SWEET POTATO SALAD

 

SWEET POTATO SALAD

I’ve had them baked, candied, chipped and fried. What about in a salad? Would it be the same as a white potato salad? Turns out there’s more than one version, which I expected.  I  consulted many recipes. Among them  All the Healthy Things, tasty.co , eating bird food and more. I  eventually put together my own spin  based on what I had at home.  

One constant in all recipes was that the potatoes needed to be peeled, cubed, drizzled with oil and baked in the oven until tender. 

My salad included:                                       Their salads included:

bed of mixed greens  →                                   kale

charred sweet potatoes➡➡                             same

chopped pecans➡                                            walnuts, chick peas, red beans,

                                                                          avocado,  more  

cheddar cheese➡                                              feta, parmesan          

raisins→                                                            dried cranberries, & more

                                                                           

bacon bits→                                                       chicken, ham  

bottled raspberry vinaigrette🠆                            homemade  vinaigrette                                                                                                            

 

Did I mention I'd made a large casserole of macaroni and cheese?

So, in order to balance things out I had the salad and a portion of mac & cheese.  The rest of this casserole  will be portioned out and frozen for those days when I want mac & cheese. 

SECOND DAY

This time I topped it off with chicken and the vinaigrette.

This salad is a winner in my book. I will be making it again.

 

I'm Not A Role Model

"I'm not a role model."
Do you remember that quote by  Charles Barkley?


In a similar vein, I'm Not a Cook.

There are those who can turn out the perfect dish on any occasion.  
Whenever asked if I can cook, I respond with, "You can eat it."
I'm basically a fast food person.

From time to time I'll have a burning desire to prepare home cooked food and try out new recipes. When I do, I try to prepare enough so that some can be portioned out and frozen for future meals.

The few times I've had guests over I make sure that what I prepare is foolproof, AND often I prepare it the day before so that in the event it's a bust, I have plenty of time to purchase a frozen entree and packaged salad from the grocery store to fill in for the mess up. 

                                                            ***

Macaroni and Cheese.....The comfort food
I wanted the real thing. Made from scratch.  I decided I'd make individual servings using my muffin tins. That way I'd be able to freeze the single servings, heat and eat when I had a taste for it.

There is no end product or Voila' !

WHY?

• I went by memory and didn't use a recipe.

• I didn't have enough whole milk to make the sauce. So, I tried to add Almond milk and cornstarch together to thicken the sauce. BTW-That doesn't work. The cornstarch    didn't even dissolve.

• When I took it from the oven it was a sloppy mess.

Sooooo... It went the route of other cooking catastrophes...

BUT,

The oven fried chicken thighs were delicious. I only oven fry. 

There are too many places that sell fried chicken for me to bother dodging Nth degree,

 hot, popping, cooking oil and maiming myself all in the name of fried chicken.

Another lesson learned in the culinary kitchen.

That's it***

NOTE: 5-30-2019 An update can be found here.

Pulled Chicken with Hoppin’ John and Greens

The local Winn Dixie had free magazines with shopping tips and recipes by Curtis Stone. 

I decided to try one of Curtis Stone’s recipes in an effort to eat something different.

 

Pulled Chicken with Hoppin’ John and Greens 

Prep  20 min.    Cook 1.5.hr.        Serves 4

 

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. chicken leg quarters

• ½ cup dried black-eyed peas
• 8 oz. mustard greens, stemmed, rinsed, and coarsely chopped (I used turnip greens)
• 3 slices bacon, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• ½ green bell pepper, diced ( I used red and yellow peppers)
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice (I used boil- in- bag rice)
• 1 fresh or dried bay leaf

Instructions:

1. In large pot, combine chicken, black-eyed peas, and 6 cups water. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 30 minutes.
   
2. Stir in greens and simmer 15 minutes, or until peas and greens are tender. Drain, reserving cooking liquid and solids separately. Cool chicken slightly. Discard chicken skin and bones. Shred and reserve meat with peas and greens.
   

3. In large heavy skillet over medium-high heat, sauté bacon 5 minutes, or until crisp. Using slotted spoon, remove bacon. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Sautè 8 minutes, or until onion is tender. 

4. Stir in rice, bay leaf, 1 tbs. salt, and ½ tsp. pepper. Add 1¾ cups reserved cooking liquid, peas, chicken, and greens. Bring to a simmer. Cover tightly, reduce heat to low, and cook 20 minutes. 

5. Remove from heat. Fluff with fork. Cover and let stand 15 minutes. Sprinkle with bacon.

 Curtis Stone's

 Mine

Make-ahead
Chicken, black-eyed peas, and greens can be cooked (step 1) up to 1 day ahead, cooled, covered, and refrigerated. Rewarm over low heat before proceeding to step 2

Why I substituted

The grocer didn’t have mustard greens. 

I had red and yellow peppers in the fridge.

I’ve never been successful with rice so I used a boil-in-bag rice. I added the cooked rice at the latter stage of the recipe where listed.

My Comments

This recipe was bland at most even after adding additional seasonings. Different people have different tastes. This recipe wasn’t worth all of the time, preparation and dirty dishes I had to wash afterwards.   It may feed four but, they won’t be able to go back for seconds. I wanted to throw this out but, after all of the trouble I went through, not to mention using my perfectly good chicken thighs, I put it in containers, labeled it and put it in the freezer.  I’ll save it to put in homemade soup.

Since I wasn't satisfied with the meal, I opted for a nice dessert.

That's It ***