It’s hard not to love sweet potatoes. After all, enjoying well-prepared sweet potatoes can be like having dessert for dinner. They are just one of those foods that taste so good that you wonder how they could possibly be good for you. Yet, they are incredibly nutritious and are a great addition to a rotation of one’s starchy vegetable consumption. Just like with regular potatoes, there are countless ways that sweet potatoes can be prepared. I would like to share my recipe for roasted sweet potatoes in the oven that make an excellent side dish to almost any meal.

THE INGREDIENTS:

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 tsp rosemary
• A pinch of salt and pepper

Once you have gathered these ingredients, you should preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, you must wash the potatoes with cold water. I recommend using a vegetable brush if you have one, but you can also just clean the potatoes with your hands under the water.

Next, you will cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, then across the other way to form cubes. Then, toss the cubes into a bag with oil and shake them around to evenly coat them. Next, cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and toss the sweet potato cubes right onto the sheet. Season with dried rosemary, salt, and pepper.

To begin filling your home with the delicious aroma of roasting sweet potatoes, place the baking sheet into the oven for about 30 minutes. I found that its important to toss the potatoes with a spatula about every 10 minutes to ensure even cooking on all sides of the potato cubes!

When they are finished baking, they are ready to serve!

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES

PREP TIME: About 15 minutes

TOTAL TIME: About 50 minutes

Yields: 4-6 servings

1. Preheat the oven to 425 Degrees Fahrenheit
2. Wash the 3 large sweet potatoes under cold running water. Scrub with a vegetable brush or your hands and dry the potatoes with a towel.
3. Cut the potatoes lengthwise and then perpendicular to the lengthwise cut until the potatoes have been divided into cubes of desired size.
4. Add the potatoes to a large plastic bag and then spoon 2 T of olive oil into the bag. Seal the bag, shake it, and rub the potatoes in the oil for about 30 seconds.
5. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dump the potatoes onto the sheet and sprinkle with rosemary, salt, and pepper.
6. Bake the potatoes for about 30 minutes, tossing them every 10 minutes.

This recipe came to my mind while I was thinking about how to make a bowl of oatmeal a bit more interesting. I thought about different flavor pairings and realized that many people enjoy the nostalgic taste of peanut butter and jelly together! I figured that the oats would accept this flavor just as bread does and went ahead with making this recipe. (P.S. there is no jelly in this recipe). It is not difficult and is ready in just about 15 minutes!

My list of ingredients allows for a single serving, but you can simply double these measurements to have breakfast for two!

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup frozen or fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries work best to mimic the flavor of jam!)
• 1 T natural, creamy peanut butter

A NOTE: If you are using frozen fruit, be sure to thaw it before you begin preparing the oatmeal if you are using the method of letting it sit out at room temperature. I recommend just defrosting it using the microwave by using the “defrost” setting, but if you do not have that or would rather not use the microwave, just allow it to sit out until the ice is gone.

The procedure:

To make this oatmeal, start by adding 1 cup of milk to a saucepan. Then, turn the heat right up to high to allow the milk to come to a boil. Be sure to stay right by the saucepan as it heats because the milk boils and begins to quickly rise, as evidenced (You do not want to have to clean sticky milk off the stovetop 🙂 …

After the milk boils, you will add the oats to the milk. Immediately turn the heat down to medium for the oats to cook on. It is very important that you stir the oats in the milk right after you add them because they will want to stick to the bottom of the saucepan.

You will then stir occasionally, continuing to scrape the bottom of the saucepan with the spoon, for about 5-7 minutes, or until the oats are tender. As the oats are cooking, you should be thawing the berries if using frozen ones. Remove the saucepan from the heat once the oats have been completely cooked. This will allow them to thicken.

For the fruit, you will add either fresh or frozen berries to the bowl you will serve the oatmeal in. If frozen, this should already be done. If using fresh fruit, simply add the fruit of your choice to a bowl.

For a before and after of frozen fruit after using the defrost setting of the microwave:

Only difference is a little bit of juice! But, the fruit retains its shape very well and looks pretty fresh!

Today, I followed a recipe that I had drafted from scratch for yogurt parfaits with fresh fruit and homemade granola. I found that the original recipe had too much salt and was lacking on vanilla flavor. So, the recipe posted below has been adapted to fix these issues with balancing the taste of the parfaits.

PREPARATION: You will want to begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. I definitely recommend covering the baking sheet with parchment paper to make your life much easier when breaking the granola off the sheet so that it doesn’t stick.

You will then combine all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. This includes oats, brown sugar, almonds, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, and salt.

For the wet ingredients, you will need to heat a saucepan over low setting. The first ingredient you will add to the saucepan is canola oil, so keep the heat very LOW because the oil will heat very quickly at a low temperature. Also, I would like to add that the same amount of olive oil can be used instead of canola oil without sacrificing any taste at all.. To the oil, you will add honey, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. Keep stirring this mixture until it is evenly heated. I originally believed that the ingredients would combine into the texture of a syrup, but the mixture ended up being much thinner than that so do not worry if it appears runny because it will still hold the granola together in the end.

As you can see, you will be able to easily stir a spoon through the liquid ingredients even after they have been completely heated.

Hello! I am currently brand new to blogging but am eager to get started 🙂 I am going to be documenting my progress as I embark on a journey of recipe creation, adaptation, and publication that I have never before attempted. I am also going to be simultaneously working on a cookbook that I plan on calling Cooking with a Purpose. Stay tuned as I begin this new adventure!