THEY’RE HERE!!

After MUCH anticipation and excitement, my Bruschetta Waffle Fries can now be found in stores as part of the Alexia Foods product line!  I am SO excited about this!

Right now distribution is limited, but I have been trying to track down where they are in the Atlanta metro area.  If you spot them in your area, please feel free to share so that we can pass the word.

I plan to do a review of these and compare them to the version I submitted for the Reinvent a Classic challenge, so keep an eye out for that!

And yes, I will be back with more recipes and long over due travel recaps!

How are everyone’s New Year’s resolutions coming along?  Still following through or have you fallen off the wagon?  I won’t judge, I promise.  I’m plodding along — definitely more active, and trying to eat healthier, but I still like to eat too damn much!  One thing I’ve started incorporating more into my routine is fruit and vegetable smoothies — it’s an easy way to get them in for the day and if I have one when I get home from work, then it usually holds me over until we figure out what we’re going to eat/reheat.

For the past couple years, I’ve been using a personal blender to make my smoothies — it’s easy to use and clean up, plus I can drink right out of it, which appeals to the lazy slug in me.  But it lacks oomph.  I know I’m pushing the limits when I put a bunch of frozen fruit or ice in there, and it doesn’t do such a good job of blending up those baby spinach leaves.  I’m kinda over it.

So when Stonyfield Farms contacted members of the Clean Plate Club a few weeks ago about sampling and reviewing their new Blends line of yogurt AND reviewing the Blendtec Total Blender Classic, it was the perfect opportunity and timing.  Of course I said yes!

My case of Stonyfield Farms Blends yogurts arrived first and I wanted to try them right away.  Yogurt has been part of my life for quite a few years now and I’ve tried various kinds.  Now, I will be honest and admit to being a Greek yogurt gal — I love the thick, creamy texture and the high protein and calcium content.  What I’m not a fan of is the tanginess and I’m always adding stuff to hide it. I was a little nervous when I saw that the calorie count and sugar content of the new Blends yogurts was higher than my plain nonfat Greek yogurt (150 calories and 28 grams sugar vs. 80 calories and 6 grams sugar), BUT when you consider what I usually add to my yogurt to sweeten it up (fruit, fat-free pudding powder, fruit jam,etc.) it’s really not that bad, especially since the sugar in the Blends yogurt is coming from organic fruit, organic sugar, and organic juice — no fake-sounding ingredients!  Plus the protein and calcium content is not too shabby, so far so good.

I have so many ideas for how to use these yogurts — on their own as a snack, in baked ingredients, in popsicles when it’s not so cold, and of course in smoothies. In fact, I think these are PERFECT for smoothies — they come in all kinds of blendable flavors like french vanilla, strawberry banana, blueberry, peach mango, blackberry, and lemon. Oh, the possibilities!

When the Blendtec Total Blender Classic Wildside came, I was excited to break it out and see how it would transform my smoothies.  I read the instruction booklet and accompanying recipe book like a good little nerd and finally felt confident enough to test it out.  For my first attempt, I used mango nectar, Peach-Mango Blends yogurt, baby spinach, and frozen mango. I put everything in that order into the Wildside jar, put the lid on and hit the “Smoothie” button.  In less than a minute, I had a perfectly blended smoothie!  I didn’t take pictures of that first one, but it was a beautiful lime green from the spinach, with nary a leaf in sight, and not a hint of its taste — just the mango.

The Blendtec blender is LOUD, especially towards the end of its cycle, and poor Chloe ran away to hide, but this thing is a beast!  You can tell how powerful it is. I heard of some people testing it out by tossing phones and other things in there, but I’m not crazy so I’ll pass on that! Cleaning up is easy though, the jar is dishwasher safe, but most of the time I just add a little dishwashing liquid and water and use the little nozzle thingamabob at the kitchen sink.

So far, I’ve stuck to making smoothies in it, but plan to branch out into making frozen yogurt soon, maybe even sauces and soups.  You can even make bread batter and ground meat in there!  I think the personal blender may be getting retired soon.

Enough yapping from me, but I wanted to give an honest review of the Blends yogurt and the Blendtec blender.  Now we come to the part where I get to give away a case of Stonyfield Farms Blends yogurt and a Blendtec blender (value of $455) to one of you!

Here are the different ways to receive one entry:

1.  Go to the Stonyfield Farms website to check out the new Blends line-up, then come  back here and leave a comment telling me which flavor you want to try

2.  ”Like” Stonyfield Farms and Blendtec on Facebook and leave a comment here telling me you did (1 entry for each)

3.  ”Like” Spice’s Bites on Facebook and leave a comment here telling me you did

4.  Sign up for the Blendtec Recipe of the Week and leave a comment here telling me you did

5.  Leave a comment here telling me what you’re excited to use the Blendtec blender for

6.  Tweet about the giveaway using the hashtag #StonyfieldBlends and mentioning @spicesbites, @stonyfield, and @Blendetc.  **updated for clarification** You can tweet once per day and will receive an entry for each retweet.

Got it?  Good.  The giveaway will run from Wednesday, January 30th through 9 PM Eastern time, Friday, February 8th, 2013. Once I’ve selected a winner, I will email you to get your contact info, so make sure you enter an email address when leaving a comment (it won’t show up in the comment).  Giveaway is limited to U.S. residents age 18 and over.

UPDATE:  The giveaway is closed and a winner has been selected!

Congratulations, Denise Taylor-Dennis!!!

*Disclosure:  Stonyfield Farms Organic sent me samples of their new Blends yogurts to review and Blendtec sent me a Total Blender Classic Wildside (valued at $455) to review.  I did not receive any compensation and am not obligated to post a positive review.  Any opinions are my own.  Stonyfield Farms Organic and Blendtec are providing the prize for the winner of the giveaway.

Triple Mango Smoothie

2 servings

Ingredients

1 cup mango nectar

1 container Stonyfield Farms Blends Peach-Mango yogurt

1 cup frozen mango chunks

Preparation

Place items in blender jar in order listed.  Make sure lid is in place, then hit “smoothie” button.

Enjoy!

I’m starting to feel a bit like Ellen and Oprah with the giveaways I’ve been doing lately.  Not that it’s a bad thing!  I like having the opportunity to share fun stuff with my readers.

As you know, I am a self-proclaimed cookbook addict and love finding new gems to add to my ever-growing collection.  When I saw that Atlanta chef and cookbook author Virginia Willis was offering copies of her newest cookbook Basic to Brilliant, Y’all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company to review and give away, I did not want to let this opportunity pass for several reasons!  First of all, I wanted to support my fellow Atlantan, second, I liked her fusion of Southern and French techniques and flavor, and finally,there was the amazing food photography by Helene Dujardin (aka the blogger behind Tartelette). Okay, and I was also getting to review a cookbook, how fun!

The premise of Basic to Brilliant, Y’all is that Virginia offers up one recipe that is good on its own, then tells you how to take it from “Basic” to “Brilliant” by adding extra ingredients, presentation styles, or techniques. I like this concept — have a master recipe and then different ways to change it up — and have seen it in other cookbooks, but not to this extent.

Once the cookbook was in my greedy little hands, I knew I was going to have a problem — how was I going to choose one recipe to feature?  There was Black Pepper Cheese Shortbread, N’awlins-Style BBQ Shrimp, Deviled Chicken Thighs, Sweet Potato Biscuits, and French Beignets, just to name a few.

In the end, it was the Deviled Chicken Thighs (Poulet Grillé à la Diable) that called out to me. A French twist on oven-fried chicken, it called for two types of Dijon mustard, which instantly brought back memories of the summer semester I did in France in college.  I don’t know who came up with it, but we would buy baguettes and jars of Dijon mustard to dunk chunks of bread into.  The mustard was pungent enough that it felt like it was burning the back of your head and I guess we were gluttons for punishment because we kept going back for more. Reminiscing aside, I liked that that this could be a weeknight recipe and made use of ingredients I usually have on hand.

To me, there wasn’t a lot of heat (but then look who you’re talking to!), but there was plenty of flavor and I’m a sucker for oven-fried chicken thighs.  This is definitely a repeat recipe!  And I’m excited to try out more of the recipes — like the N’awlins-Style BBQ Shrimp, which is looking really good right now!

Am I making you hungry yet?  Are you dying to thumb through the book and make your list of recipes that you want to try? Good, because one of you is going to win a copy of Basic to Brilliant, Y’all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company!

Here’s what you have to do, each is worth 1 entry:

1. Leave a comment here telling me a way you like to take one of your recipes from “Basic” to “Brilliant.”
2. Leave a comment on Virginia’s blog: http://virginiawillis.wordpress.com and then leave a comment here telling me you did
3. Follow @VirginiaWillis on Twitter and leave a comment here telling me you do
4. Follow @SpicesBites on Twitter and leave a comment here telling me you do
5. Share this giveaway on Twitter and/or Facebook — leave a comment here telling me you did.  One entry for Twitter and one for Facebook

Giveaway is limited to U.S. residents age 18 and over. The giveaway runs from Monday, January 21st through 9pm Eastern time on Friday, January 25th. Once I’ve selected a winner, I will email you to get your contact info, so make sure you enter an email address when leaving a comment (it won’t show up in the comment).

UPDATE!  The giveaway is closed and we have a winner!

Congratulations, Deb!

Disclosure: The book for this giveaway is being provided by Ten Speed Press. I was given a copy of Basic to Brilliant, Y’all for review, and all opinions shared are my own.

Deviled Chicken Thighs (Poulet Grillé à la Diable)

Reprinted with permission from Basic to Brilliant, Y’all: 150 Refined Southern Recipes and Ways to Dress Them Up for Company by Virginia Willis, copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

Serves 6

In French cooking, any meat or poultry seasoned with mustard and hot pepper and then coated with breadcrumbs is called à la diable, since the devil, or diable, is associated with anything hot and fiery. The French, however, aren’t known for a whole lot of heat in their cooking.

There are a couple of variations you can try if you want it hotter. You can obviously increase the amount of red pepper, but I also like using powdered chiles—not chili powder, or at least not the blend that often includes cumin, oregano, garlic powder, and salt. I use a powdered chile, such as ground Hatch or Dixon chile peppers from New Mexico.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons smooth Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon coarse-grain Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or powdered chile, or to taste
2 large eggs
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 bone-in, skin-on leg quarters or chicken breasts, or 12 bone-in, skin-on thighs
½ cup plain or whole-wheat fresh or panko (Japanese) breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking liner or piece of aluminum foil (this will help with cleanup).

Combine the two mustards and red pepper in a small bowl. Crack the eggs into a shallow bowl or pie plate and whisk lightly with a fork to blend; season with salt and pepper.

Using a pastry brush, brush the mustard mixture all over the chicken. Dip each piece in the eggs, coating evenly on all sides. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs, coating as evenly as possible. Place the chicken pieces on the prepared baking sheet.

Dot with the butter and bake until the juices run clear, 45 to 60 minutes for leg quarters, 30 to 35 minutes for thighs, and 35 to 40 minutes for breasts. Remove the chicken from the oven and transfer the pieces to a rack to cool slightly before removing from the
baking sheet. Tent with foil and let rest for 3 to 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Brilliant: Short Recipe

Ham and Cheese–Stuffed Deviled Thighs

The simple addition of two ingredients and the use of boned chicken thighs takes this Basic recipe to Brilliant without a whole lot of effort.

Cut 1 ounce Gruyère into batons approximately 2 inches long (each baton needs to be about the same size as the bone that was removed, because you are going to snuggle that cheese into that place). Set aside. Have 6 paper-thin slices (about 3 ounces) country
ham, prosciutto, or Serrano ham ready for use. Season 6 boneless, skinless thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the batons of cheese in the thigh bone cavity. Fold the thigh to close. Place a piece of ham on the work surface, place the filled thigh, seam side up, on the ham, and roll to wrap the chicken in the ham. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Proceed as directed in the Basic recipe, first brushing with the seasoned mustard, then dipping in egg, and finally coating in breadcrumbs. Bake until the juices run clear when pierced with a knife and the topping is a rich golden brown, about 35 minutes. Serve immediately.

Happy belated New Year!

So you can see what a great start I’ve made for my resolution to post more in 2013!  One of my other resolutions was to become more physically active, so I’m still trying to figure out how to fit in blogging and working out in the same week! I think the wait is worth it though — not only am I sharing my recipe for these awesome white cheddar herb blue cornmeal biscuits, but there’s a giveaway involved too!

I have lived in the South for over 8 years now, and I have yet to master biscuits from scratch.  And let’s be honest here, I haven’t really attempted them — the idea of cutting butter into flour scares me, the thought of having to roll out dough and cut out biscuits doesn’t appeal to the lazy slug in me.  But drop biscuits?  I think I can handle those.

A while back, the folks at Bob’s Red Mill generously sent me some goodies to experiment with and these biscuits one of the first things I came up with – they even appeared on the Bob’s Red Mill blog!  I played around with a few different recipes and ultimately made up my own.  I even found a way to make them healthier — instead of butter, I used olive oil and adding Greek yogurt gives the biscuits a protein boost.  I added finely shredded white cheddar and fresh sage and rosemary to really pump up the flavor.  But the best part is the blue cornmeal,which adds a fun and colorful twist.

And now it’s time for a giveaway!

The folks at Bob’s Red Mill are giving away some of their goodies to a lucky Spice’s Bites reader!  The winner will receive a package of white flour and blue cornmeal, which were ingredients used in the biscuit recipe, and the winner gets to select a third item of their choice!  Have you been wanting to try a certain product from their lineup?  Well now’s your chance to try some for free!

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Leave a comment here telling me what product you would choose

2. If you have any fabulous biscuit-making tips, leave a comment here telling me and I may try it out!

3. Like the Bob’s Red Mill and Spice’s Bites Facebook pages and leave a comment here telling me you did

4. Share the giveaway post on Facebook and leave a comment here telling me you did so.

That’s it! Giveaway is limited to U.S. residents age 18 and over.  The giveaway runs from Monday, January 14th through 9pm Eastern time on Friday, January 18th. Once I’ve selected a winner, I will email you to get your contact info, so make sure you enter an email address when leaving a comment (it won’t show up in the comment).

UPDATE — we have a winner!

Congratulations, Rachel!  You won!  I will be emailing you to get your contact information.

*Disclosure:  Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods sent me samples of some of their products to try.  I did not receive any compensation and am not obligated to post a positive review.  Any opinions are my own.  Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods is providing the prize for the winner of the giveaway.

White Cheddar Herb Blue Cornmeal Biscuits

Makes 8 biscuits

Ingredients

3/4 cup white flour

1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Blue Cornmeal

1 1/2 tsp.  baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 oz. white cheddar, finely shredded

1 tsp.  fresh sage, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 5.3-oz container non-fat Greek yogurt

4 tbsp. olive oil

Preparation

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper or baking mat.

2.  Using a fork, combine flour, blue cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

3.  Add shredded cheese and herbs, making sure to incorporate into the flour mixture.

4.  Take the container of Greek yogurt and carefully add the olive oil directly into it. Carefully stir to combine the oil and yogurt, then add to the flour mixture.  Mix together until you have a sticky dough.  At this point you may need to use your hands to combine everything together.

5.  Using your hands, divide dough into fourths.  Now divide each fourth into half, so you end up with 8 portions of dough.  You can either drop the dough as is onto the baking sheet or gently form a “biscuit” shape and then place on baking sheet.

6.  Bake biscuits for 11-13 minutes.  You should be able to smell the herbs.  Then try not to burn your fingers and mouth eating a biscuit fresh from the oven.

7.  Enjoy!

Sometimes you just need some intense chocolate when you feel like your world is ending, you know? Whether or not you believe in the Mayan Doomsday prophecy, you will love these Mayan Doomsday Dark Chocolate Saltine Toffees!

I’ve taken the traditional saltine toffee and put a darker spin on it — instead of regular saltines, semisweet chocolate, light brown sugar, I used whole wheat saltines, dark chocolate, dark brown sugar, and added some Mayan-inspired heat in the way of cinnamon and cayenne powder.

The inspiration for these came while I was out running errands the other day.  That’s pretty much how it happens for me — when I’m out running errands or at work.  Anyway, a while back the folks at Green and Black’s Organic Chocolate very generously offered to send me a selection of some of their “spicy” flavors for me to play around with.  Oh I had so many ideas floating around for how to use their chocolates.  A few flopped, a couple I think have potential, but this particular recipe just popped into my head – I’d been wanting to use the Mayan Gold chocolate in a recipe and with all the doomsday talk, I figured it’d be a good idea to pay homage just in case!

If you’re like me and scared of anything that smacks of candy-making (read anything to do with boiling sugar, candy thermometers, caramels, etc.), I can personally assure you that you don’t have anything to fear.  I promise.

Despite what you’re thinking, this is a forgiving recipe.  For instance, I’m pretty sure my brown sugar/butter mixture was a little TOO brown, but it worked out just fine.

And my fear that the chocolate pieces wouldn’t melt and spread evenly?  Totally unfounded.  And by all means, please feel free to use even more chocolate than called for!  Now is not the time to be stingy!

If you’re not sure how you feel about your chocolate having some bite to it, then feel free to tone down the cayenne. But please at least do the cinnamon and sea salt sprinkles, they really just oomph up these saltine toffees.

Once everything has cooled and hardened, I use a pizza cutter to cut the toffee into squares. I’m horrible with straight lines, so this seems to leave less room for error.

If you make these, I guarantee you will have people hounding you for the recipe!

As if the food porn pics weren’t enough for you, I have another treat in store!  The folks at Green and Black’s Organic have generously offered to give a lucky Spice’s Bites reader 5 of their popular chocolate bars so that you too can play around with the different flavors.  Trust me, you don’t want to turn away an opportunity for amazing free chocolate!

Here’s what you have to do – each is worth one entry:

Leave a comment here telling me what 5 flavors of Green and Black’s Organic chocolate that you would like to try.

Follow Spice’s Bites and Green and Black’s USA on Twitter: @spicesbites and @greenblacksUS and then leave me a comment here telling me you did so

Tweet about the giveaway and mention @spicesbites and @greenblacksUS and leave a comment here telling me you did so

Share the giveaway post on Facebook and leave a comment here telling me you did so.

Giveaway is limited to U.S. residents age 18 and over.  Due to the Christmas holiday, this giveaway will run through 9pm Eastern time on December 26th.  Once I’ve selected a winner, I will email you to get your contact info, so make sure you enter an email address when leaving a comment (it won’t show up in the comment).

*Disclosure:  Green and Black’s Organic sent me samples of their chocolate to try.  I did not receive any compensation and am not obligated to post a positive review.  Any opinions are my own.  Green and Black’s Organic is providing the chocolate for the winner of the giveaway.

UPDATE — We have a winner!

Congratulations, Amy!

Mayan Dark Chocolate Saltine Toffees

Ingredients

40 whole-wheat saltines (a little over a sleeve)

1 cup/stick unsalted butter

1 packed cup dark brown sugar

2 cups dark chocolate chips or chunks (I used a mix of Green and Black Organic’s Mayan Gold chocolate and Dark 70% chocolate)

ground cinnamon

ground cayenne powder

sea salt for sprinkling

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line a rimmed cookie sheet/jelly roll pan/baking sheet with parchment paper and cover with saltine crackers in a single layer.

Combine the dark brown sugar and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Boil for 3 minutes, then immediately pour over the crackers. Use a rubber spatula to try to spread across all the crackers as best as you can.

Place pan in oven and bake for 5 minutes.

Remove pan and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chunks.  The chocolate will begin to melt from the heat, so start spreading over the crackers evenly.  Sprinkle some cinnamon and cayenne over the hot melted chocolate — they will get absorbed into the chocolate.

Cool completely, until chocolate hardens.  Sprinkle again with cinnamon and cayenne, this time adding sea salt.  Slice into squares using knife or pizza cutter.

Warning — I take NO responsibility for how addictive you may find these cookie bars, hence the name “Chocolate Chip Cookie CRACK Bars.”

Do you need one more thing to add to the holiday dessert line-up or something to make for that holiday cookie exchange?  Look no further!  These chocolate chip cookie crack bars are the answer.

I originally posted the recipe for these bars here, but realized the recipe is hard to find, so I’m giving it a promotion and a post all of its own!  In fact, in the coming weeks I will be doing some clean-up work and trying to make recipes easier to find, since when I first started I kinda just named posts random things and stuck recipes in the middle of them and now even I have a hard time finding stuff I made!  There may even be a site redesign coming up — one of the good things about having a husband who does web development!

So, back to these bars. They are ridiculously easy to make, with only 3 ingredients and I can guarantee you will be very popular after making these. I took some today for my coworkers along with some other treats, and these were the first to be devoured.

All you need to begin this downward descent into sugar addiction are 2 rolls of store-bought refrigerated cookie dough, a 10-12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate since that’s what I already had) and a 14-oz. can of sweetened condensed milk.  There’s some smooshing and smoothing involved, making this a fun recipe to make with kids.

These bars are pretty rich, but that doesn’t stop people for going back for more. If you want, you can make your own cookie dough and use that instead of the store-bought kind, but in my opinion that takes away from the simplicity of these.  Plus I’m sure your homemade cookie dough needs no further embellishment since it’s already awesome, right?

What are you waiting for?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Crack Bars

Ingredients

2 rolls refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 10-12 oz. bag semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Take one of the cookie dough rolls and smoosh it over the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.  You may need to use 1.5 rolls to cover the bottom evenly, and that’s fine.

Combine the chocolate chips and condensed milk in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 30 second intervals, stirring after each until chocolate is melted. It took me a minute total to get it all melted.

 Spread the chocolate and condensed milk mixture evenly over the cookie dough crust.

Now take the remaining cookie dough and crumble over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until top layer of cookie dough is golden brown.  Cool, then slice into squares.

Crispy panko-coated sweet potato balls bursting with the flavors of the Southwest and paired with a zesty yogurt crema sauce for dipping.

I know it might be a bit early to be posting about Thanksgiving leftovers, but you may find yourselves making these well before Thanksgiving.

I was trying to come up with an idea that used Thanksgiving leftovers, yogurt, and was kid-friendly for the latest challenge from Stonyfield Farms’ Clean Plate Club.  My initial ideas were easy things like muffins and parfaits.  But I wanted something a bit different.  So then I thought of croquettes, but I figured that’s been done to death and I wanted something that wasn’t obviously trying to use up leftovers.

And then I thought of creating bite-sized sweet potato balls with a Southwestern flair, to get us away from traditional Thanksgiving flavors.  Yogurt crema for dipping seemed to be the perfect way to incorporate yogurt into this recipe.

This really is an easy recipe to put together — after cooking all that food for Thanksgiving, do you really want to spend that much more time in the kitchen?  I didn’t think so.  It’s easy enough that little kids can help out as well.

You’re basically taking leftover sweet potatoes, mashing them, and then combining them with mashed beans (use refried beans if you’re lazy like me), cheese, and some seasonings.  Then you’re forming little potato balls and rolling them around in panko bread crumbs and then baking them. The crema is even easier — you’re just adding some lime juice and spices to the yogurt and mixing it together.  Told you this was easy.

Why wait for Thanksgiving to be over to make these?  Make them and serve them next time you’re watching a football game or have people over.

**Disclosure:  Stonyfield Farms sent me coupons for Yo-Baby and Yo-Toddler yogurt to use for this month’s recipe challenge.**

Southwestern Sweet Potato Balls with Yogurt Crema

Ingredients

1 cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes

1/2 cup mashed cooked pinto beans or refried beans (I used refried beans)

1/4 cup shredded Monterrey Jack or Colby Jack cheese

1/2 tsp. each ground cumin and chili powder OR 1 tsp. taco seasoning

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

4 oz. plain yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farms Yo-Baby Simply Plain yogurt)

lime juice, chili powder, minced garlic, ground cumin, and salt to taste OR substitute taco seasoning for the spices.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray, set aside.

Place the panko crumbs in a small bowl and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, beans, cheese, taco seasoning, and salt.

Form sweet potato mixture into 1.5-inch diameter balls with your hands, then roll in panko crumbs.  Place each sweet potato ball on the prepared baking sheet. Spray with more cooking spray.  I got 14 balls out of my sweet potato mixture, so you may get anywhere from 12-16 out of yours.

Once all the sweet potato balls have been formed and rolled in crumbs, bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

While sweet potato balls are baking, make the  yogurt crema:

Combine the yogurt, lime juice, chili powder, garlic, cumin, and salt until taste is to your preference.

Serve the sweet potato balls with the crema for dipping.

Enjoy!

**First things first — I hope my East Coast readers are safe and sound! I’ve been stalking Facebook all day for updates from friends and family to make sure everyone’s okay, and that includes you!**

I’m going to tell you a secret.

I hate beer and wine.

Despite recent pictures posted to Facebook from our Spain trip, I am not a big drinker.  I don’t enjoy it, but I do enjoy watching people get all silly when they’ve been drinking.  This is how I ended up as the designated driver all through college.

But I digress.  Back to my shocking secret.  I hope I didn’t run anyone off with my confession!

So if I’m not a fan, then why on earth am I sharing a recipe that uses beer?

Because I love a challenge!

I recently became a member of Stonyfield Farm’s Clean Plate Club and one of the things I like about it are the monthly challenges we get to participate in.  For October, one of the challenges was to combine beer from Peak Organic Brewing Company and Stonyfield Farms yogurt in a recipe.  I was definitely intrigued and immediately had an idea, but my fall tax deadline at work and vacation last week got in the way of me playing around until just now.

Well obviously I came up with a beer bread recipe!

My first attempt was a savory version, but not knowing my different types of beer, I inadvertently used a bitter one and it just overwhelmed the results for me, so it was back to the drawing board for me.  I’ll work on the savory one again and hope it turns out better next time.

Since my savory beer bread was a flop, I decided on a sweet version this time around.  Beer bread itself is a pretty basic recipe and you’re really only limited by your imagination (or lack of beer knowledge, ahem!).  So I decided to see what happened if I added some yogurt and pie filling to the mix.  I knew my version would probably end up moister than most because of my additions, but that’s okay!

And you know what?  It turned out fine!  I was concerned that I’d be able to taste the beer in the bread like I had with the first attempt, but I think all the brown sugar, yogurt, and pie filling drowned it out.  If you would like to make a non-alcoholic version, I’m pretty sure you can substitute soda for the beer.  What drew me to playing around with beer bread was the fact that it’s one of those dump and pour into pan kind of recipes and the fact that it’s so versatile and you can make what you want of it.

Feel free to play around with the flavors for the pie filling, yogurt, and beer.  For the basic beer bread recipe, omit the pie filling and yogurt, and substitute 3 tbsp. of white sugar for the brown sugar.

Disclosure: As part of this month’s recipe challenge, Stonyfield Farms provided me with coupons for the yogurt and a giftcard for the beer from Peak Organic Brewing Company.

Sweet as Cherry Pie Beer Bread

Ingredients

3 cups whole-wheat flour, or a mix of white and whole-wheat flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup light brown sugar

6 oz. yogurt (I used Stonyfield 0% Fat French Vanilla)

3/4 cup light cherry pie filling, smushed

12 oz. beer (or soda, for a non-alcoholic version)(I used Peak Organic, the Oak Aged Mocha Stout looks fun!)

1 tbsp. butter, melted

sugar for dusting

Preparation

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

2.  Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3.  Add the yogurt and cherry pie filling, then carefully combine with dry ingredients.  You don’t need to mix it all thoroughly yet.

4.  Slowly add beer, and now mix everything together.  The batter should remain lumpy.

5.  Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes.  Leave oven on, but remove pan.  Pour the melted butter over the top of the loaf and then sprinkle with sugar.  Place back into oven and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick into the center and it comes out dry.

6.  Cool pan on wire rack and then remove from pan to continue cooling.

7.  Enjoy!

I think fall has officially edged out spring as my favorite season — it was a close race between the two.

What’s been especially nice is that I’ve been able to actually enjoy the beautiful fall weather we’ve been having lately.  I’ve got to say, this new job has been one of the best changes I’ve made — I actually have a life now!

For instance, yesterday some friends and I went up to Ellijay, Georgia to go to an apple farm for some fall fun.  It was a day-long event, beginning with brunch, then the drive up to the foothills of the mountains, a tractor ride around the apple farm, apple picking, then dinner and a movie (we saw Sinister — very scary and I had a hard time sleeping last night!).  It was a fantastic day out!

Here are some of the highlights:

I have no idea what kind apple this is, but doesn’t it look beautiful?  Red and juicy, ready to be plucked!

Me looking way too excited about the apples I just finished picking.  The farm we went to was Red Apple Barn.  For $5 you get to go on a tractor ride tour of the farm, pick an apple and then an apple cider doughnut and some apple cider to wash it down.  For another $6, you can pick a 1/2 peck of apples.  Not a bad deal at all!

A couple of us decided to be silly and pose for “desi-style” Desperate Housewives pics!

Yes, I totally posed my doughnut and cider.  And used one of my apples as a prop.  Don’t worry, my friends made fun of me!

As we were leaving the apple farm, we made sure to stop at the store to pick up apple goodies — I got some more doughnuts, a loaf of apple bread, an apple fritter,  some Dutch apple preserves and a cookbook from the area.  My friend Lopa’s car smelled good with all our apples and baked goods riding back with us!

Today, I decided that there was no way I was going to be able to eat all those apples before we leave for our vacation at the end of the week, so I flipped through the cookbook and found a recipe for Apple Swirl Cake to use some of them up that looked easy enough — you know me and baking!

Apparently this is a popular recipe, because I’ve found the exact same one on quite a few recipe sites and blogs.  After tasting the finished product, I can see why it’s so popular!

It’s really pretty easy.  I think the hardest part for me was peeling the apples.  Once the apple mixture is done, the rest of the batter comes together quickly.

Okay, maybe the next hardest part was waiting for the cake the cool!

Apple Swirl Cake

Ingredients

2 cups peeled, cored, chopped apples

3 tbsp. sugar

1 -2 tsp. ground cinnamon (I added some pumpkin pie spice as well)

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup orange juice ( I used apple)

3 cups flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray a 12-cup Bundt cake pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine the chopped apples with the 3 tbsp. sugar and spices in a bowl.

In a larger bowl, beat the 2 cups sugar together with the canola oil — the mixture will look gritty.

Add the eggs, vanilla, and juice.

Slowly add the remaining dry ingredients.  Beat until the batter is smooth.

Pour about a third of the batter into the Bundt pan.  Sprinkle half the apple mixture on top, then repeat the batter and apple layers one more time.  Pour remaining batter on top.

Bake for about one hour, until the cake is done.  Cool the cake in the pan for about 15 minutes, then turn upside down over a wire rack and remove pan.

Enjoy!