Meatless Monday: Grilled Chili-Lime Sweet Potato Wedges with Cilantro

It's been quite a weekend, yet I have somehow managed to gather the energy to write this post. Mainly, because it was such a good weekend and I am still running on the high from it, as pooped as I may also be. Also, because the yams I made for the family BBQ I had here on Saturday came out so awesome, I couldn't wait til Sweet Saturday to share them!

A few weeks ago, I asked readers to post their favorite cook-out recipes for the big family gathering Paul and I had at our place this past Saturday (that kept me so busy, too busy to blog this weekend until now!). I received a lot of delicious-sounding and looking posts linked up here, but this one stood out to me, partly for it's simplicity that packed a lot of flavor, and partly because who can resist sweet potatoes?

The recipe I decided to try was Chipotle, Cilantro-Lime Sweet Potato Wedges from Angie at Rustic Feast. Angie was a new linker at Sweet Saturday, so kudos to her for making such a great first impression! Recipe is below; I made two slight changes, neither intentional, that's just how things go sometimes when you're trying to follow a recipe- you adapt! Since it's a bit altered, I changed the title for this purpose.

Grilled Chili-Lime Sweet Potato Wedges with Cilantro  
(Serves 20! Maybe more!) 

3 lbs. sweet potatoes
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Scrub and then boil sweet potatoes in large pot for about 20-30 minutes. Once soft enough to pierce with a fork, remove from heat and place into ice water to cool down and stop cooking. While they're cooling, mix lime juice, olive oil, and chili powder together in small bowl. Use Chipotle chili powder if you have it; I couldn't find any chili powder specifically called "Chipotle" chili powder. Chipotle has a much smokier flavor, so I highly recommend using it if you can get it!

Once the potatoes are cooled enough to handle, peel off skin then cut into halves length-wise, then into wedges. Spread wedges onto large serving tray, then drizzle with the olive oil, chili and lime mixture until covered. Top with a sprinkling of salt and pepper (use freshly ground if possible). 

Now, here is where the recipe got altered a bit once again: I was so busy hosting the big event, that I had to have Paul's dear uncle and cousin man the grill. They were kind enough to offer, in fact, and they did a far better job than I would have! The thing was I failed to mention to them to put the wedges directly on the grill so they'd get those grill marks, and they instead wrapped them in tin foil and turned them after on each side after 10 minutes to heat them through. 

   
They still came out spectacular, however they did not have that awesome smoky grill taste or cool-looking grill marks that they could've had. In order to do it that way, place wedges directly onto grill and turn after about 5 minutes or just until they clearly have the marks on all sides (or however you prefer!). You can do either way, they will taste awesome regardless, just don't forget to top with the chopped cilantro, that really made them special!

They were a hit! Almost every single one disappeared before the day was done. The flavor combination was just the perfect balance of sweet and sour, with just enough kick for everyone to enjoy, kids and adults. I will definitely make them again! Thanks, Angie!!

Chipotle chili peppers are pretty amazing, not only tasting, but health-wise as well. They are jalapeno peppers that have been smoked (to get that wonderful smoky flavor, of course) then dried, which helps to reduce the strong heat from fresh jalapenos, making them more palatable. They are chock full of vitamin a, vitamin k, and a chemical compound called capsaicin which has been found to help reduce heart disease, stroke, and lower high blood cholesterol and sugar.

Friday I will post more about how the cook-out once I go through all the pictures. I didn't take nearly enough, especially not of the food, but there were so many incredible dishes there! I'm talking edamame succotash, pineapple-coconut fruit dip, Indian-spiced chicken, gourmet cupcakes, pasta salad....I have such a talented family of cooks, clearly.

But, here are a few "teaser" shots from the big day, enjoy ;)

A peek at my niece raiding the dessert table

Lily playing with the slip 'n slide in her own way...

My favorite pic I took of Lily in the sprinkler :)

Now it's your turn to share your Meatless Monday dish below! No rules, other than please only link-up meat-free recipes. No other un-related links or I will remove them. Sorry to sound so harsh, but let's keep it true to what it is, ok? Link up as much as you want, and feel free to spread the word with the button below. Thanks, and have a great week! (hopefully I will have my act together for this week's Sweet Saturday, too!)

 

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Sweet Saturday #8: Sweet Shrimp Stir-Fry with Rice

Let me tell you. It has been a long week. I almost didn't post today, but then figured I really want to get consistent again with my little blog here, at least for as long as I can, so I shook my lazies out and got back on the iMac...

Today's post is sweet in a surprising way. Remember those shrimp kabobs I made for Memorial Day weekend? Well, I marinated a lot of those shrimp, and cut up more than enough peppers and onions (all the pineapple got used though), so I had a bunch of it sitting in my fridge days after the BBQ. I had to use those shrimp before they went bad, so I came up with a stir-fry version of those kabobs, sans-skewers. They came out extra sweet because the shrimp had been sitting in lime juice and Corona for about 5 days, to the point where they almost didn't even taste like shrimp anymore! I was mostly impressed that they hadn't gone bad by then! I hope you like this version too :)

Sweet Shrimp Stir-Fry with Rice
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

1/2 lb cleaned and de-veined large shrimp
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red and green bell pepper
1 cup chopped pineapple (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 chive, diced
1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cups rice, white or brown
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp coconut oil

Marinade:

1/2 bottle of pale lager (I used Corona)
Juice of 1-2 limes
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sea slat, course but small

Place the shrimp in large Ziploc bag or lidded container and shake up with the marinade mix. Allow to marinade over night or longer (I went for 5 days!). When they're ready, take out of the fridge and heat the olive oil in a large pot for about 1 minute, then add the rice. Saute stirring constantly for about another minute, then add 3 1/2 cups of water and the garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat for about 11 minute or until done.

Meanwhile, it's time to stir-fry. Add the coconut oil to a frying pan and heat over medium-low heat until melted. Add the garlic, onion, peppers and pineapple if using, and cook stirring for about 2 minutes. Then add the shrimp and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until the shrimp is cooked and no longer translucent. Add extra lime if desired.

Serve the shrimp and vegetables over the rice topped with the chive and cilantro. 

This dish did not go over well with Lily, I must admit, but Paul and I enjoyed it. You can serve this to older kids who like shrimp (3 and up is safe) or add some chicken or tofu if that is more appealing to them. Lily had the rice and veggies with chicken fingers the night we had this :)

P.S. The kabob version is featured on Simple Living today! Whoo-hoo!

This dish is filled with vitamin-loaded bell peppers, nutrient-rich shrimp, heart-healthy garlic, and lots of fiber if you use brown rice. This dish is tasty and healthy and I think you will really like it!

Now it’s your turn to share! Follow me if you aren't already, then link-up something sweet to share- a blog, an Etsy store, an FB page, Twitter page, Pinterest, whatever! Hop around and say hi. Grab a button to spread the word! Have a great weekend!

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Meatless Monday Product Review: Gardein Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers

This will mark my third product review. I didn't expect to write one so soon, but I felt compelled to after taking a chance on a new "meat substitute" product, something I didn't think I'd do ever again. Plus, it's Meatless Monday afterall...

Judging by the package, Gardein's Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers™ look pretty darn tasty. Anything Chipotle is bound to catch my eye, so I decided to give them a try. On the package they really look like chicken fingers too! 

Now, as some of my readers who've been following my blog since the beginning may recall, I used to be a committed vegetarian. While I was a vegetarian, I was never too into meat substitute products that were made to taste like meat. I just never understood the point- I was vegetarian because I didn't want to eat meat, and I was not interested in eating fake meat either. Sure, I liked veggie burgers because they tasted like what they were called, but that was about it. I did try some "Tofurkey"-type stuff (is that what it's called?) and even vegan cheese, but it just was never the same, and usually tasted like plastic.

Gardein's Crispy Fingers are not the exception. They may not taste like plastic, but they do not taste very good either. The seasoning was pretty good and they were nice and crispy, and the texture of the soy protein and gluten combination did somewhat resemble meat, but I didn't care about it resembling meat as I have already stated. I was expecting hoping it would look more like the texture of classic tofu, but it looked like it had been specifically molded to look like chicken strips. The smell of them baking even fooled my dog, and he sat right by my chair begging for a bite with his puppy eyes while I ate them in a wrap.

Besides soy protein and gluten, the ingredients of the strips include "ancient grain flour", which also intrigued me. The "ancient grain flour" contains kamut®, amaranth, millet and quinoa. This awesome combination of grains did not save this product, although I do wish I could obtain this "ancient grain flour" on it's own. I can make it if I really want to, I suppose. The strips also contain an array of seasonings such as cilantro, chipotle pepper and lemon peel. Nothing too fancy, but it all still sounded very promising.


Here is what I prepared:

Ingredients
(makes 1 serving) 

3 Gardein Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers™
1 whole grain wrap
2 full leaves of romaine
1/2 cup of red and green bell pepper strips
2 tbsp tahini dressing (recipe below)
1 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 tsp lime juice

Tahini Dressing

1 tbsp sesame tahini paste
1 tbsp water
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

Bake the strips in oven according to package instructions. While they're baking, mix the dressing ingredients together in a separate bowl, adding more water or sesame tahini paste as needed (I use Joyva brand sesame tahini). Optionally, you could also add some minced garlic to it. Have wrap ready to go by layering ingredients onto the wrap as desired. I put down the romaine, then the peppers, then the cilantro, then the lime and tahini dressing. When the crispy fingers are done, allow them to cool for a few minutes before placing onto wrap. I put extra tahini on it since I did not like the taste so much.

Now, you may be wondering- why bother providing a recipe if I gave this product a poor review? Well, I figure you may not want to take my word for it and try them for yourself. Let me know if you do and if you happen to come across a different flavor or product that you think is actually better.

Do you know a great product I should review, or a product you’re curious about but afraid to try? Let me know in the comments! Just please suggest a natural, organic, eco-friendly, or health or food-related product so it will at least coincide with my blog’s theme, thanks!

Note: I was not paid or asked to write this review, I did it by my own accord.

Have a happy Meatless Monday!




 

Meatless Monday: Zesty Corn Fritters

It's a little late in the day, but I figured better late than never! The reason for my tardiness with this post is because Boo-Boovania now has another resident: moi. Yes, as you may have read in my last post, April has been a month for accidents mainly targeted at poor Lily, but yesterday I slipped on the playground I took her to and busted my foot. It was okay at first after the initial shock of pain wore off, but as the day wore on, I realized the pain was not subsiding but getting worse and worse. Fearing the worst after reading about symptoms surrounding broken bones in feet, I made a trip to the emergency room with my dear mother, only to find that I had merely sprained it. They hooked me up with a boot (pictured below) and a pair of crutches (which are just a pain and going unused). My foot feels much better today, but needless to say, being in the ER kept me from writing a post.

This boot was made for limpin'

Today's Meatless Monday post is a recipe a I first made over a month ago and have since replicated in different ways by adding or subtracting ingredients. Overall, this particular concoction is not your average overly-battered corn fritter. Enjoy!

Zesty Corn Fritters

Serving suggestion for if it weren't Meatless Monday

 Ingredients

1 14 oz package frozen corn defrosted, or fresh corn from 3-4 ears

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

1 medium red bell pepper, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 small jalapenos or 1 large, de-seeded and diced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chopped scallion

1 lime, juiced

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 cup water (plus extra if needed) 

Apprx. 1 cup oil for frying (canola, grapeseed or vegetable)

In a large bowl, mix flour, seasonings and baking powder together in bowl, then beat in the eggs, lime and water. Stir until smooth, then add all other ingredients except for the oil. If mixture looks too wet, add a little more flour; if it looks too dry, add a little more water. It should basically look like pancake batter with chunks of veggies in it. 

Pre-mixing

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot enough (simmering and smoking, but not boiling), drop spoonfuls of the fritter batter into pan like in the picture below.

Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Remove from pan with a spatula and set on paper toweled plate or cookie sheets. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. These babies go nicely with black beans (such as this soup), enchiladas, or a Southwestern-style salad.

getting golden

a version I made with slightly less flour

Lily-approved

My family and I enjoy these just fine without any dipping sauce, but you can find some tasty sauce recipes at the two links below, where I also based my recipe off of.

 

Raita

Sweet Chili Sauce

These are SO GOOD and quite easy to make. You can bake them too, but these are one of the few foods I really do enjoy more fried. Using a healthier oil such as grapeseed or canola keeps the calories down. You could even use coconut or olive, although I never tried either.

These will be a hit with your family and any dinner guests you might have over. They are also ideal for cook-outs and parties. You can mix it up and add other ingredients to make it unique to your tastes with the greatest of ease. Just use the batter ingredients and corn as your base.

Grapeseed oil is not an oil I commonly use, mainly because it can be a bit costly, but you should be informed of its potential health benefits. It's most commonly known for promoting healthy skin, but it also very good for your heart, full of healthy fats and omegas, and has a high amount of antioxidants from vitamins C, E and beta carotene.  To get the most potent grapeseed oil, go organic!

Once again I hope to be posting more often as soon as possible, until then thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated!

Meatless Monday- Red Lentil Curry Indian-style

The week before last was quite a busy week for me. I was busy planning my little sister’s surprise baby shower, working on various projects for my job, following up with personal matters concerning things like medical bills and finding a new place for my family to live seeing as we have just about outgrown our current address, and then dealing with all the daily excitement of taking care of Lily, my house, and myself (and my husband a bit here and there). Most of this busy-ness paid off with the shower being a success and us finding a new place to call home just 4 blocks away. So, as you see, squeezing in blogging was a little difficult.

I didn’t even really have time to experiment with any new and interesting meals, although I was in charge of making the iced tea blends for my sister’s shower. I made a nice black tea with honey, lemon and orange and an herbal mixed berry tea with raw sugar. All delish, but the berry tea was a favorite I gather from it being all gone by the end of the day.

Last Friday I did get back to the Healthy Mommy grind and came up with another quick, easy, tasty and healthy curry, this time Indian-inspired. Based on a traditional red lentil curry- or daal as they call lentil stews in India -I used what I had available to me to create this pretty satisfactory meat-free dish.

Red Lentil Curry

1 cup rinsed dry red lentils

1 large Yukon gold or russet potato, peeled and cubed

½ onion diced

1 cup tomato puree

1 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp chopped ginger

½ tsp salt

½ tsp raw sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

About ¼ cup chopped cilantro for topping

Boil the cubed potato in a large pot with enough water to add the lentils to after the potatoes are cooked for about 5 minutes. Cook the potatoes with the lentils for another 5 minutes or until they are all tender, then drain and set aside. Heat the oil over low in a large skillet then add the onion and caramelize. Meanwhile, mix all other ingredients except for the tomato puree and cilantro in a bowl then add to the caramelized onions. Stir constantly over high heat for 1-2 minutes or until very fragrant, then stir in the tomato puree. Allow to simmer for a couple minutes, then add the lentils and potatoes and mix altogether until well coated. Serve topped with the cilantro over brown rice. A light side salad would go nicely with this as well.

This could also be served as a side dish, but I had it as the main course with the brown rice and it filled me up pretty well. It’s also a pretty mild curry, especially with all the tomato, so feel free to spice it up if that’s what you prefer. The recipe I based it off of, which you can find here, called for curry paste instead of tomato paste, but I didn’t have any readily available and decided to just use what I had. I also added the potatoes and cinnamon, and I think those were both good moves. Carrots, yams and/or squash would be nice in this as well. And if you want to pair it with something other than brown rice, you could bake some tofu or chicken tandoori-style (which I never tried myself, but when I do you’ll find that story here!) to keep the Indian-theme going, or else just make it however you’d like. I also haven’t tried to make any meal with paneer, which is an Indian-style cheese and staple to their diet, but that would be awesome as well.

I want to note that I didn’t add the cilantro topping to the curry I made this time, but I would’ve if I’d had some in my fridge. I really love cilantro; it adds a nice and subtle crisp, coolness to spicy dishes and pumps up a simple salad or soup. It’s actually the leaves of the coriander plant, which is a widely used seasoning in most Indian dishes (a seasoning I would’ve used for the red lentil curry had that been available to me as well). Probably the main reason cilantro and coriander are so often used in Indian cooking for reasons other than their delicious taste is the coriander’s aide in digestion. With the strong spices and beans used in many Indian dishes, it makes sense why they may need to ease their stomachs afterwards!  Cilantro also contains a large amount of fiber, magnesium and iron. I’ve also read evidence supporting its ability to help eliminate heavy metals and other toxins by binding with them.

So, if you rarely use the inexpensive and delicate herb, I suggest giving it a try- you will be amazed at just how much flavor it can add to normally bland meals, and also enhance the flavors or dilute the spiciness of flavorful meals.

When I was a kid, I hated Indian food, although my parents loved it. To me, it was so weird, not only tasting, but looking! The only thing I would eat was the naan, or Indian-style bread, that’s similar to a soft, buttery pita (doesn’t that sound good?). But, as I got older and my taste buds developed, I started trying other items off the local Indian restaurant menu, and now it’s my favorite type of cuisine. I’ve only recently become bold enough to actually try and cook it myself, but after this recipe and a couple others I’ve made in the recent past, I’m starting to see it’s really not that difficult at all. The main dilemma when cooking Indian or most Asian foods when you’re a typical kōkēśiyāna (pronounced ko-kay-shee-en, which is Hindi for “Caucasian”) living in the US, is finding some of the ingredients you need. But, everything I listed for the curry is easily found at any major grocery store, and quite possibly already in your pantry.

When I first offered the lentil curry to Lily, she turned her nose up at it and wouldn’t even taste it. But, then today I had some of the leftovers for lunch and she started gesturing towards my food. I asked her, “Do you want some of this?” and she nodded her head in the comical, vigorous way that she does. I gave her a few bits with the potatoes and she picked it up, but must’ve been thrown off by its stickiness, because then she dropped it with a semi-disgusted look on her face. But, then she got curious and gave it a try, and I guess she decided it wasn’t too bad because then she asked for some more. She ended up eating a good amount of it, and I was quite pleased :)

Proof she liked the curry

For baby:

1 tbsp smashed lentils

1 tbsp smashed peas or potatoes

For toddler (if they don’t like the seasonings of the curry):

¼-½ cup lentils and cubed potatoes

Top with grated cheese