Crazy Week Night Sweets

Eric, my husband and I have worked together at most jobs we've had for the last 10 years. Mostly in resturaunts, but even now we get up together, get ready together, get the kids off to daycare together and we then, walk through the front doors of our work together.

A few years ago we worked at this place that had the best "Sweets" or sweet potato fries-- I actually almost forgot about them until on a date night we ordered sweet potato fries at another resturaunt. And we were sorely disappointed, not enough sweet or salt. And with the long-lost taste of Sweets in my mind, I could not get over it.

So last night, when I was home with two sickies. I found that I needed dinner, quick! And the two sweet potatoes staring at me on the counter got me thinking again. 

So I made my own version, a baked version with more sweet, and more salt. Not nutritious... but delicious. These are quick and the kids will eat them!

Baked Sweets
1 Tbs brown sugar 
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 pounds sweet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into long strips
1 tablespoon olive oil Spray or grease a baking sheet pan. Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix brown sugar, sugar,  cinnamon, salt with  sweet potatoes and oil in a mixing bowl. Spread sweet potatoes in single layer on prepared baking pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender and a little crispy.

 Photo

Organic Kale Salad

When I was growing up in Ireland we would eat kale (curly kale) once or twice a year around Halloween. My mom would cook it and chop it fine and add it to our mashed potatoes (this dish was called colcannon), she bribed my brother and I to eat it by wrapping coins in tin foil and placing them underneath the colcannon and we weren't allowed to dig for the money, we had to eat the colcannon until we reached the silver gifts.

I have to say I didn't enjoy colcannon at all, but it sounds delicious to me now. I re-discovered kale about 2 years ago, as many of my friends did too and I started to explore different recipes and this one is my favorite. In fact I love my kale salad so much that I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I can't get enough of it. This picture was taken at my birthday party last weekend. Although my hubby didn't want me cooking anything for my own bday, I was very happy to make my salad.
Here's the recipe:

Joan's Favorite Organic Kale Salad
1 head of organic kale (the curly kind)

Olive oil

1 orange

1 grapefruit

1 pomegranate

Handful of the following raw and unsalted seeds:

Sesame seeds

Pumpkin seeds

Flax seeds

Sunflower seeds

Wash the kale and strip/cut the leaves from the stems. With a sharp knife chop the kale leaves to fine bite size pieces (the finer the better) and place in a glass bowl. Add olive oil, approx 2 tablespoons to the kale leaves and knead the oil into the leaves making them tender and soft. Add the juice of 1 fresh orange and knead it into the leaves as well. Do not add the oil and orange juice at the same time, you will not achieve the right tenderness. Set the bowl aside. Seed the pomegranate and add the seeds to the salad. Add the raw seeds of your choice. Mix it all together and enjoy and see who fights for the last little bits left in the bottom of the bowl.

When I made this salad last weekend I added the juice and fruit of a delicious sweet white grapefruit that I bought at the farmers market, which turned my salad into a delicious brunch salad.

Prep in advance: I usually wash / prepare 2 heads of kale at once so that I can be prepared to make another salad the next day. I save the prepared leaves in a glass container in the fridge till I need it. Unlike a salad made with lettuce, kale salad tastes even better the next day when the leaves and seeds have soaked up the citrus juices. Kale leaves can also be added to veggie soups, yum.

Unlike when I was a child, my 14 year old girlie will sit down with a big bowl of kale salad and finish it to the last bite, I feel pretty good about this and I don't have to add money wrapped in tin foil to bribe her, she sometimes helps to seed the pomegranate.

This is a healthy, nutritious way to eat your greens and seeds.

Gluten Free Beef and Vegetable Soup

A few months ago, Truman (my son) was having stomach problems-- waking up in the middle of the night crying for hours about how his stomach hurt. As a mother, I felt so helpless. We tried a lot of things. Taking dairy out of his diet, going gluten free and so on. In a couple months, the episode was over and we still don't know what the problem was.

But I do still have a few gluten free foods leftover in the cupboard-- for instance, Qunioa Elbow Pasta. This pasta is amazing, because it tastes just like pasta should. It's perfect for soups, tomato based dishes and mac-n-cheese.

Gluten Free Beef and Vegetable Soup
1/2 lb. Lean Ground Beef
1/2 Medium Onion chopped fine
1 Can of Diced tomatoes-blended until smooth
6-8 Cups of gluten-free Chicken Stock (or make your own)
1 Cup frozen peas and carrots
1 clove chopped garlic
1 cup chopped broccoli
2 small potatoes chopped
1 box Quinoa elbow pasta


In your stock pot use 2 tablespoons of olive oil and saute ground beef and onion until no pink is visible. Add garlic and blended tomato then chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Salt to taste. Add vegetables. Bring back up to boil. Add Quinoa pasta cook about 6 minutes.

Salt and pepper to taste.

 This soup is quick to make. Warm and filling... serve it with some GF crackers. No one will ever know it was all made without flour!