Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes, cubed
1 TBSP butter
1 TBSP of brown sugar
1 tsp of ground cinnamon 
¼ tsp of ground nutmeg
2 TBSP frozen orange concentrate
Pinch of ground ginger
Sea salt, to taste

Directions:

·  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

·  Cover a small baking tray with aluminum, and coat with olive oil. (Next time: try parchment paper, and no oil.)

·  Melt butter and Orange concentrate in the microwave. Mix in the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Pour over the potatoes in a bowl, and mix until they're evenly coated. 

·  Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes.

·  Stir the sweet potatoes once or twice during roasting. (I didn't. Wouldn't have hurt.)

 

Vaguely Quichely Breakfast

Serves One: Scale as appropriate:

½ sweet potato, sliced very thinly.

2 slices bacon, chopped

2 eggs.

1 cheese stick (typically mozzarella), cubed small.

2 oz cheddar, cubed small.

⅓ cup half & half

½ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded.

Preheat toaster oven to 350º. Grease a small (6’ or so) pie pan with butter. Be generous. Line the bottom and the bottom half of the sides of the pan with sliced sweet potato.

Mix eggs, mozzarella, cheddar, and half of the bacon in a bowl with the half & half. Pour into the pie pan. Top with the other half of the bacon and the Parmesan cheese.

Bake 30 minutes, until eggs are done and the top is browning nicely.

Enjoy with good coffee.

Roasted Tomato Paste

Instructions for two pans:

►Coat a 9x13 (or so) glass baking pan with olive oil. Whatever fits in the oven. If you're using a metal baking pan, line it with parchment paper.

►Cut largest tomatoes in quarters; more modest size tomatoes in half. Leave cherry tomatoes whole. You’ll need a good supply: a garden in fall is recommended. And Roma-type tomatoes are a good choice.

►Place tomatoes, cut side up, in the baking pans.

►Grind fifteen or twenty fresh cloves of garlic in a food processor. Spread relatively evenly over both pans.

►Season fairly aggressively:

o       Salt & freshly ground pepper

o       Rosemary, basil, oregano

o       Experiment?

►Drizzle more olive oil over the top.

►Roast at 375⁰, checking regularly, for approximately 2 hours.
    (Alternate: "Put the tomatoes in the oven and roast for several hours at 250º — at least 3 hours but up to 7 — depending on how big the tomatoes are and how soft and caramelized you like them. Roast until the tomatoes are collapsed and tender throughout and beginning to brown and caramelize nicely on the bottom")

►Cool to room temperature.

►Grind in food processor until consistency of hamburger.

►Freeze in snap-top container.

This stuff is amazing. Frankly, we didn't freeze all of them: some, we cut up into scrambled eggs. It would be enough to top spaghetti with the chopped results and parmesan cheese. I’d love to mix this with Parmesan to top French bread.

Makes the kitchen smell wonderful.

Don't be surprised if much snitching happens. Perhaps this is to be encouraged.

Grilled Veggies

Cube your veggies. Mostly a little bigger than half inch cubes. Softer things get to be a little bigger.  

This requires some sort of veggie grill pan: amzn.to/1q1JEDq or http://amzn.to/1pYyouU. 

Note: I used to use an old street sign that I'd burned all the paint off of; it worked fairly well, but of course, it didn't drain well. I've also used a cast iron griddle or frying pan. Personal opinion: small drain holes are good. Side walls are a necessity. 

Put on the roots first: taters, sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, etc. 

When they're halfway done, add the garlic, onions, peppers, broccoli, zucchini, parsley, snow peas, cashews, etc. 
 
Experience will teach you how big to cut each piece. Hint: turnips should be cut into smaller chunks than sweet potatoes. 
 
Sometimes we add chorizo or tofu chunks with the soft veggies or cubed chicken breast, with the root veggies. 
 
Experiment. I'll bet you'll love it! Oh, and it's fine to serve it alongside a big flank steak.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup quick oats
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 TBSP brown sugar
• ¼ cup yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup add-ins like chocolate chips or fruit, optional

Directions:

Toss the flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Load the egg and milk into the blender. Pulse. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and yogurt and blend until no lumps remain.

Pour the wet ingredients in with dry. Stir gently until just combined. Do not over-mix the batter or your pancakes will be tough and dense. Add any mix-ins you like.

Heat a griddle or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Coat generously with cocoanut oil or butter.

Once hot, drop about 1/4 cup of batter on the griddle. Cook until the edges look dry and bubbles begin to form on the center or sides, about 1 minute. Flip and cook on the other side until cooked through, about 2 more minutes.

Makes 4 medium size pancakes.

Ugly Rice

The Gulf Coast states have their Dirty Rice. This is my Ugly Rice.

Ingredients:
1 tsp coconut oil

¼ pound Jimmy Dean sausage, cut to ¼” cubes.

¼ cup dried mushrooms

¼ cup dried vegetables.

2 TBSP red onion, chopped,

1 TBSP tomato paste

Heat coconut oil in cast iron frying pan. Cook sausage to “mostly done” stage. 

Add remaining ingredients, and mix well. 

Place mixture in rice cooker. Add:

3 slices bacon, cooked, cut into ¼” slices.

¾ cup rice blend mix

½ tsp roasted garlic powder.

¼ tsp red pepper powder

¼ tsp roasted paprika powdered

⅛ tsp curry powder

A little pepper may be nice. I used white pepper.

2 – 2½ cups water.

Yeah, it's really ugly. But it's really good. But this is not a "lite" or a diet meal. This is Guy Food.

TJ’s Curry Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, cut into “chicken tenders” size.

Sauce:

3 cloves garlic

1 TBSP fresh ginger

2 TBSP sweet onion

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp yellow curry powder

1½ TBSP tomato paste

Mix this together in a blender until it’s a paste. Add a little olive oil if needed to make this a medium thick sauce to coat chicken with. Sauté the sauce until it’s dark brown. TJ describes this as “almost burnt.” Set aside.

Fill a large (cast iron) fry pan half full of water, and heat to boiling. Add chicken and boil until the outside of the pieces is done, but the centers are still raw. Discard water.

Add sauce, and cook over medium heat until chicken is nearly done. Increase heat to maximum for the last few minutes just to dry the sauce and get it firmly soaked into the meat.