Devon's Cooking...Sweet Potato Burritos and Southwestern Sweet Potato and Chicken Stew (Crockpot)

I've been very MIA the last week because of our big move and because Dave's been out of town (Philly, Napa, Austin) and I've been out of town (Beantown for Slobo's bachelorette party), so I haven't been doing much cooking. In other words, I've been slacking a bit (though it was nice to enjoy some great Boston food and maybe a drink or two on the Bustonian).

The nights I have cooked, I've been a bit obsessed with sweet potatoes, for some reason, so last week, I made Sweet Potato Burritos, which were pretty amazing-- see the recipe below.

This week, I'm home alone-- Dave's in Austin until tomorrow-- and since it has been a bit gray and cold here (I know, I know... I live in San Diego. Quit my complainin'!) I decided to make a nice hearty stew tonight! I just finished a bowl and it tasted delicious, though it's not all that pretty!

We'll be in Phoenix this weekend celebrating Dan Byerly's wedding, and then finally (sort of) back to normal and back home after, so I should start making some really good food then!

Sweet Potato Burritos
Ingredients:
1/2 onion, diced
Garlic (as much as you like, but at least 2 cloves)
3 cups canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup water
1.5 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp yellow mustard
1/8 tsp cayenne powder
1.5 Tbsp soy sauce
2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
6 10-inch whole wheat flour tortillas
4 oz. 2% shredded cheddar


Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Spray large skillet with Pam, sautee onion and garlic until soft. Add beans and mash everything together with a potato masher. Stir in water slowly and remove from heat. Stir in chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne and soy sauce. Lay out tortillas and spoon 1/6 of the mashed sweet potato mixture, 1/6 of the bean mixture and 1/6 of the cheese into each tortilla. Roll up each burrito and place in glass baking dish and bake for 12 minutes.


Southwestern Sweet Potato and Chicken Stew
Ingredients:
3/4 lb. raw chicken breast, diced into 1-inch cubes
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
1 large onion, diced
14 oz. diced tomatoes
14 oz. diced tomatoes with green chiles
14.5 oz. fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1.5 cups frozen corn


Directions: Add all ingredients to Crockpot except for frozen corn. Cook on low for 6.5 hours. In last 30 minutes of cooking, add corn and cook on low for an additional 30 minutes. Serve with whole wheat pita and enjoy!

Devon's Cooking...Fish Tacos

Dave and I are finally all moved in to our new place in Hillcrest and LOVING it! The move went pretty smoothly yesterday, considering the 90 degree weather, and I managed to get about 75% of our place put together. Aside from the guest bedrooms (yup, there are two!), everything looks pretty great! Needless to say, given the 15 hours of moving and unpacking we did yesterday, I did not cook last night. Instead, we went to nearby CityWok for some delicious Chinese food and enjoyed a bottle of champagne as a little housewarming celebration. The night before last, though, I made one of our favorites as a "last night at ICON" dinner...
GRILLED FISH TACOS
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs. tilapia
1 large sweet onion, sliced into rings (keep the inner rings all together as much as possible)
1 large red pepper, thickly sliced
1 bag cabbage mix
1 package Lawry's taco seasoning mix, divided
1 cup water
4 large whole wheat tortillas
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
Salsa
Cheddar cheese

Directions: Take 2 TBSP of the taco seasoning mix and stir together with 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream-- refrigerate. Poke tilapia several times with a fork; place in large plastic bag and pour remaining taco seasoning mix and 1 cup water into bag, swish around to mix. Let tilapia marinate for at least 30 minutes (though overnight is best). Fire up your grill and spray a fish grill pan or your grill directly with Pam. Place onions and peppers on grill until tender, about 5-6 minutes each side for fish (maybe less depending on your grill). Place fish on grill a few minutes after you've started your veggies and cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes each side for fish (maybe less depending on your grill). Place one tortilla on each plate; smear with TBSP of taco seasoning/sour cream mixture, put some cabbage, onions, peppers and fish on tortilla. Top with salsa and sour cream as desired and enjoy!

Devon's Cooking... Curried Chicken with Spinach and Tomatoes

Wow. My house really smells like curry powder right now. I mean, REALLY smells like curry powder. This is a big step for me, you have to understand. I despise the smell of curry powder and for that, I blame my parents. Here's the story: when we were kids, my parents insisted on abiding by the belief that kids shouldn't be catered to and should eat whatever is on the table. In theory, I completely agree with this idea. In practice, particularly as a five year old, I believe this is the worst, cruelest theory ever. This was never more so my belief than when my mom, about once a year, made my very most unfavorite meal-- Curried Chicken Salad. Ugh. Just thinking about it makes my stomach turn. This unfortunate meal combined curry powder, mayonnaise and some other ungodly ingredients together; all of this was then heaped on a ring of honeydew melon. Ick. I spent every "Curried Chicken Salad night" playing with my food on a milk crate in the garage (in my house, if you misbehaved at the dinner table, it was straight to the garage for you. Needless to say, I spent a LOT of time in the garage as a child), and forevermore I have hated the smell of curry powder as it would quickly transport me back to the dreaded Curried Chicken Salad night. Short story long, I've been resisting curry powder for thirty years, until last night. Dave and I are currently obsessed with Indian food (every time I ask him what kind of food he wants for dinner, he replies, "Indian?" with a hopeful look on his face). So last night, I made:

CURRIED CHICKEN WITH SPINACH AND TOMATOES

Ingredients:

6 tsp olive oil, divided

4 tsp curry powder

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 Tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

garlic (as much as you like-- you know I like a lot so I used 3+ garlic cloves)

1 lb. raw, boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 large tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 large bag of fresh spinach (about 9-10 oz.)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup water

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (the recipe I used called for cilantro, but don't even get me STARTED on my feelings about cilantro)

1 cup uncooked barley (you can use basmati rice or brown rice if you want, as well)

Instructions: Cook barley according to directions (the pearl barley I use takes 1 hour to cook, so get this started earlier rather than later!). Heat 3 tsp of olive oil in large skillet, mixed together with curry, coriander, cumin, ginger and garlic for about 3 minutes. Add remaining 2 tsp of oil and chicken to skillet; stir to coat chicken with oil/spice mixture. Add tomatoes to skillet and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Uncover, stir the mixture and then add the spinach on top. Cook, covered, for 5 minutes. Uncover, stir and add salt, water and parsley; simmer for 1 minute or so. Place 1/4 of barley on a plate and heap 1/4 of curried chicken mixture on top. Serve with fresh, steamed veggies (we had broccoli) and half a pita. Enjoy! SERVES 4.

Devon's Cooking...Eggs Benedict

Admittedly, I'm running a day and a half behind on my blog... what can I say? We were at my mom and dad's house for Easter yesterday and I didn't have time to post the (patting myself on my back right now) delicious and healthy Eggs Benedict recipe I made for Dave and I yesterday. Eggs seemed fitting given the holiday! And luckily these eggs tasted and looked a heck of a lot better than the easter egg sugar cookies we decorated with my 5 and 3 year old nephews, Gavin and Derek, which looked like a scary explosion of primary colored frosting, jellybeans and, in an ever-so-Eastery fashion, chocolate sprinkles (see the attached picture; I forgot to take one of the Eggs Benedict, so you get Dave decorating cookies instead!).

HEALTHY AND MEATLESS EGGS BENEDICT AND ASPARAGUS

Ingredients:

2 Orowheat Double Fiber English Muffins

4 extra large eggs

4 slices Meatless Canadian Bacon (you can use regular Canadian Bacon-- Dave doesn't eat pork, so meatless was the best we could do!)

4 TBSP Hollandaise sauce (I bought a small can in the section where they have horseradish and other things like that-- the one I bought tasted pretty good and had 50 calories per 2 TBSP; you could also make your own or buy the Knorr mix, which I would've preferred but couldn't find)

1 bunch asparagus

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions:

First, cook your asparagus-- you can either steam them or, as I like them best, preheat the oven to 450 and place on parchment paper-covered cookie sheet; spray with Pam, sprinkle salt and pepper on top and bake for about 15 minutes. After your asparagus is in the oven, bring 4 inches of water to boil in a large saucepan; once water begins boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and gently crack each of the 4 eggs into the simmering water to poach. Cook eggs for 4 minutes (if you want them more cooked, you can keep them in for 5 minutes instead). Gently remove eggs with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain. Rinse out pan and heat up meatless Canadian Bacon in the pan for 2 minutes each side or so; in the meantime, toast your English muffins and heat up your Hollandaise in the microwave. To assemble, place one slice of meatless Canadian Bacon on each English Muffin half and then place one poached egg on each. Place asparagus on the side and drizzle Hollandaise over muffins and asparagus. Sprinkle fresh parsley on top and grind some fresh black pepper on top to taste. Enjoy-- we definitely did!

Devon's Cooking...Easter Desserts

Sadly, it's the last day of my Spring Break. I did, however, spend my day right... Dave will be thrilled (ha) to see that I'm still in my pajamas and still watching TLC (Jon & Kate plus 8, What Not to Wear... what more could I ask for?!?!). I did manage to do a little walking around since we are only going to be living downtown for another 9 days-- went to the new produce market, Market 23, I think, went to Albertsons, went to the library. I also managed to bake up 2 desserts for Easter (if you want some other great Easter desserts, check out Life As Mom. In honor of good health, I made one low-cal dessert and one not-so-low-cal dessert (though it's not too bad). Today' I'm baking Chocolate Diet-Coke Spring Cupcakes and Lemon-Glazed Butter Cake:

CHOCOLATE DIET-COKE SPRING CUPCAKES
Ingredients (this one is Eeeeasy!)
1 box cake mix (I used the reduced-sugar Devil's food cake)
10 oz. diet coke
1 canister of vanilla frosting
food coloring
jelly beans
(**and for the really health-conscious): fat-free Cool Whip

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cake mix and diet coke; spoon into 24 muffin liners; Bake 18 minutes. Let cupcakes cool before frosting. Separate frosting into 3 different bowls; put different colors of food coloring in each one to make Spring-y cupcakes; Frost. Put 2 jellybeans on each cupcake.
**and for the really health-conscious: mix fat-free Cool Whip with food coloring of your choice; frost cupcakes and put 2 jellybeans on each cupcake (each cupcake is 107 calories this way-- not too bad!)

LEMON-GLAZED BUTTER CAKE (this recipe is from Gourmet magazine-- I'm trying it out for the first time and will report back on its reception)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt, rounded
1/2 cup milk plus 1 Tbsp (the recipe called for whole milk; I used fat-free... we'll see if it makes a difference)
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick butter (recipe said unsalted; I always use salted), softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs at room temp for 30 minutes
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 with rack in middle. Grease and flour and 8x2 cake pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl. In measuring cup, mix together milk, lemon zest and vanilla. In Kitchenaid mixer, beat together butter and sugar for about 2 minutes. Pour in 1/3 of flour mix, beat just until incorporated. Pour in 1/2 of milk mix, beat just until incorporated. Pour in 1/3 of flour mix, beat just until incorporated. Pour in 1/2 of milk mix, beat just until incorporated. Pour in 1/3 of flour mix, beat just until incorporated. Pour batter into cake pan and rap a couple of times on counter to pop any air bubbles. Bake until golden on top and toothpick comes out clean from middle (about 40-45 minutes in my oven). Cool in pan for 10 minutes. In the meantime, whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Turn cake onto a cooling rate set over a cookie sheet then flip cake back over so that golden top is facing up. Brush top and side of cake with glaze and cool completely.

Devon's Cooking...Crockpot Hungarian Stew

Today my mom is coming down to help me pack all day and she might stay for dinner. A nice daughter and son-in-law would probably take her out to thank her for her hard work... but I've decided to thank my mom with a little home-cookin' TLC. And I want to show her that you can make good food in a crockpot (my mom is a little crock-pot challenged-- according to my dad, everything she makes in a crockpot tastes like sawdust). It's also nice to have put together dinner in about twenty minutes and letting it make the house smell good all day. Today I'm cooking...

CROCKPOT HUNGARIAN STEW
Ingredients
2 cups mushrooms, chopped coarsely
1 medium-large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
garlic (I used a lot, as usual)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 can fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 pound uncooked chicken breast
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

Directions
Spray Pam in large skillet, and saute mushrooms, onion, bell pepper and garlic for about 5-7 minutes (until onions are tender). Add in paprika, salt and pepper and saute for about 1 minute longer. While the veggies are sauteeing, dice the chicken into bite-size chunks. After veggies are done cooking, transfer to large crockpot; pour chicken broth on top and then place chicken in crockpot. Set your crockpot for 6 hours, LOW. After your 6 hours are up, mix together the flour and sour cream, add to crockpot and cook on low for about 10 more minutes. Serves 4.

Devon's Cooking...Spaghetti

It's been an exciting last week and a half for my Santa Barbara girls-- Melissa had Baby Grady and Ronna and Heav got engaged! Tonight we get to celebrate these milestones with FBT at Melissa's house. In my quest to use up as much from our cupboards as possible, and in my quest to make sure my girls have enough starch to soak up the glass or three of wine we'll have tonight, I decided to make my homemade sauce. It's easy, but it tastes good!

SPAGHETTI SAUCE
28 oz can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
14 oz can diced tomatoes (Italian-style or regular work great)
lots of garlic
a hefty splash of red wine (about once a year, Dave and I don't finish a bottle of red before it isn't really drinkable anymore. That bottle becomes my spaghetti sauce wine and stays in the fridge!)
1/4 cup fresh parsley (if you don't have fresh, you can use dried-- just be sure to use less!)
1/4 cup fresh basil (if you don't have fresh, you can use dried-- just be sure to use less!)
2 Tbsp fresh rosemary
1/2 onion (if you don't have a fresh onion, you can use minced onions-- give it a healthy sprinkle)
salt and pepper to taste
1 package of your favorite dried noodles, prepared according to directions on package

Devon's Baking...Banana Bread

I'm on Spring Break and, as many of you know, Dave and I are also soon moving to a new place (we're renting a 3 bedroom townhouse starting April 2oth!) in Hillcrest in a few weeks.... and I promised to spend much of my break packing up our place. BUT, small problem... I HATE packing. Seriously hate it. So I am watching reruns of Gilmore Girls on ABC Family and simultaneously baking Banana Bread (I'm trying to use up some of our refrigerator/cupboard stuff). This is one of our favorite recipes:

BANANA BREAD
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (you can use all all-purpose flour if you don't have wheat flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup splenda (you can use 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup splenda or 1 cup sugar instead if you don't want this to be as diet-y)
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
4 very ripe bananas, mashed (we usually freeze any bananas that are about to go bad and then pull them out when we are ready to make banana bread)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray bread pan with Pam. In KitchenAid, mix all ingredients (if you don't have a K-A, combine first 4 ingredients and set aside. Then whisk remainder of ingredients and add flour mixture to combine). Pour batter into pan and bake 50-60 minutes (or until knife inserted comes out clean). Cut into 10 slices; if you use all Splenda, each slice is 155 calories.

Devon's Cooking.... Baked Falafel Sandwiches

This weekend we had a great time with our old Boston buddies (who now live in Houston), Neil and Kersta. On Saturday night, after a great day of hiking in La Jolla and watching the "fake-wave surfers" at WaveHouse (and after a Bear Fight at Pizza Wings'n' Things), we decided to hit up one of our favorite SD take-out spots, The Kebab Shop. Kersta was craving a falafel sandwich which inspired me to look for a baked falafel sandwich recipe to try and get Dave and I back on track after a weekend of unhealthy eating... Here's what I'm cooking for dinner tonight:

BAKED FALAFEL SANDWICHES
Ingredients
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
garlic (as much as you want-- I used quite a bit!)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp flour
2 tsp olive oil
2 Tbsp tahini sauce (you can get this at the grocery store or Cost Plus, if you have one nearby)
Iceberg lettuce, shredded
4 wheat pitas (I like Western Bagel pitas as they are really low in calories)

Instructions
In food processor, combine garbanzo beans, onion, parsley, garlic, cumin, coriander, salt, baking soda and process until pureed. Stir in flour and shape into 8 medium sized patties. Let sit for 15-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high, add patties and cook on each side for 2 minutes. Transfer entire skilled to oven for 10 minutes and bake.

Once the falafel are done, put shredded lettuce and 2 falafel patties in each pita and drizzle the falafel with tahini sauce.

We will have our falafel with a nice red leaf and tomato salad (with our fave Paul Newman low-cal balsalmic vinagrette dressing on the side). Had the Kennishes not forced so much wine down our throats over the weekend, we would also probably add in a glass of Sauvignon Blanc (or Carlo Rossi-- that one's for you, Kennishes!). Enjoy!

Devon's Cooking...up her first Blog!

As most of you know, I LOVE to cook... if I didn't teach (and if I were better at it), I would've probably become a chef. Perhaps the reason I love to cook so much is because I love to eat so much... as evidenced at many times in my past by my cushy hips. So I've been trying, for the last couple of years, to mix my love of cooking delicious food with my desire to have smaller hips... with some success. After seeing my sister, Heather, help so many other people with her financial blog, I figured maybe I could at least pass along some great recipes to my friends and family (and enter the 21st century by finally creating a blog). Cheers and happy cooking!