Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes

Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes (slightly adapted from Food Network, Servings: 4, Total Time: 30 minutes)

Ingredients

·         2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

·         2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

·         ½ tsp. kosher salt

·         1 chipotle chile pepper in adobo sauce, chopped

·         1 teaspoon adobo sauce, from the pepper can

Directions

1.)    Put the sweet potatoes in a large pot and cover with water.  Bring the water to a boil and cook for 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are fork-tender.

2.)    Drain the water from the pot.  Add the butter and salt and mash with a potato masher. Add the chile and sauce and continue mashing to combine. Serve immediately

I served these with Mexican meatloaf.  They were sweet and spicy, a great combination.  The potatoes were creamy and went down easily, even with the hint of spice from the adobo pepper and sauce.  I added a bit of extra sauce to mine, but it still wasn’t overly hot.  My husband liked the dish, but it was slightly too hot for him.  Easy and tasty!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (from Kraft Recipes, Servings: 8, Total Time: 30 minutes)

Ingredients

·         2-1/2 lb. baking potatoes (about 7), peeled, quartered

·         4 cloves garlic, minced

·         1 tub (8 oz.) Cream Cheese Spread

·         1 Tbsp. margarine

Directions

1.      Cook potatoes and garlic in boiling water in large saucepan 20 min. or until potatoes are tender; drain.

2.      Mash potatoes until smooth.

3.      Add remaining ingredients; mix well.

I made this dish for Thanksgiving and the family really enjoyed it.  I used one or two additional cloves of garlic and it worked out perfectly.  My husband loves garlic and I am OK with it, but we both loved the potatoes.  The potatoes were soft and creamy, a perfect complement to my family’s turkey and my Tofurky!

Roasted Green Beans with Peppers & Onion

Roasted Green Beans with Peppers & Onion (from Kraft Recipes, Servings: 6, Total Time: 50 minutes)

Ingredients

·         1 lb. whole green beans, trimmed

·         1 each red and yellow pepper, cut into thin strips

·         1 large onion, cut into thin strips

·         ½ cup  Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

·         ½ cup Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

Directions

1.)    Heat oven to 400°F.

2.)    Toss vegetables with dressing in large roasting pan.

3.)    Bale 30 min. or until vegetables are tender, stirring after 15 min.

4.)    Sprinkle with cheese; bake 2 to 3 min. or until melted.

I made this for Thanksgiving at my mother’s. I used a sweet balsamic dressing from Kraft and it imparted an excellent flavor onto the vegetables.  A sweet/sour taste since it was a vinaigrette.  My family really enjoyed this as well.  I used frozen green beans, thawed, and tossed them with the rest of the veggies.  I think that this dish could honestly do without the cheese (when using the sweet balsamic) – I don’t feel that it really added anything. Maybe with regular balsamic it would.  The veggies stayed crisp and worked well with a side dish of mashed potatoes.  A great side dish to Thanksgiving dinner (and my Tofurky).  Enjoy!

Roasted Beets 'n' Sweets

Roasted Beets 'n' Sweets (from AllRecipes, Total Time: 1 ¼ hours, Servings: 6)

Ingredients

·         3 medium beets, peeled and cut into chunks

·         2 ½ Tbsp. olive oil, divided

·         1 tsp. garlic powder

·         1 tsp. salt

·         1 tsp. ground black pepper

·         1 tsp. sugar

·         2 large sweet potatoes, cut into chunks

·         1 small sweet onion, chopped

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2.       In a bowl, toss the beets with ½ Tbsp. olive oil to coat. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.

3.       Bake beets 15 minutes in preheated oven.

4.       While beets are baking, mix the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large resealable plastic bag. Place the sweet potatoes and onion in the bag. Seal bag, and shake to coat vegetables with the oil mixture.

5.       Mix sweet potato mixture with the beets on the baking sheet. Continue baking 45 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes, until all vegetables are tender.

The original recipe called for 6 beets and 2 medium sweet potatoes, but I used the quantities above because that’s what was in my CSA bag this week.  This dish is pretty easy to make – just remember to wear gloves when you cut the beets or else your hands might turn an interesting red/purple color. 

The vegetables were very tender – soft, but still had just a little bit of bite to them.  That satisfied both my husband and me.  It obviously tasted sweet – I think that the dish could have done without the added sugar.  If you are set on using sugar, I recommend only ½ tsp.  I also found it very “peppery”, I recommend only using ½ tsp. of pepper.  Other than that, it needed no changes.  A sweet way to get some veggies into a meal!