbs and 7 grams of protein. Since I ate 3 servings, I guess I'd better get my ass on the treadmill tonight.

This recipe blew my mind. I thought it would be good, I never thought it could be this good. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Sweet Cherry Wine Sangria

*Yep, that's my image. I don't have a fancy pitcher, but this one worked just fine.

Sweet Cherry Sangria

I’ve had ok Sangria, and I’ve had some brain-melting-awesome sangria. Regardless of the quality of the final product, it’s almost always “good enough” to enjoy on a hot summer’s day.

I looked for a good recipe but ended up kind of winging it at the end, using this recipe from Allrecipes.com as a base. It turned out FAN-TAS-TIC.

Prepare in the morning for an afternoon / evening event. Prepare the night before for brunch or lunch. You want to give the fruit a chance to soak up some of the alcohol, and for the flavors to mix together.

What you need (Per batch. I suggest you plan to make two):

1 bottle Grand Traverse Bay cherry wine (or equivalent)
3/4 C brandy
12 oz lemon-lime soda, or to taste (Sprite or house brand preferred at our place!)
1 C orange juice, or to taste (pulp or no pulp, it’s your call)
1 lemon, sliced thinly
1 lime, sliced thinly
1/2 orange, sliced thinly
1 apple, cored, pared, sliced or cubed (you could just use half I guess…)
1 C fresh pineapple chunks (do not use canned… really!)

Optional fruit:
Personally, I think the more fruit the better, but it’s your call. Use any or all of these in combination.
1 cup of cherries, pitted, halved
5-10 strawberries, stems removed, sliced thinly
1 small handful raspberries, rinced
1 nectarine, cored, chunks or sliced thinly (skin on)

What you do:

• Prep all your fruit as you like it. I LOVE eating the fruit after I’m done drinking my sangria, so for me chunks of apple, nectarine, and pineapple are awesome. If you just want the fruity flavors, you may be better to slice everything super thin. Your call. 
• Put your fruit in a large pitcher and pour in the brandy. Let soak for at least 2 hours, preferably longer. 
• Chill your wine, orange juice, and lemon-lime soda in the meantime. 
• About an hour or two before serving, add the wine to the pitcher and stir gently. 
• Immediately before serving, add the lemon-lime soda and orange juice to taste. If you like, add more wine / brandy to taste. Gently crush your fruit if you wish before serving (I do not like it this way, but many do). 

Serve over ice or not, with cherries for garnish or not, and enjoy!

Strawberry Jam in Mason Jars

*ya, dis mah jam. Like, literally... it's my jam.

Certo Strawberry Jam

When I was younger, my mom took us every year to pick strawberries from a local farm. We’d pick basket upon basket of strawberries, eating probably a third as many while out in the field. We would eat some fresh for the next few days, and my mom invariably would slice some up and serve them with angel food cake and whipped cream… a summer staple. The rest, though, were reserved for jam.

My mom made her jam in a giant yellow pot on the stove. It was a simple recipe: purée the strawberries, add sugar to taste, and boil to thicken. Sometimes, after it was finished thickening she would pulse it in the food processor a few times to get the big chunks out, but not always. Then, we’d pour it into peanut-butter jars and store them all in our big chest freezer. It didn’t matter what time of year we opened one of those jam jars, the smell and taste of summer always came through. It was heavenly.

Now that I’m grown up (ish), I wanted to try making my own. I also wanted to try canning it, because we don’t have a chest freezer. After asking around, the consensus was that Certo’s own recipe is the way to go, so that’s what I did… mostly.

The Certo recipe calls for very specific, precise measurement… not my forte, I’ll admit. I tried to follow their rules but frankly, I didn’t, and my jam turned out amazing. I would say if you’ve never made jam before, go straight to the Certa site and follow their recipe. If you’re a little more comfortable, read on!

What you need:

2 pints fresh strawberries (I got mine at the grocery store, conveniently packaged in pint containers. Score!)

7 C sugar

½ tsp butter (optional)

1 pouch fruit pectin (Certo obviously recommends Certo brand, which I like)

Canning supplies:

Boiling water canner and enough water to fill it half way, jars, lids, etc.

You’ll want to prep your jars ahead of time. Wash your jars and screw bands in hot soapy water, rinse, and set aside. Put a small saucepan on the stove with your flat lids and heat until it bubbles, then remove from heat and set aside. I kept mine in the sauce pan on a trivet and that was easiest for me. Have your supplies near at hand and ready to go.

What you do:

• First, fill up your boiling water canner about halfway, and set on high or medium-high heat to start the water warming. Ideally, your water will be boiling by the time your jam is ready.
• I hate lumpy jam. This was definitely a consideration when I adapted this recipe. I used 2 pints of strawberries which was close to 4 cups of raw, prepared berries. I cut off the stems, sliced them in half, and then threw them in the food processor. I basically puréed them before even cooking. You could, I suppose, do this later. The end result was about 6 Cups of pureed strawberries.
• Next,  I threw the strawberries into my cooking pot on medium-high heat. As the strawberries warmed, I turned the heat up a little (to 6 or 7 on my burner).
• Once the strawberries start steaming, add your sugar and stir well.
• Bring the heat up to high (not max), stirring frequently.
• Add the butter if you want to in order to reduce foaming. I didn’t bother with this, but I did scoop off some of the foam with a slotted spoon.
• Bring your strawberries and sugar to a full rolling boil. That means that it doesn’t stop boiling when stirred.
• Stir in the pectin, then return your mixture to a full rolling boil. Once there, let it boil for another minute or two, stirring constantly and skimming off foam frequently.
• Remove from heat. Skim any remaining foam.

Canning:

•  Ladle jam immediately into prepared jars, filling almost to the top (within 1/8 of an inch).
• Using a damp paper towel, wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with hot flat lid and screw bands on tightly.
• Place jars on elevated rack rack, the lower into canner full of boiling water. The water should cover the jars by a good 2 inches.
• Boil jars for 10 minutes.
• Remove jars from canner and place upright on a rack to cool. I used my cookie rack and it worked just fine. Let the jars cool completely before you do anything else.
• Once cooled, check your seal by pressing the middle of the lid. If it springs back, the lid is not sealed and you’ll need to freeze or refrigerate your jam. If you are going to freeze it, remove some of the jam first or you may burst your jars.  

My Made-Up Shrimp Stir-Fry

*Yes, that is my image, captured on my phone. Not sure the colors are terribly accurate, but it's the best I've got.

My Made-Up Shrimp Stir-Fry

Last night I was in a bit of a pickle. I had to be somewhere at 7 o’clock, I got home later than planned, and I didn’t know when the hubs was going to get home. Thankfully, I had a pound of frozen, deveined, easy-peel shrimp in my freezer. I set that to thaw as soon as I got in the door, and started looking for recipes. I had planned on shrimp for dinner but didn’t have much planned beyond that, and didn’t have time (or ingredients, in some cases) to make any of my more involved shrimp recipes.

So, I winged it, with great results (thank goodness)! I started out using this recipe from A Calculated Whisk, just to make sure I was on the right track. What followed was pure garlicky magic.

What you need:

1lbs raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, tail off, thawed if frozen
2 Tbsp olive oil
2+ tsp minced garlic (I didn't measure that carefully. It was about 2 tsp and it was nice and garlicky.)
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika or to taste
1 package frozen steamable veggies: I used cauliflower, broccoli, carrots
1/2 C water

What you do: 

• Heat oil in large skillet over medium low heat.
• Add garlic. Sautée until garlic is soft but don't brown, approx 2 minutes.
• Add shrimp, turning heat to medium. Stir to coat with oil and garlic.
• Sprinkle salt, pepper, and paprika evenly over the shrimp.
• Cover and cook for 4 minutes. Do not overcook!
• While cooking the shrimp, put your steamable veggies in the microwave on high.
• After 4 minutes, remove shrimp from skillet and set aside.
• Remove veggies from microwave and toss into skillet. Coat veggies with pan sauce.
• Add 1/2 C water to pan, stirring.
• Cook veggies in skillet, covered, for 2-3 minutes, or until tender.
• Toss shrimp back in, stir it all together while cooking for 1 more minute.

Serve hot. Sprinkle a tiny pinch of Parmesan cheese on each serving if desired.