Monthly Archives: January 2014

Sweet Potato Fries

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My husband is a big fan of fries and he’s not giving them up any time soon. So, I decided to make him a slightly healthier version – baked sweet potato fries. They only took about 5 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook, and they were well worth it. We paired them with this salmon recipe and it was a perfectly easy dinner to throw together. And who doesn’t like perfectly easy?

  • 2-3 sweet potatoes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil (enough to give them a very light covering)
  • 1/2 – 1 tsp each salt, pepper, and paprika
  • Agave nectar (or honey)

Heat the oven to 450. Clean, peel, and cut (long ways) the potatoes. In a bowl, combine the olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika and toss in the potatoes. Once they have a light covering, move them to a baking sheet and lightly drizzle the agave nectar. (Feel free to leave this out if you don’t want them too sweet. But as I’m sure you’ve learned by now, my sweet tooth is insatiable so bring on the agave!)

Bake them for about 20 minutes. Some of the small fries will be done before the big ones so keep an eye on them closer to the end.

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Happy Eating, XO.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookies

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Sorry guys, but I have to throw you a curve ball on this one. I know we’re trying  to do the whole “clean eating in the new year!” thing, but I love baking (and eating) sweets too much to give them up. And I just couldn’t keep this recipe a secret: The chocolate chip cream cheese cookies – try saying that five times fast!

I don’t know about you, but I never seem to be able to use the whole bar of cream cheese when I buy it. I use half, and then find it in the back of my fridge way later than its expiration date. (Yikes!) So, this time I decided to attempt to use what I had left over in a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. It really brought out the best in the cookie – chewy middle and crunchy edges. Mind you, I made them small so I didn’t feel completely guilty for popping one after eating a wholesome salad or smoothie!

  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsalted, melted butter
  • 4 oz cream cheese (you can use less if you don’t have the 4 oz)
  • Dash of vanilla extract
  • 2 dashes of salt and baking powder
  • 2 cups of flour
  • 1 cup chocolate chip cookies

Heat your oven to 325. Begin mixing the sugars, butter, cream cheese and vanilla until combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda, then slowly add to the sugary mix. When it starts to look like dough, mix in the chocolate chip cookies. Lightly grease your cookie sheets and move on to the fun part – playing with the dough!

Scoop about a tablespoon full of dough, roll it, and lightly flatten on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 18-20 minutes. Mine were pretty thick so I left them in a little longer. And don’t forget, you should definitely “taste test” them while they’re hot!

chocolate chip cream cheese cookie

Happy Eating, XO

Pomegranate Kale Salad

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While scoping the world-wide web for our competition, err comrades. We recently came across this awesome food blog – A pinch of yum. Not only does it have super tasty recipes, but she is a fellow food enthusiast with an appetite for almost anything!

One recipe we just had to share with you is her Pom Kale Nut Salad. I mean, kale makes you think of a health freak, but this salad is yummy, promise. It has all the palate pleasers we rave about: sweet, tart, salty, crunchy, creamy, etc…Plus its filling enough to have as a meal and it truly is a sultry salad. Just look how tantalizing! Pomegranates really are the jeweled produce of Winter.

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Happy Eating, XO.