quinoa and sweet potato spinach salad

Ingredients

• 2-3 sweet potatoes
• spinach
• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
• grape tomatoes
• feta cheese
• toasted almonds

Directions

1. Cook quinoa in rice cooker.
2. While quinoa cooks, wash, peel, and cut sweet potatoes into small cubes.
3. Grill sweet potato cubes in a skillet with a bit of olive oil.
4. Assemble salad with your favorite salad fixings.

baked sweet potatoes

I finally took a picture of our baked sweet potatoes and decided to repost the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato per person
• sour cream
• green onion
• pepper
• crushed red pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Wash sweet potatoes and place on cookie sheet
3. Bake for 1 hour or until them are soft when you poke them with a fork
4. Cut in half lengthwise
5. Top with sour cream, green onions, pepper, crushed red pepper or your favorite topping

baked sweet potato

This is a favorite go-to recipe on a day when I really don't feel like cooking. I cook them just like a baked potato. Pop it in the oven for an hour and go on with your life knowing that a tasty dinner will be ready before you know it. For us, this is a main dish that I will serve with another veggie or a salad.

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato per person
• sour cream
• green onion
• pepper
• crushed red pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Wash sweet potatoes and place on cookie sheet
3. Bake for 1 hour or until them are soft when you poke them with a fork
4. Cut in half lengthwise
5. Top with sour cream, green onions, pepper, crushed red pepper or your favorite topping

penne and cheese

I know this picture isn't the best, in fact, it kind of looks gross, but this is my most recent take on good old mac and cheese.

I based the recipe on one of Jennifer Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious recipes. I did some tweaking and came up with this:

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat penne pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup sweet potato puree
• 1/2 cup cauliflower puree
• 2 cups shredded white extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/3 cup cracker crumbs

Directions

1. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package
2. Add olive oil, evaporated milk, purees, cheese, flour, salt, and pepper to a sauce pan at medium heat and stir constantly
3. Allow sauce to thicken
4. Drain pasta and place in a casserole dish
5. Pour sauce over pasta and mix well
6. Top with cracker crumbs and pepper
   
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

sweet potato pasta

This is another example of a meal that just comes together from this and that. I had some spinach and chive pasta from Trader Joe's just waiting to be used, so I grabbed it and started pulling together a meal. I added some olive oil to the drained pasta. I baked a sweet potato in the oven for about an hour and then cut it up into little pieces. I grilled the zucchini and peppers in a bit of olive oil, but made sure they didn't get too mushy. I cut up a couple scallions, added some pepper, and then added some grated parmesan cheese. It was intended to be a warm meal, but it also tastes great cold as a pasta salad.