Recipe: Microwaved Sweet Potato Chips

If you have ever perused the Snack & Chip aisle in your supermarket, you might have seen sweet potato chips in those fancy black bags. Most often times they are pretty pricey, more so than regular potato chips but I had a craving for them and had mentioned how pricey they were at work. Luckily, a co-worker who happens to be a vegetarian cook suggested I try making sweet potato chips at home using a microwave. She offered some of her own samples and I was impressed!

"Use the thinnest setting on your mandoline slicer", she said "and microwave them for 7 minutes on parchment paper circle or use spray oil on a plate. They have a tendency to stick."

I learned that ONE large sweet potato yields about 4 dinner plates of chips and that everyone's microwave is a different power so 7 minutes for one person might burn the chips for someone else. After trial and error, I figured that my microwave did the job in about 5 minutes. Large sized chips took a bit longer. If they weren't crispy enough for my liking after that, I continued to cook them at 30 second intervals, watching them so that they don't burn. They are best served fresh (they're so tasty that you'll probably eat them faster than you can make them!) and have lower fat than if you fried them in oil.
Note: Smaller end slices cook in less time than large center slices.

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato
• fine sea salt (optional)
• spray cooking oil

Directions

1. Using a peeler, remove then skin of the sweet potato and cut off the pointy ends.
2. Using your mandoline slicer set on the thinnest setting, slice the sweet potato.
3. Arrange the sweet potato slices in a single layer on a microwave safe plate lined with parchment paper or coated with a bit of spray oil. You can sprinkle some salt on the chips now before cooking them as the moisture that escapes during cooking will help the salt adhere.
4. Microwave at high power for 5 to 7 minutes depending on the strength of your microwave. You may have to experiment with the time to find the correct time for your microwave oven. 
5. As you are cooking one plate, slice and prepare another.
6. When sweet potatoes are cooked to your liking, remove and allow to cool on a paper towel. This will remove additional moisture and keep the chips crisp. Continue with the rest of the batch.
7. Serve.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Bread

One of the Thanksgiving sides seems to traditionally be a sweet potato dish. This year we boiled and mashed sweet potatoes instead of baking them and were left with quite some leftovers.

Since I made the mashed potatoes into gnocchi, I figured I'd change the sweet potatoes into something as well. The same evening after I made the gnocchi, I made sweet potato bread for the next day's breakfast.


There was apple sauce in the refrigerator which is a perfect replacement for oil in these mix and pour recipes to make it low fat. Try to use unsweetened apple sauce when replacing the oil in recipes otherwise your end result will be too sweet.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F
   
2. Use a spray oil to grease a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
   
4. Stir in the sugar, pecans, and raisins.
5. In another bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, milk, and mashed sweet potatoes. Mix well.
6. Add the sweet potato mixture to the flour mixture and mix with a large spoon until combined.
7. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool for 15 minutes and then remove from pan.

Recipe: Cranberry Walnut Granola

I still have Ocean Spray dried cranberries and walnuts from a previous trip to Costco. A large 10 pound box of oats was on sale last month and I had also bought a bottle of honey from Costco all using their coupons. After getting a bit tired of eating oatmeal everyday, I decided to attempt making my own granola for use in yogurt parfaits after seeing how expensive they are in the local delis.

You can use any type of raw oats but "Instant" just means that the oats were pressed thinner during processing to cook faster. I like "Old Fashioned" style which is thicker and give more crunchy texture to the finished product.

Ingredients

• 3-1/2 cups uncooked oats
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey (*check out my tip below)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats and walnuts.
3. In a small bowl, combine oil, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well!
4. Pour over the oats & nuts. Mix until oats are totally covered in the honey mixture.
5. Spread mixture evenly on a aluminum foil lined jelly roll pan or on rimmed baking sheet.
6. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes so that granola bakes evenly. Watch to prevent burning!
7. Cool granola completely.
8. Stir in dried cranberries and store in an airtight container.

Since there are no preservatives, the granola can store tightly covered up to 1 week.

Makes about 12 half cups servings.

*TIP I measured the oil first with a tablespoon so that when I measured the honey, it wouldn't stick to the spoon. 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup liquid

Recipe: Arroz Caldo : Filipino Chicken Rice Soup

I made White Cut Chicken (Bak Chit Gai) the night before (recipe here) and have this lovely chicken stock left over. It's quite chilly and sleeting outside and I started craving Arroz Caldo, a thick Filipino rice soup that is inspired by the Chinese rice congee. Arroz Caldo means "Hot Rice" in Spanish and was probably given that name by the Spanish settlers in the Philippines when they discovered Chinese congee.

Since the stock is already flavored with ginger and garlic, I found it perfect for this comforting dish. I used some left-over cooked chicken to make this and sped up the process.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 2 inch piece of ginger (thinly sliced)
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 cup rice (either sweet rice or long grain or a combo of each)
• 1 pound boneless chicken meat (chopped: your choice of chicken breast or thigh)
• 6 cups water or chicken stock
• 2 tbs fish sauce (you can use salt or chicken bouillon if you don't have)
• 2 scallions (white and green part finely sliced for garnish)

Directions

1. In a medium sized pot, heat oil and cook the onion, garlic, and ginger for a minute until fragrant.
2. Add fish sauce and the chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the rice and stir until coated with the flavored oil.
4. Add the water or stock and cover.
5. Bring to a boil over high heat and then lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
6. When done, turn off heat. You may need to add a little water to adjust thickness to your preference.
7. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with the sliced scallions.

Recipe: Banana Bread

I always buy a large bunch of bananas for my smoothies but when they start to ripen faster than I can use them, I make banana bread. Here is a simple and fast recipe. If you have a stand mixer, it makes it all the faster to prepare.





Ingredients

* 2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 4 very ripe bananas (the blacker they are the sweeter)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl cream together eggs and sugar then stir in mashed bananas, vanilla, oil and cinnamon.

Carefully add and stir in the flour mixture, a third at a time, until just combined.

Pour batter into a 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake for about 1 hour.


Use can serve this as a nice dessert. A toasted slice of banana bread with a scoop of vanilla or butter pecan ice cream on top. Add a drizzle of maple syrup for decadence!