Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potatoes

One of my favorite pastimes is reminding daddy to appreciate me. A very effective method of doing this is betting him that I'm the only wife he knows who wraps her husband's vegetables in bacon. Did I mention that daddy has a thing for bacon?

Dear children, if you're reading this then it's probably something like twenty years in the future... Soooo, approximately 2031. If, my darlings, "they" are still preaching a diet low in saturated fat in the year 2031, promise me that you will ignore, ignore, ignore! Not so sure? Watch this, or even better, watch this.

We eat plenty of saturated fat with every meal. Since I roast a chicken for dinner every Sunday and chicken is a lean meat, I like to serve side dishes that are high in saturated fat to accompany our bird and help us digest the nutrients in our vegetables. I found this recipe here, modified it slightly, and it became a fast favorite!

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
12 ounces uncured bacon, each slice cut into thirds
Ghee (or butter if you're short on ghee)
Maple syrup

Directions

1. Melt some ghee in a pan on medium heat and add some maple syrup, a small amount of each is all that's neccessary. You just need enough to coat the sweet potatoes. Throw the pieces of sweet potatoes in and stir them around, coating them with the ghee and syrup.

2. Wrap each bite in a piece of bacon and secure it with a toothpick.

3. Spread the bacon bites out in a casserole dish. Roast in a 375 degree oven for about an hour or until the bacon is crispy and the potatoes are fork tender.

MOM TIP

* If you have any other vegetables sitting around, you can throw them in the dish, too. Most recently I had a handful of brussel sprouts and pearl onions that needed to be used up, so I threw them in there, too.

* I roast these in the oven at the same time I'm roasting the chicken. When I take the chicken out and let it rest for twenty minutes, I crank the heat up a bit so that the bacon crisps.

Smashed Potatoes

Tank you, yet again, Rachael Ray. And I don't mean that in a Late Night Bacon kind of way. Ingredients 2 Pounds Small Red Potatoes Olive Oil Salt Pepper Directions 1. Boil potatoes until fork tender. Drain. 2. Toss with oil, salt, and pepper. 3. Press flat with the bottom of a glass. 4. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 30 minutes or until desired crispiness is reached.

UNion Rings

Thank you, Rachael Ray.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Panko Breadcrumbs
2-3 Cloves Garlic, minced
Salt
3 Large Onions, peeled and halved crosswise
1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
3/4 Cup Filtered Water
2 Tbsp Butter

Directions

1.  Mix panko, garlic, and salt.

2.  Place onions flat side down in a skillet.  Add broth and water.  Partially cover and cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes.

3.  Flip, add some butter on top, top onions with panko mixture and then dot with butter again.  Set skillet on lowest level in the oven and broil until golden.

Crock Pot Refried Beans

These are delicious and so easy! Fajita night just isn't complete without them...

I found this recipe at 100 Days of Real Food and tweaked it just a little bit.

Ingredients

2 Cups Dry Pinto Beans, rinsed
1 Onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 Jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 Tsp Minced Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
2 Cups Chicken Stock
4 Cups Filtered Water

Directions

1. Soak beans overnight.

2. In the morning, rinse the beans and add them to your crock pot with all of the ingredients.

3. Cook on high for eight hours.

4. Depending on how much liquid remains, you may need to drain the beans. I've found that you want a little liquid to remain so you can get the right consistency. Mash the beans with a potato masher.

Serve with shredded cheddar on top.

Mom Tips

* These make great leftovers to dip tortilla chips in for lunch the next day.

* Try this with black beans, or try half and half. Black beans are full of nutrition!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

One word: Delicious.

Ingredients

8 Red Potatoes, with skin, quartered
3-4 Cloves Garlic, peeled
2 Tbsp REAL Butter
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream, room temperature
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Tsp salt

Directions

1. Put potatoes AND garlic in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and immediately turn down to simmer. Cook until tender. Drain and return to pot.

2. Add butter, cream, cheese, and salt to the potatoes and garlic and mash to your preferred texture.

Mom Tip:

* You can make these as garlicky as you want. I like to cut the cloves in half before I put them in the pot.

Fried Rice

This is a cheap and easy recipe to throw together with ingredients you probably have on hand. It's a great accompaniment to Soy-Ginger Wings. We also like teriyaki flavored broccoli with it.

Ingredients

Leftover Long Grain White Rice (if it's a day old and refrigerated, it will work better)
Oil, for frying
Veggies, anything you have on hand (The picture above includes mushrooms, baby corn, two carrots sliced really thin, and red bell pepper)
Garlic, a few cloves sliced up
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the veggies and stir fry them for a couple of minutes. Throw in the rice and stir fry until it looks good to you! Throw in some soy sauce and toss a few times. Throw in some sesame oil and you're done!

Mom Tip

You can throw anything you want in fried rice! Try adding a beaten egg or two, or some leftover meat for protein.

Sweet Potato & Fresh Orange Casserole

Believe it or not, I found this delicious recipe last year on Live with Regis and Kelly. It must have been fate that the one random time I ever watched that show I got something out of it! Gotta give all the credit to Joy Philbin, as it's her recipe, and it's delicious! I only wish that someone in my family liked sweet potatoes besides me... I'm putting it here anyway, because someday my kids are going to have to make it for me.

Ingredients

4 Large Sweet Potatoes
2 Oranges
1 Stick of Butter
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Pecans, chopped
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Cup Orange Juice
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/8 Tsp Cloves

Directions

1. Cover potatoes in water and boil until tender, approximately 25-30 minutes. Remove the potatoes and peel while still warm. Cut into 1/4" slices and set aside. Peel, then slice the oranges into 1/4" slices. Mix gently with potatoes.

2. Grease a 9x13 casserole dish and add potato/orange mixture.

3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and pecans. Simmer 3 minutes. Pour sugar/pecan mixture over the top of the potato/orange mixture.

4. In a saucepan, mix the OJ, cornstarch, maple syrup, and cloves. Cook and stir until thick. Pour over potatoes and bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Mexican Rice

*This rice is the perfect compliment to any Mexican dish.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp Oil
1 cup Uncooked Long-Grain Rice
1 Clove Garlic
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1/4 C Onion, chopped
1/2 C Tomato Sauce
2 C Chicken Stock

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.

2. Stir in onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Mom Tip:

The picture above shows 1/3 of this recipe - about 2 cups. Freeze the rice in portioned glass containers for later use. To thaw, add some water, lay the lid on loosely, and steam in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.