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.