Healthy Bytes

Sweet Potatoes… hold the marshmallows

According to the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commision, sales of sweet potatoes a.k.a. yams peak during the month of November. No doubt many a Thanksgiving table will feature a casserole of butter and brown sugar coated sweet potatoes hidden under a blanket of (no doubt another hot November seller) mini marshmallows.

I have to admit my family would have my hide if I didn’t make the candied yams. My family loves their traditional Thanksgiving dishes and don’t dare mess with tradition! I heard a mighty ear full during my early cheffing career while trying to ‘explore new tastes.’ Then when I decided to be more health conscious and cut back on the sugar and butter - whoa! Mom’s favorite dish was messed with! I went home with my head hung low and the dish barely touched. So I have learned not to mess with tradition when it comes to my family’s Thanksgiving dinner! …though I have managed to accidentally forget the mini marshmallows the last few years…

If I could re-write the traditional menu, I would make this sweet potato dish that our good friend R shared with us a few years ago. For a more colorful salad, use a mix of yellow, orange and purple sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

Amount Measure   Ingredient — Preparation Method
——–  ————      ——————————–
Dijon Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons Bragg’s apple cider vinegar or White wine vinegar or White Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

1 1/2 pounds Sweet potato or Yams — steamed and diced
2 each scallion – thinly sliced

Whisk together dijon vinaigrette ingredients.

Cook sweet potato by putting halved unpeeled sweet potato in a single layer in a steamer. Steam til tender - about 1/2 hour. Remove from heat and cool. Peel and dice into 1/2 - 3/4″ dice.dice.

Toss sweet potatoes with scallions and vinaigrette. Serve at room temp or slightly warm.

Enjoy!

Time for a nutty whole grain snack

Granola is a versatile food. Great for breakfast or to nibble on whether at your desk or on the road. Here is a recipe with a slight twist…or rather a head on collision with Asian ingredients. It’s got a bit of seaweed for extra minerals and a splash of tamari soy sauce to balance the sweetness of the honey. Use the best organic ingredients you can find and you are good to go. Sometimes I like to add dried cranberries or diced dried apples for variety.
Nutty Tamari Seaweed Granola

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
6 cups oats — old fashion, raw
3 tablespoons sesame seeds — whole raw
3 tablespoons flax seeds — whole
1/2 cup sunflower seeds — raw
1/2 cup pumpkin kernels — raw
6 tablespoons seaweed — flaked
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup honey
4 tablespoons oil
4 teaspoons tamari soy sauce

Preheat oven to 300F

Put dry stuff in a large bowl and toss to mix

Heat liqiud ingredients in small sauce pot until thin enough to pour.

Pour honey mixture on to oat mixture and stir to evenly coat.

Spread on two half sheet pans lined with parchment paper.

Bake, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown - about 25-30 minutes. Granola will become crispy after cooling. Stir in your favorite dried fruit if desired.

Cool and store in airtight containers.

Yield:
“3 quarts”

Enjoy!

Substitute the donut thump for the Soda bread yum

When Irish Soda Bread lands in County Alameda - home to Berkeley California!

What else could happen but we stuff it full of nuts and seeds. This bread is inspired by Karyn D, one of my classmates at the Bauman College Nutrition Consultant program. She happens to hail from Ireland - home to my favorite fiddle music

She made her very addictive Irish Soda bread for us which she learned how to make from her Mum by the POTPOT method.

Just so you know she’s the one who added the nuts and seeds. I’m just attempting to record an approximation of a recipe - not the recipe. This is what I came up with. Not as tasty as I remember hers to be but satisfies my craving. And I couldn’t in good conscious call it Irish soda bread because of the County Alameda influences!

Irish Lassie Crunch Bread

Amount Measure - Ingredient - Preparation Method
———————   ————-    ————————-
3/4 cup oatmeal - old fashion
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons sucanat or rapadura
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon sea salt, fine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter - chilled, and cut into cubes
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup flax seed
1/3 cup walnuts - finely chopped
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tablespoons sunflower seeds - for topping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a medium loaf pan with butter and lightly flour.

Toss together flours, almond meal, sucanat, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt in a large bowl to blend. Add butter. Using fingertips, rub in until coarse meal forms. Mix in nutsand seeds. Make well in center of flour mixture. Add buttermilk. Using fork, gradually stir dry ingredients into milk until just blend. Don’t overwork or you will have a very tough loaf of bread.

Transfer dough to prepared pan and flatten slightly. Sprinkle dough with the 2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds.

Bake bread until brown and tester inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes. Cool bread in pan 10 minutes. Transfer to rack to finish cooling. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yields 1 loaf with approximately 14 slices. Per Serving: 147 Calories; 8g Fat (49.4% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber.

A nice variation would be to add some dried fruit: raisins, apricots, cranberries, cherries.

Enjoy!