Roasted Sweet Potato and Chorizo Lettuce Wraps

You may have noticed I've taken a long break from root vegetables, even though it was wintertime.  I made a few too many soups and sides of roasted butternut squash last fall and by mid-December I'd had enough.  I took advantage of the warm winter to eat vegetables we don't usually get in February and avoided squashes and sweet potatoes.  They felt too heavy in my tummy!



The Monkey Scientist, to be honest, wasn't all too pleased with my boycott.  He likes his root veggies!  So when this recipe came around for sweet potatoes used in a light and refreshing way, I jumped on it.  I'm slowly letting the root veggies back into my kitchen.  The fact that this recipe included perhaps our favorite ingredient - chorizo sausage - certainly didn't hurt its cause.  Usually I save recipes for the backburner, but this one I saw and printed immediately to make that night!



The first thing I loved was the roasted corn.  I'd never think to roast corn!  In the summers we have always eaten tons of corn on the cob, and I love it in salad and cornbread, but that's about the extent of my uses for corn.  Now that I realized how easily I can roast frozen corn, I want to try it in all sorts of new dishes - pasta, wraps, sandwiches!  The possibilities are endless!



I also want to mention this little juicer.  It was a Christmas gift from one of my mom's best friends and I love it! I'm the queen of dropping lemon/lime seeds into whatever I'm cooking, but this catches all of them, along with the pulp.  It's totally fantastic and I recommend you pick one up if you ever juice citrus for cooking.



You may have noticed I slashed the cilantro from the original recipe.  If you follow this blog, you know it's because I think cilantro tastes like soap and no one should ever have to eat it.  Of course, if you disagree, just ignore me.  I guess you could add cilantro to the yogurt sauce, the filling, and added back on top of each wrap.  But don't expect me to eat it if you do! Blech!

Speaking of which, we had neighbors growing up with the last name Blech (like Bleck) and every time my dad would say their name he'd always pronounce it the way I would if I'd just eaten cilantro.  It always cracked me up... they were such nice people but what an unfortunate last name. I digress....



This was such a yummy dinner.  It had so many flavor components.  The potatoes and corn add earthy sweetness, but with a bit of spice from the cayenne.  The chorizo is spicy but is sweetened by the caramelized onions.  Then everything is cooled down by the yogurt sauce and feta, which is tangy and fresh.  Finally, the lettuce and extra lime juice add the perfect bit of citrus.  This is an absolutely fantastic meal!



Roasted Sweet Potato and Chorizo Lettuce Wraps
slightly adapted from Perry's Plate

Ingredients
filling
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 c frozen or fresh corn
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne
pinch of salt
1 c chopped onion (I used frozen)
16 ounces chorizo, removed from casing
juice from 1/2 a lime
yogurt sauce
1 c Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 tsp garlic salt
wraps
1 head of Boston lettuce (or Bibb or butter, leaves separated and rinsed well
1 c crumbled feta
additional lime wedges, for garnish

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. On a foil rimmed baking sheet, toss the sweet potatoes and corn with 2 tbsp olive oil, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Spread everything evenly across the plate and roast 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until potatoes are tender and there are brown spots on the vegetables.
2. When the vegetables are finished, set aside. Then, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until brown and caramelized, about 10-15 minutes. If you use frozen onions, you may want to add a pinch of sugar to help with the caramelization process.
3. Add the chorizo to the skillet and chop with the back of a wooden spoon until broken apart. Cook until they turn almost completely brown, but not quite, about 5-7 minutes.
4. Add the sweet potato mixture to the skillet along with the juice of 1/2 a lime. Stir and cook until the chorizo is completely cooked, and then remove from heat.
5. Combine the Greek yogurt, lime juice, and garlic salt in a small bowl.
6. Assemble the wraps by placing a bit of yogurt in the bottom of a piece of lettuce, adding a few large spoonfuls of the filling, and topping with a few pinches of feta.

Poor Man's Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

I've mentioned before that I'm all about budget grocery shopping and using coupons.  For me, just the idea of saving money can be inspiration.  And this recipe is the ultimate low budget dinner.

The whole shepherd's pie - which fed 4 of us and I ate for lunch the next day - only cost $5.17 (not including pantry items like spices, milk and butter).  Seriously - 4 dinners and 1 lunch for $5.17.  How amazing is that?!  The asparagus I served with it cost almost that much!

One of my closest friends in DC is an old friend from summer camp.  She happens to be a vegetarian/pescatarian, so I wanted to make a dinner that I could feed her.  I loved the idea of taking an unhealthy, meaty comfort food and turning it into a healthy, low cost comfort food.

One of the major ingredients in the low-budget, high-nutrient version were sweet potatoes.  Sweet potatoes are actually cheaper than white potatoes (at least at my grocery store) and they're full of great nutrients including carotene.  Plus, they have so much more flavor!

The other alternative ingredient of course are the lentils.  Lentils are $0.89 for a 16 oz bag at my grocery store.  And I never thought I liked lentils - I'm not that into lentil soup - but they are SO good when you prepare them well!

I actually ended up mixing about 70% sweet potato and 30% white - but next time I definitely could go all sweet potato.  I think this just made it a little more mild.

Also, I don't own a potato masher, so I used my pastry blender to mash the potatoes.  I realize more people probably own a potato masher than a pastry blender, but if you love baking like me this is a great way to have more than one use for a single tool.  And it worked great!!

I also got the frozen corn on sale for $1.  I may have even used a little more than the recipe called for.  I realize corn doesn't have the MOST nutrients - so you could replace with something like peas if you wanted to step up the nutrients.  Still, I just love corn and it makes it taste like the Shepherd's Pie you remember from childhood.

I am absolutely obsessed with this recipe.  It is so darn delicious I could have eaten the whole pan.  It has tons of flavor - sweet, spicy, and salty - and I didn't miss the meat at all.  It was even wonderful heated up the next day.  Definitely as comforting as the original but I think I like it even better.  The only complaint I might have had was that it wasn't as filling as the meat version (or maybe I was just starving from a long run) so I ended up eating a good amount of it.  I think this also was because I made it in the flat dish rather than a round casserole so what looked like a portion was actually pretty small.  I will absolutely make this again!!

Poor Man's Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
very slightly adapted (to be spicier) from Simple Bites

Ingredients

1 cup lentils, green or French, rinsed
2 lbs potatoes or sweet potato (I used 3 sweet potatoes and 2 very small white potatoes)
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried Herbs de Provence
1/2 teaspoon cayenne, divided
1 teaspooon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon ketchup
5 drops hot sauce (I used Chulula)
1 cup frozen sweet corn
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Place lentils in a medium pot and cover with an inch of cold water. Add a pinch of salt, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes until cooked. It is okay if they are not completely cooked, they will cook further later. Drain.

While lentils are cooking, peel and roughly chop potatoes. Place in a pot and cover with cold water. Add a teaspoon of salt to the water and bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are tender.

Drain potatoes and mash. Add butter and milk and season with 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and set aside.

Heat oil in a medium pot and add chopped onion. Sautée for a few minutes until soft. Add cumin, Herbs de Provence, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, cooked lentils, vinegar, ketchup, hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine.

Add 1/2 cup of water and bring lentils to a simmer. Cook for another five minutes or so, stirring often, to let the flavors come together.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place seasoned lentils in the bottom of a medium baking dish. Spread to cover the bottom. Top with corn kernels. Add mashed potatoes on top and spread evenly. Bake for about 30 minutes until heated through. Serve hot.

Serves 4.

Yankee Maple Cornbread

I LOVE cornbread.  On Thanksgiving, I've been known to only eat cornbread and my grandmother's homemade apple sauce.  I'll eat just about any type.

But when I saw this recipe, I knew it had to be made. MAPLE? Sold. Growing up in New England, I've always been a huge maple junkie.  I love maple candy (you know, the kind that's basically just sugar in the shape of a maple leaf? YUMMM!!) and when I eat waffles they're 90% maple syrup and 10% waffle.  I'd never settle for Aunt Jemima.

Someday, I'd love to have a little farm to grow my own ingredients and raise my own animals.  Or at least my own hens to lay eggs. And DEFINITELY would love to have some maple trees so that I could make my own syrup.  How great does that sound?

This recipe was super easy to make.  The taste, unfortunately, was not quite what I had hoped.  I used sprouted whole wheat flour and I think it gave it a grainy taste.  It also wasn't as moist as I'd hoped.  Also, I stored it in a tupperware and it went bad in only a couple of days which surprised me! I'd like to try again with AP or whole wheat pastry flour.  It definitely warrants a second try based on how easy this was!

Yankee Maple Cornbread
from ericalea on Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup stone ground or yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425° F. Pour 2 tablespoons of the melted butter into an 8 or 9-inch square or round baking pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the milk, maple syrup, remaining butter, and eggs. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently stir together just until moistened.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve warm with butter and maple syrup.