Tag Archives: sweet potatoes

Easy Weeknight Dinner

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Did you know that February is National Sweet Potato Month?  I didn’t either until Karla from Foodologie tipped me off to this fact.  Since this blog is named after my love for sweet potatoes, I thought I’d squeak in a few sweet potato dishes before February is over.  Starting with this easy weeknight dinner.

diced sweet potatoesThe Englishman and I like to meal plan each week, and 99% of the time one of our weeknight dinners involves eggs.  I’m a huge brinner (breakfast for dinner) fan, so I look forward to those evenings.  One of my all time favorite ways to eat eggs is poached over some roasted sweet potatoes.

I first tried the egg and sweet potato combo about a year ago, and ever since then I’ve been hooked.  It’s such a simple dish and the perfect easy weeknight dinner.  Just roast some sweet potatoes, boil some vegetables and top with a couple of poached eggs (and bacon).  Simple, yet perfect.

While roasting sweet potatoes can be somewhat time-consuming, I’ve found that if you boil them for about 8 minutes and then put them in the oven it helps to speed up the cooking process.

If you are looking for a healthy easy weeknight dinner, then this can’t be beat.

Eggs and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1 medium sweet potato

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375F.

diced sweet potatoes dishChop your sweet potato into small pieces and place in a baking dish.  Roast in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until your sweet potato is tender.  If you are short on time, boil the potatoes first.

Diced Sweet Potatoes CookedOnce your potatoes are done remove them from the oven and place them on a plate.

Diced Sweet Potatoes and EggsPrepare your eggs to your liking – scrambled, poached, fried and place on top of your roasted sweet potato.  Season with salt and pepper.  Eat and enjoy.

What’s your favorite easy weeknight dinner?

How to Make Roasted Potatoes

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If there is one thing that is consumed quite frequently in our house, it’s potatoes.  The Englishman and I usually buy a bunch of red potatoes and sweet potatoes each week and always make our way through them.  Our favorite way to eat them is to roast them in the oven, so I thought I’d share a little tutorial on how to make roasted potatoes.

It may sound like a super simple thing to do, but after lots of trial and error (burnt potatoes, too soggy, etc.) we finally have the method down.  The potatoes come out nice and crispy as if they were fried, and are delicious.

How to Make Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:

Red Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil or Sunflower Oil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Rinse and dice your red potatoes and place them in a large pot. Fill your pot with water and bring to a boil.

boilingpotatoesLet your potatoes boil in the pot for 15-20 minutes.  While your red potatoes are boiling, rinse and chop your sweet potatoes (you don’t boil them) and lightly coat a baking dish with either olive oil or sunflower oil.

Once the red potatoes are done boiling (skin should be slightly peeling off), drain the water and drizzle lightly with olive oil.  Add salt and pepper and gently stir the potatoes in the pot.

boiled red potatoesPour the red potatoes into the baking dish.  Place your sweet potatoes in the empty pot and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper,  Lightly toss the sweet potatoes until they are fluffy and add them to the baking dish as well.

roastedpotatoesindishPlace baking dish in the oven and let potatoes bake for 1-1.5 hours.  If you are short on time, you can turn the oven up to 375F to help the potatoes roast faster.

roastedpotatoesPull potatoes out of the oven and enjoy!

Back to Basics at True Food Kitchen

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I’ve had my eye on True Food Kitchen since it opened last year, and with a beautiful spring day on the horizon and nothing else on the agenda, I knew it was time for True Food Kitchen and I to formally meet.

True Food Kitchen is an all-green, organic restaurant that uses simple, fresh ingredients in all of their dishes.  Most items on the menu have anywhere from 3-7 ingredients TOTAL and complement each other quite nicely.  The menu is inspired by Dr. Andrew Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid (which you can see here), and proves once and for all that eating healthy does not mean sacrificing flavor.

One of the things I loved most about True Food Kitchen was the bright and airy space.  There’s an outdoor patio that is partially covered/uncovered, a large bar area, a private dining room, and plenty of seating within the restaurant.  Since it was a beautiful day out, I opted to sit on the patio.

True Food Kitchen Patio - LOVED the green chairs

Now let’s talk about the good stuff.  The Food.  As a food allergy sufferer, these types of restaurants with simple basic ingredients are my mecca.  I know exactly what I’m ingesting and don’t have to worry about any allergy after-effects.  I started my meal off with a drink called “The Natural,”  made with agave, ginger, and soda water.

The Natural aka my newest obsession

I normally don’t rave much about drinks (well not nonalcoholic ones anyway), but this drink was superb.  Light, fizzy, refreshing, with that added ginger zing.  It’s the perfect drink on a warm day and I couldn’t get enough.  I even tried to re-create the drink later that weekend at home but it was more of a Ginger Drink FAIL than anything.  I think I need to work on my ginger to soda water ratio…

I wasn’t starving when I arrived at True Food Kitchen, so I kept it simple with the hummus and fresh pita and the turkey burger.  The hummus had some herbs in it which gave it nice flavor, and the pita was warm and delicious (and whole wheat!)

Who doesn't love delicious pita and hummus?

The turkey burger came with provolone cheese, avocado, tomato and a site of sweet potato hash and kale salad.  While the burger was perfectly cooked it seemed to be missing something.  Maybe some herbs or a little spice?  I was still drooling over the hummus when the burger arrived so perhaps I was already slightly biased.  I do think I’d like to try a few other things on the menu before venturing back to the turkey burger, but it is a good choice for someone who doesn’t want a lot of spice with their food.

The turkey burger is blocking the amazingness that is the kale salad

The Kale salad however was pretty epic, and the simplest ingredients ever!  Just kale, lemon, breadcrumbs.  I don’t know what they did to this salad but I gobbled it down.  The sweet potato hash was also pretty decent, but then again I’ll eat anything  involving sweet potatoes.

Overall I was very impressed with True Food Kitchen.  I’m definitely planning on coming back and trying more of the menu (and of course getting another “Natural” drink).  It’s the perfect spot for when you are looking for something that is delicious and nutritious, and equally satisfying.  Oh and it’s just minutes away from the beach – can’t beat that.

True Food Kitchen

451 Newport Center Dr.
Newport Beach, CA 92660
P: 949.644.2400