Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

May 1, 2013 15 Comments

Sweet potato stuffed with bacon, onion, mushrooms and spinach.

I LOVE sweet potatoes, I would probably eat them at every meal if I could.  I like them baked, fried or sautéed, diced, sliced or even pureed but I am really loving them stuffed!  The recipe and photo shown here is currently my favorite way to stuff them but the possibilities are endless (think any great pizza toppings and you’re set!), you can top them with anything you like and customize them to meet your dietary needs.

Ingredients

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, about 8 to 10 oz each and scrubbed clean
  • 4 slices bacon
  • 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
  • 4 cups baby spinach
  • 1/2 cup onion, chopped
  • 2 ounces cheese (I like to use raw Monterrey Jack)
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Pierce each sweet potato several times with a fork. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake on the middle oven rack.
  2. Bake until the sweet potatoes are easily pierced with a knife and cooked through, about 45-60 minutes depending on size. Remove from oven and let stand until cool enough to handle.
  3. While the sweet potatoes are baking, make the topping. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crispy.  Remove from pan, cool and crumble.  Add the mushroom and onion to the pan with the bacon drippings and saute until tender, add spinach and cook until wilted.  Remove from heat.
  4. Slice sweet potatoes in half lengthwise to expose cooked insides, slightly press down the meat of the potato to flatten.  Divide the vegetable mixture evenly between the four halves, top with cheese and crumbled bacon and place under the broiler until melted.  Finally, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
  5. Serve half a stuffed potato as a side dish or a whole one with a mixed green salad as a meal.

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Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

October 22, 2012 13 Comments

Who needs dairy when you can have this?

It’s fall and time for comfort food…what better way to indulge than with a Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna.  I struggle with calling this dish “lasagna” since that dish traditionally defined as a baked dish containing layers of boiled lasagna noodles, and usually cheese, a seasoned sauce of tomatoes, and meat or vegetables…Well, we have a seasoned sauce of tomatoes and loads of meat and vegetables so I guess we are half-way there!  This recipe is pretty simple to throw together and can certainly be modified to include dairy by adding layers of ricotta and mozzarella (I’ve made it this way too and it is certainly delicious!).  Adapted from this recipe on Health-Bent.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground meat (beef, pork, turkey, or bison)
  • 2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 red onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 c red pepper, chopped
  • 4 oz mushrooms, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 24 oz jar tomato sauce
  • couple leaves of fresh basil
  • 5 ounces baby spinach
  • 1 small butternut squash

Directions

Preheat oven to 400ºF.  Cut the top and ends of the squash off and peel it. Split it into 1/4′s. What I mean by that is, right where the squash starts to turn bulbous, cut it in 1/2, width-wise. Split those two halves in half, lengthwise. This will make it much easier to cut into planks. Scrape out the seeds. Slice the squash into planks.  Roast the squash on a parchment lined baking sheet until tender, about 25 minutes.

While the squash is roasting, in a saute pan heat the oil and saute the onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic.  Add the ground meat and Italian seasoning and continue to saute until the meat is browned.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Using a 9×9 oven safe baking dish, put down enough sauce to lightly cover the bottom of the dish. (This keeps the squash from sticking to the pan.) Next add a layer of squash planks and top with a layer of baby spinach, then spoon on the sausage mixture, followed by the sauce. Repeat until all your ingredients are used up (I usually get three layers)…trying to reserve enough sauce to cover the top of the lasagna, sprinkle the fresh basil over the top layer of sauce.

Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  Look for a bubbly pan with a crispy, browned top. Right out of the oven, the lasagna may by liquidy, let it set for a good half hour before cutting into it, as it will solidify.  Serves 6 generously.

This recipe is shared at:

Gluten-Free Monday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays , Gluten Free Fridays, Fight Back Friday, Fill Those Jars Fridays

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Italian Bacon~Spinach~Tomato Mini Frittatas

September 7, 2012 1 Comment

This a simple recipe that uses fresh and flavorful ingredients and it’s easy to put together.  I used raw milk cheese in mine but if you are dairy-free you can simply leave it out.  Enjoy this high protein, low carb dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner with a nice side salad or even some oven-roasted sweet potatoes.

Pastured eggs, nitrate-free bacon, vine ripe tomatoes, baby spinach and raw milk cheese…beautiful!

Italian Bacon~Spinach~Tomato Mini Frittatas

This recipe makes two servings (the photo above was for one).

Ingredients:

4 pastured eggs

4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 large tomatoes, sliced thin and seeded

1 ounce baby spinach

2 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease 4 ramekins or 2 individual size serving dishes, set aside.

In a small bowl whisk together eggs and Italian seasoning.

In each dish layer tomatoes, spinach, cheese and bacon…depending on the size of your dish you should have enough room to repeat the layers.

Pour the whisked eggs over the layered ingredients evenly (about 1/4 cup in each ramekin).

Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the eggs are set.

Baked to perfection!

You can pop these easily out of the ramekins or serve them directly in the baking dish.  Either way…Delish!

This recipe is shared at:

Fill Those Jars Fridays, Fresh Bites Fridays, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Whole Foods Wednesdays, Made From Scratch Mondays

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Easy Summer Salads Series…Carnitas Ensalada

July 19, 2012 Leave a Comment

I love salads.  Summer is the perfect time of year for them, too.  I live in Colorado and I do not have air conditioner in my home (when we built the house the builders assured us we didn’t need it, they were wrong!!!)  so there are several weeks during the hot months that I just don’t want to turn on the oven… A refreshing summer salad is just the way to go!

Here is the next summer salad I am loving, how can you go wrong with pulled pork (my favorite recipe coming soon!)…

Carnitas Ensalada

This recipe is adapted from Paleo Periodical.

Ingredients for 4 salads:

1 lime, juiced

1/4 cup olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup pickled jalapenos, chopped (optional)

salt and pepper, to taste

6-8 ounces mixed green salad

4 ounces red cabbage, finely shredded

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

12-16 ounces shredded pulled pork (3-4 ounces per salad)

2 avocados, sliced

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted

  • In bottom of large salad bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, garlic, jalapenos and S&P. Add lettuce greens, cabbage, and cilantro. Toss to combine.
  • Divide the tossed salad evenly between 4 salad bowls or plates, top with warmed shredded pork, avocado and pumpkin seeds.  Enjoy!

This recipe is shared at:

Fight Back Friday, Summer Salad Sundays

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Fat Tuesday

Tasty Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays

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Easy Summer Salads Series…Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

June 29, 2012 3 Comments

I love salads.  Summer is the perfect time of year for them, too.  I live in Colorado and I do not have air conditioner in my home (when we built the house the builders assured us we didn’t need it, they were wrong!!!)  so there are several weeks during the hot months that I just don’t want to turn on the oven… A refreshing summer salad is just the way to go!

Here is the second salad that I am LOVING this summer…

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

This recipe adapted from Prevention Magazine.

Ingredients for 4 salads:

6 strips of nitrate and sugar-free bacon, cut into 1/2″ pieces

1 red onion, sliced thin

1 cup sliced mushrooms

2 T. pine nuts, toasted

6 ounces baby spinach

2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

8 ounces shrimp, peeled and de-veined (or 8 ounces other protein)

3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

  • Heat a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon pieces until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon (leaving drippings in pan) and drain on a paper towel
  • Add onions and mushrooms to hot skillet and cook until onions begin to brown
  • Add shrimp (or other protein), salt and pepper to taste and pine nuts.
  • When the protein is cooked thru remove from heat and stir in vinegar and Dijon mustard.  If the skillet becomes too dry add additional fat (bacon grease, coconut oil, or avocado oil).
  • Divide spinach among 4 plates or bowls, evenly top each bed of spinach with onion, mushroom and shrimp.
  • Garnish with sliced eggs and crumbled bacon.

In the salad pictured above I substituted green olives for the pine nuts and left out the additional protein and add more eggs, feel free to adapt the recipe to suit your taste and pantry ingredients!

This recipe is shared at:

Fight Back Friday, Fat Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Summer Salad Sundays

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Easy Summer Salads Series…Classic Cobb Salad

June 6, 2012 7 Comments

I love salads.  Summer is the perfect time of year for them, too.  I live in Colorado and I do not have air conditioner in my home (when we built the house the builders assured us we didn’t need it, they were wrong!!!)  so there are several weeks during the hot months that I just don’t want to turn on the oven… A refreshing summer salad is just the way to go!

In the next few posts I’m going to share a few recipes for my favorites right now…

Classic Cobb Salad

This recipe is adapted from Food Network.

Ingredients for 4 salads:

8 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 scallions, sliced

24 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (or 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped)

1 large avocado, chopped

4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

8 ounces, cooked chicken breast or thighs, chopped

1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

8 ounces chopped lettuce

Dressing of choice… I like cheater homemade ranch (recipe to follow) or if you eat dairy the traditional dressing for a Cobb salad is blue cheese (recipe to follow).

  • Prep ingredients as instructed in the above ingredient list.
  • In a large bowl toss the lettuce with your dressing, season with salt and pepper and then divide evenly between 4 plates.
  • To garnish each salad, make a row of each on top of the lettuce; avocado, chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, bacon and eggs.
  • Serve immediately.

Cheater Homemade Ranch Dressing:

1/4 cup homemade mayonnaise

1 T. Penzey’s Sunny Paris Seasoning

2 T. cold water

In a small bowl combine seasoning and water and allow to set for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes, pour reconstituted seasoning into 1/4 mayo and mix until well combined.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Classic Cobb Blue Cheese:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

4 ounces blue cheese or Gorgonzola

In a medium bowl whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper.  Whisk in blue cheese until well combined.

This recipe is shared at:

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Fat Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Beyond the Peel, Tastetastic Thursday, Fight Back Friday, Summer Salad Sundays

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Proscuitto and Spinach Egg Cups

December 5, 2011 4 Comments

Prosciutto and Spinach Egg Cups

Prosciutto egg cups are an easy grab and go breakfast idea or a lovely main dish served alongside a green salad for a light lunch.  They are easily adaptable to your family’s preferences for veggies and you can certainly add cheese to the mix if you include dairy in your diet.  I like to bake up a batch of these and freeze them for travel…they give me plenty of protein when I’m on the go and I can even enjoy them at room temperature when I’m on the airplane.

Now, you will notice that this recipe uses a combination of whole eggs and egg whites (gasp!)…please don’t misunderstand me here…I LOVE whole eggs and wholeheartedly believe in eating egg yolks but sometimes I like a little bit of a lighter egg dish and I find that this combination works well for me.  If you prefer to use whole eggs for the entire recipe…go for it…or you can always save the egg yolks and make some Caramelized Banana Dairy-Free Ice Cream!!

Prosciutto and Spinach Egg Cups

Serves 4 (2 egg cups each)

4 eggs

1 cup egg whites

12 slices prosciutto, cut in half

1/2 onion, chopped

8 medium mushrooms, chopped

8 ounces baby spinach

salt and pepper to taste

oil or butter for sauteing veggies and greasing ramekins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease bottom and sides of eight ramekins.  Line each ramekin with prosciutto (mine took 1.5 pieces to completely cover each one) and set aside.  In a bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, salt and pepper until frothy, set aside.

In a large skillet, heat butter or oil and saute onions and mushrooms until tender.  Add the spinach and stir until just wilted making sure the veggies are all mixed together. Add a pinch of salt and some pepper, if desired.  Divide the veggie mixture evenly  into the ramekins and press down so that they are tightly pressed in the ramekin.  Divide whisked eggs evenly into the ramekins (I found that each one holds about 6 Tbsp of egg mixture).  Place all of the ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until eggs are set in the middle.  Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes.  Pop the egg cups out of the ramekin and enjoy!

Recipe Variations:

  • onion, broccoli and red pepper
  • asparagus, garlic and shallots
  • zucchini, purple onion and tomato
  • 4 ounces Gruyère or Swiss cheese added to the egg mixture
  • 1 Tbsp. Italian or Adobo seasoning added to the whisked eggs

This recipe is shared at:

Make Ahead Monday, Fat Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday

Gluten Free Wednesdays, Fight Back Friday

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