Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Up until recently, I've been one of those people who thinks sweet potatoes (and yams) are for Thanksgiving dinner only. Not anymore! This recipe was SO good. And simple, which is always a plus in my book. And did I mention healthy? The only downside is that they smell like cinnamon rolls while they're cooking away in the oven. My husband was a little disappointed when he peeked and realized they were just potatoes. :)

The recipe idea came from Pinterest, and the actual site I got the recipe from is here.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size cubes
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp of brown sugar (more if you want it sweeter)
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground ginger
Salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a small baking dish with cooking spray. Peel and dice the sweet potatoes into bite-size cubes and place in the baking dish. Melt butter in the microwave and pour over the potatoes along with the olive oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Add more sugar or cinnamon if desired. Toss to coat evenly.
Bake for 60 minutes. Stir potatoes once or twice to ensure they cook evenly.

Potato-Chip Chicken

Yes, you read that right. Potato chips. And chicken. It may sound a little weird, but it's goooo-oood. I love a good crunch to my chicken sometimes and potato chips are the perfect solution. And if you're thinking this sounds like a really fatty, unhealthy meal...well, you may be right. :) It could be worse, though. At least we didn't fry the chicken!

The other unique thing about this recipe is the dipping sauce. Maybe it's just me, but I thought it sounded like a random assortment of ingredients. But once again...turns out really good. (Promise.) It's basically just a creamy honey-mustard sauce. 

So break out the potato chips, people!



Potato-Chip Chicken

1 cup mayo

1/4 cup honey

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into strips (I just used chicken tenders, since I had them on hand)

1 1/2 cups finely crushed potato chips

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix mayo, honey, mustard, and peanut butter. Remove 1/2 cup of mixture; set remaining aside.

Dip chicken in mayo mixture first, coating thoroughly, then coat with crushed chips. Place on greased cookie sheet. (I suggest laying down a piece of tin foil, then spraying it. Cleaning up burned-on chicken is never fun.)

Bake for 7-9 minutes. Turn chicken and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve with remaining dipping sauce.

Raspberry Crisp

Mmm...raspberries. I love raspberries, especially as a fruit filling in pies and such. When raspberries went on sale at our grocery store, we immediately bought a flat. Most of those beauties were used to make raspberry jam (which is a must-have around here - my family loves it), but there were three containers left over. Just enough to make Pioneer Woman's raspberry crisp.

It's a simple recipe - crisps aren't anything fancy - but oh my, was it good! Especially topped with icy-cold vanilla ice cream. Rave reviews all around!


Raspberry Crisp

2 1/2 cups raspberries
1 Tbsp (heaping) corn starch
2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oats
1/4 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
Dash of salt
6 Tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine rinsed raspberries, corn starch, sugar, and vanilla. Stir and set aside.

In a separate bowl (or food processor) combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, oats, pecans (optional), dash of salt, and butter pieces. Cut together with a pastry cutter (or pulse in food processor) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add berry mixture to a small baking dish or pie pan. Sprinkle topping mixture all over the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Allow to sit for ten minutes before serving. Scoop out with a spoon and top with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.