Category Archives: Sidekicks

Curried Mashed Sweet Potatoes

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Ok so as much as I adore my freaking garlic and chive mashed potatoes and I mean freaking LOVE. How many years in a row can I make them for Thanksgiving without seeming played out? Well this year my aunt made some mashed tators that will blow your mind. Kids, these things were BANGIN. I just HAD to recreate them and figure out how she got those flavors in my belly. So because I’m such a giver, see below. You will be thanking me at your next holiday meal.

  • 6 Sweet potatoes or about 4 lbs.
  • 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
  • 3/4 cup Coconut milk (before you freak the eff out, yes I said coconut milk…this will take place of the half and half or heavy cream or buttermilk all y’all use in your basic bitch mashed potatoes, so hear me out and let go of the panic button)
  • 3 tsp. Red Thai Curry paste (didn’t I say pipe down and trust the food blogger)
  • 3 tbsp. Maple Syrup
  • Lil buttah (that’s Butter for those of you that don’t speak New Yawk & by lil I mean eye ball it but Id say no more than 1-2 tbsp.)

Bake the potatoes at 375 degrees for 1 hr. Peel once cool (the skin will literally just melt off with a light tug, no peeler needed) and mash with the curry paste, coconut milk, salt, & 1 tbsp. of syrup (which I mixed and heated in a saucepan while peeling potatoes). Then place in a baking dish while topping with butter and remaining syrup. Broil in oven for 3-5 min.

Ok so still not convinced? A) make it before you hate and B) I have logic: the sugars from the coconut milk and sweet potatoes need to counteracted and balanced with some bold spice & flavor.
Plusssss, these things are amazeballs 2014 with a dollop of cranberry relish/sauce/chutney.

Happy Eating, XO.

Pumpkin Cresent Moons

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In case you were wondering, yes, the pumpkin craze is still going strong and we’re here to help fuel it a little bit more. Because I’ve already dropped enough dinero on Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte’s and Dunkin’s Pumpkin Spice Coffee, I brought my addiction to my kitchen. (Plus, canned pumpkin was on sale. Don’t hate.)

I combined my pumpkin addiction to my crescent roll addiction and came up with the perfect fall combo.

  • 1 can of crescent rolls (Pillsbury is the best, but for penny pinching, a generic brand is just fine)
  • 1/2 can of pureed pumpkin
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • Dash of pumpkin spice

Preheat the oven to 380 degrees (or to roll instructions). Mix together the pumpkin, sugar, and spice until well blended. Unroll the rolls, spread on the pumpkin mixture, then re-roll in to crescent shapes. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

They’re delicious hot or cold (I’ve actually been eating them for breakfast on my way out the door!). And they go great with my Pumpkin Spice Keurig cups. 🙂

Pumpkin Crescent Rolls

 

Happy Eating, XO.

Muffin Mania Part II

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My ex bf used to call me the “muffin man”, I know, how sexy! LOL but seriously, I just love making muffins. I think they are so easy and filling. They can be used as breakfast, a snack, or dessert (dollop anything with whipped cream child and its a dessert!) Anyway, to impress him early on when we were dating I made my scrumptious pumpkin muffins, and you know I just tossed my leftover veggies in some muffins just last week. So clearly, there is no stopping me on my muffin mania rampage. I realized I needed to do something more traditional and since its still summer and the berries are in abundance, I wanted to do a mixed berry muffin. Watch out Dunkin Donuts low fat blueberry, you may now be my 2nd favorite. Hope you love these as much as I did!

  • 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar (honey works as well)
  • 1 cup milk, at room temperature (original recipe calls for buttermilk, but I don’t have that stuff on hand so I just used the 1% I had in my fridge for cereal).
  • ½ cup canola oil (don’t skip the oil, this will make the muffins moist, you could use melted butter, but this muffin is better w the oil)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (340g) mixed berries**
  • coarse sugar for sprinkling on top if you wanna really be like Dunkin Donuts.

In a large bowl, gently toss together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until all dry ingredients are combined – a 20 second toss to disburse everything together. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined. Whisk in milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Mixture will be pale and yellow. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix everything together by hand. Avoid over-mixing which will make for tough, dense muffins. Gently mix until all the flour is off the bottom of the bowl and no big pockets of flour remain. The batter will be extremely thick and somewhat lumpy. Very gently to avoid them from leaking their color, fold in 1 and 3/4 cups mixed berries. ** For a little culinary twist I like to add some citrus zest or peel to the muffins. Lemon tends to be a good tart compliment to blueberries and orange works well with the raspberries and strawberries. You pick which one or both you want and throw in a tsp. if you feel so bold.** Then, spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling all the way to the top. Using 1/4 cup of the berries you have leftover, press a few into the tops of each muffin. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if you fancy. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes and let cool before serving.

Happy Eating, XO.

Muffin Mania Part I

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OK so sometimes I buy way too many veggies in attempt to eat healthier. Now we are at that moment in which they will go bad if not consumed soon and I just cant finish all of this myself. So, juicing is usually a good fallback option however I sold my juicer in attempt to buy a new pair of shoes, so there’s that. Good old Pinterest to the rescue. I searched for a recipe that would use ingredients I already had in my pantry/kitchen. What a yummy way to eat my veggies and a resolution to my overabundance problem!

  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour (I used all purpose because that’s all I had lying around)
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled (I forgot this, that’s what rushing to take photos does, don’t forget it, seems to be the element that adds a certain richness)
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup (I would also add a tbsp. of sugar because I don’t think they were sweet enough)
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup grated zucchini
  • 1 cup grated carrot (original calls for 1/2 cup but I think it needs 1, came out too doughy)
  • Original recipe had raisins and nuts (walnuts or pecans would work best), I left out but its a good idea to add some more oompf to the muffins.
Preheat oven to 350°F and place rack in the center of the oven, and coat a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a mixing bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the butter, maple syrup (& sugar), egg, and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir together until just barely combined. Add the zucchini, carrot, and stir gently until just distributed. Fill each cup in the mini muffin pan approximately ¾ full (my tins were only half full) Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
photo
Happy Eating, XO

Grilled Cajun Corn

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Now that we’re in the thick of summer, who’s getting just a little tired of the usual corn on the cob? (*Raises both hands.) Don’t get me wrong, I will never turn down the classic summer food, but it’s high time we spice it up – literally.

I had something similar to this corn on the cob at my favorite local restaurant, Bar Taco, and wanted to recreate it. I don’t know all of the spices they put on theirs, but I have to say this one turned out pretty darn close and still just as damn delish.

  • 2 corn on the cob
  • 1/4 cup Feta cheese (If you don’t have Feta or find it too salty, Contija cheese is a great substitute too!)
  • 1 lime (to squeeze the juice on top)
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Fire up the grill and get it good and hot (let it preheat for about 5 minutes on high). Put the corn directly on the hot grill, rotating every 5 minutes to get a nice char all around. In between rotating, squeeze lime juice on top.

You shouldn’t need more than 15 minutes until it’s done. In the final minute spread the feta (or Contija) on top of the corn. This will melt the cheese a bit and get it to stick to the corn. Remove from the grill and sprinkle on the chili and cayenne pepper.

Grilled cajun corn

 

Happy Eating, XO.