Grilled Sweet Potatoes

For my Lamb Cookout last weekend I wanted to make a healthy and tasty side dish that could be thrown on the grill. I settled on tasty sweet potato wedges that would compliment the complex flavors of the lamb and provide a high fiber side dish.

This recipe is extremely simple. After cutting the sweet potatoes into uniform sized wedges, I par boiled them quickly to start to cook them and then finished them off on the grill. Brush them with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper and you can throw them right on. I added some lime juice and a garnish of fresh cilantro to incorporate the Thai flavors, but lemon, garlic and parsley would be tasty as well.

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Garlic Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a wonderful and tasty compliment to any meal. I wanted to use them with my Spicy Thai Roast Chicken so I decided to put together a side dish that would pick up some of the flavors from my Thai marinade. Garlic and ginger added a nice compliment to the sweetness of the potatoes, while not overpowering the dish. Plus, this ended up being an incredibly lean and healthy recipe. Just a bit of olive oil and some skim milk is all you need to get a tasty, creamy texture. This recipe will yield four large servings or six smaller servings, depending upon your appetite. The best part? A large portion of this dish has only 195 calories and 6 grams of fiber.

I also wanted to give a shout out to the lovely Eva from KitchenInspirations who not only made my whole wheat cheez-itz this week, but send along four lovely awards for me. I am always so flattered when someone makes one of my recipes, so I was especially excited to see these yummy, healthy snacks on her site. If you haven't already, I urge you to check out her blog, she makes amazing recipes and has the most gorgeous kitchen!

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Italian Chicken Meatball Sliders & Alexia Sweet Potato Fries

Here's a fact that will surprise no one: I LOVE french fries. I love all varieties, flavors, sizes and textures. I love fries made of random ingredients and the traditional ones as well. I am also not ashamed to admit that I regularly indulge in fries of the frozen variety. I have been a longtime fan of Alexia products, mostly the waffle fries (SO GOOD) so I was thrilled when, as a Foodbuzz Tastemaker, I was offered the chance to sample a new product for free.

In order to truly enjoy the french fry experience, I knew I had to whip up some kind of burger as well. I decided on some yummy Italian meatball sliders. I wanted to make healthier chicken meatballs that would hold up well as a slider, so I used one half white meat ground chicken and one half chicken sausage. The result was incredibly flavorful but light. I used whole wheat buns and topped the burgers with a little bit of provolone and a crispy prosciutto slice.

At the store, I let Craig pick which type of fries he wanted with the sliders. Of course, he goes for the Spicy Sweet Potato Fries. They turned out to be super delicious. The sweetness of the potato worked really well with spicy chipotle pepper. They were a great compliment to the sliders. I was also thrilled with the nutrition info. A serving of 30 fries has only 130 calories. This made me VERY happy.

So all and all, this burgers & fries indulgence turned into a really quick and light weeknight meal.

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Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Walnuts

I'm back! We moved into our new apartment this weekend and I LOVE my new kitchen. I am already getting inspired to create all kinds of tasty goodies over the next few weeks. Best of all, it has a ton of storage space, which means I can finally get some cool kitchen gadgets.

Since moving to Somerville from Boston, we had to find a new grocery store. We found a gigantic Whole Foods that has every tasty food on the planet. I saw some homemade fresh sweet potato gnocchi and had to try them. I plan on making these at home soon, but for now, the store bought ones were delicious. Good gnocchi should be light, fluffy pillows and these were perfect. I decided to compliment the sweet potato with some crunchy walnuts and tangy garlic. Instead of drowning them in butter, I used just a bit of olive oil. Some fresh basil from my new mini herb garden (!) finishes off the dish. If you can't find these fresh, there are also a few brands that sell them frozen. I am hoping to start making my own soon. Craig and I were fighting over the leftover of this dish, it was so light and delicious. The best part is it only took 10 minutes to make, start to finish. The ultimate quickie dinner.

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Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken tikka masala is the most popular restaurant dish in Britain. Its orgins are disputed, some argue it was created in India, while others argue it began in London restaurants in the 70s. Regardless, this is an excellent dish to try if you are interested in experimenting with Indian-style cuisine but want something simple. Indian food is not my favorite, but I wanted to use Indian spices as inspiration for a healthy, spicy dish. The sauce is rich and flavorful, with notes of spice and sweet. Tender sweet potatoes and chickpeas compliment the complexity of the sauce. Full disclosure: this is not a traditional style recipe. This is just my interpretation of this dish that can be put together quickly for a tasty dinner. Don't be turned off by the long list of ingredients, this dinner can come together in 30 minutes and basically involves throwing ingredients into a pot.

Traditionally, this delicious dish is made with butter, cream and coconut milk and served over jasmine rice. I decided to create a leaner version that's packed with protein and filling fiber. In order to cut the heat and add a creamy texture, I added non fat plain Greek yogurt. Additionally, I added chickpeas and sweet potatoes and omitted the rice. You could also serve this over brown rice, quinoa or barley if you like. I bought some quinoa flax bread at Whole Foods and used that to scrape up all the tasty sauce.

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Roast Turnips with Sweet Potatoes and Apples

I saw some purple topped turnips at the store yesterday and decided to give them a try. Turnips are rich in vitamin C, beta carotene and insoluble fiber. They are also a good source of lutein, phosphorus and calcium. I decided to just simply roast these with some sweet potatoes and apples and add a bit of kick via cayenne pepper, balsamic vinegar and walnuts. You can throw this together in a few minutes and it makes a filling and satisfying side dish.

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Speedy Stir-fry

This super fast stir-fry is a weeknight favorite. Only 4 ingredients, its nutritionally complete, filling, and makes for a great leftover lunch the next day.

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