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Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Onions

This is one of the recipes I did in our last Yoga Center Menu for February.

I just wanted a sweet counterpoint to the savory lasagna and other veggies, without recurring to my trusted ripe plantains… They’re sweet but savory at the same time and loaded with beta carotene. I made this recipe using 10lbs of sweet potatoes… and fed about 20 people. You can definitely adjust to feed your smaller crowd.

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES WITH ONIONS

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes

1 large onion, sliced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Garlic salt, optional

Olive oil to coat

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a baking sheet or roasting pan, place sweet potato pieces and onion slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Toss with your hands, until all pieces are coated with oil and seasonings.
Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes, moving sweet potatoes around about halftime.
Check the sweet potatoes for doneness before removing from oven.

Tags: onions, sweet potatoes

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Categories side dishes

Roasted Mustard Potatoes

27 Jan

I love making this dish!!! The smell of the mustard when it’s in the oven is divine…

ROASTED MUSTARD POTATOES

2 lbs red-skinned baby potatoes, cut in quarters or halved

6 tbs mustard – dijon, grain or spicy mustards will all work great here

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp Italian seasonings

2 tbs olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola oil spray

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the mustard, garlic, Italian seasonings, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place cut potatoes in the same bowl with the mustard mixture and toss to fully coat all the potatoes.
Move the mustard-coated potatoes into a baking sheet sprayed with canola oil spray.
Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes until potatoes are tender when speared with a fork.

Tags: garlic, mustard, potato

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Categories Potato Festival, side dishes

Herbed Roasted Potatoes

27 Jan

This is one of the easiest and nicest side dishes you can create. I make it in a toaster oven while I prepare the main dish.

HERBED ROASTED POTATOES

2 lbs of red skin or other waxy potatoes, washed and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tbs garlic salt

2 tbs Italian seasonings

2 tbs white pepper

2 tbs parsley – dried or fresh

2 tbs kosher salt

2 tbs lemon zest

2 tbs paprika (optional)

4 tbs Liquid soy margarine – I eye-ball this usually… enough to coat the potatoes.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together all the herbs and spices – garlic salt, Italian seasonings, white pepper, parsley, kosher salt, lemon zest and paprika, if using.
Drizzle a small amount of the liquid margarine and “butter” the baking dish or roasting pan you’ll be using to roast these potatoes. This way you’ll ensure the potatoes will not stick to the bottom.
Place cubed potatoes in the roasting pan or dish in a single layer. Drizzle liquid margarine on top of potatoes and sprinkle the herb mixture. Using your clean hands, massage the potatoes with the margarine and the herb mixture until the potato cubes are all slathered with margarine and herbs.
Roast in oven for about 30-35 minutes – until potatoes are golden brown and soft when you pierce them with a knife. Move them around the half-time mark if you want. I sometimes forget and they usually turn out OK.

Tags: lemon zest, parsley, potato, white pepper

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Categories Potato Festival, side dishes

Vanilla Maple Carrots

21 Jan

Believe it or not… this is one of the recipes that started it all. I found this recipe in the November 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living, did it and was sooooo easy and tasty that I shared it with my friend Kathleen. She made it, liked it and posted it on her blog Kathleen’s Vegetarian Kitchen. The rest… is blogosphere history.

So far, I have made this about 3 times at the Yoga Center I attend and I always get requests to make it again. I know my pictures are not yet to Martha’s standards, but with practice, I hope to get there one day… at least the flavors are already there.

Again, the times I have done this, I have done 5 lbs. of carrots at a time. So I will follow the original recipe’s quantities to adapt to the regular household amounts.

VANILLA MAPLE CARROTS

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices

1 cup water

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

3 tbsp pure maple syrup

1-2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine carrots and water in a large skillet or saucepan. Season the water with salt and scrape the insides of the vanilla pod and mix in with the water. Throw in the vanilla pod left as well.
Bring to a simmer and cook carrots until they’re tender, about 10-13 minutes. Martha’s recipe says the water evaporates, mine never does evaporate a lot. So….
Drain all the water from the carrots.
Add syrup, honey, pepper and toss to combine. Be careful not to break up any carrots.

This makes a great side dish on any night, but would also work particularly well for Thanksgiving or for any potluck dinner.

Tags: carrots, honey, maple syrup, vanilla bean

Comments 3 Comments
Categories side dishes, Thanksgiving

Stuffed Mushrooms

21 Jan

I realized last night, I made this recipe a few months ago and forgot to post it…

I love mushrooms. I salivate when I travel to visit my sister in Indiana or to New York and go to any regular supermarket and see the wide variety of fresh mushrooms available. Here we get mostly white button mushrooms and with luck, sometimes we can find portobellos, creminis or oysters… but they’re usually old soggy-looking, so I never buy them like that.

I learned this recipe from my other good friend, Giada De Laurentiis. And until now, I haven’t realized my photo resembled so much the photo in the Food Network website. I usually make this by “eye-balling” the proportion of the ingredients… so we’ll just use Giada’s proportions as a guide this time.

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

1/2 cup whole-wheat bread crumbs – I grind ww breadsticks or leftover bread in the food processor
1/2 cup shredded Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt and Black pepper to taste

Garlic & Herb Seasoning or Italian Seasonings
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
28 large white or cremini mushrooms, stemmed

Save about 1/2 the mushroom stems

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare the stuffing by mixing in a bowl the breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley, seasonings, salt and pepper. Add olive oil until the mixture is damp and holds somewhat together when you press it between your fingers.
Take about 1/2 the mushrooms stems you took off and chop them very finely. Add them to the breadcrumb mix and combine.
Fill each mushroom cap – not too tightly because they might break.
Drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet, place mushroom caps on sheet and drizzle additional olive oil on top of the mushrooms.