pass those deliciously buttery dinner rolls, but hold the guilt, please.

i realize it has taken me a while to blog about thanksgiving.

but don't worry, because i haven't forgotten a thing about these rolls.

as you may know, 9 out of 10 times, i am looking for healthy recipes. ones that don't make me feel super guilty after eating them. ones that avoid the fat and calories that i could really do without. and ones that still taste super good.

yeah, this is not one of those kinds of recipes.
(minus the tasting super good part.)

can you tell?

yes that's melted butter glistening off the soft, golden brown tops of these crescent roll-esque dinner rolls.

and yes, there's more butter in the actual recipe.

but before you start counting the calories, pulling out your dietetic textbook, or start searching for another recipe with a more heart-healthy, figure-friendly outcome, just pause and listen to the characteristics of these dynamite rolls.

flaky.

buttery.

warm.

soft.

sweet.

pull-apart-y.

yeah. make these (or beg me to make them for you) and you will understand the extent of my made up word, and all the others.

however, when i first spotted these, i was reluctant.

i'll admit it. i don't like measuring (if you couldn't tell).

hence, i don't like baking (except the end products).

therefore, whenever i see yeast in a recipe, i start this slow backing away process.

like i try to pretend it didn't see me looking at it with that weird look in my eyes.

you see, back in my high school cooking class, my group was assigned to make a yeast bread. we followed the directions, measured correctly (probably) and did the best we could. but let's be honest, the kids in my group were more likely to head to a correctional facility than any sort of culinary competition. basically what i'm saying is that if someone measured out 4 cups of flour by scooping the 3/4 cup measure into the flour container and just used whatever they came up with as "1 cup," surprised would not be my first reaction.

my first reaction would've been more like... ughhh, please tell me you're kidding.

needless to say, our yeast bread turned out to be more like a yeast pound cake, if that's possible. normally density is not a term we use to describe bread, but that was the first thing that came to my mind when i saw our little nugget of flour, yeast, and water. blech.

anywaysssss, moral of the story is i don't didn't like to see yeast in recipes. but now i have learned to embrace it, because these cute little guys got lots of compliments, definitely worth the time spent putting into them!

so the first thing i did was pop the milk, first portion of sugar and a stick of butter into the microwave. get it all sorts of hot and melty until the butter is almost all the way melted.

since you have to put your yeast into this mixture and right now it's super hot, add 1-2 cups of the flour to cool it down. then add the egg and the salt and then let it hang out while you get your yeast ready. but don't freak out like me... it'll all work out in the end.

 

in this handy measuring cup, i put in 2 cups of warm water.

listen up people. this has to be warm water. not screaming hot and not lukewarm/coldish. like the temperature of water you would have little kids wash their hands with. hey, that's a good way to remember it. i just thought of that. hmm.

anyways, mix in the other 1 tbsp. of sugar and stir it until it dissolves.

 while it's dissolving, measure out your 2 tbsp. of yeast. i don't know why the original recipe uses this amount since it's almost exactly 3 of those individual packets, but if it makes it easier for you it's three packets of yeast minus about 1/2 a teaspoon.

stir those together really good until you don't have any large globs of yeast floating around. then let it sit for about 5 minutes or until you get some bubbles forming at the top of the mixture. it's kind of hard to tell, but try to take a look at what mine looks like:

then add all of the yeast mixture to your (warm!) milk mixture. if it's still too hot, let it sit for a couple more minutes. the yeast is aliveeeeee! and hot temperatures kill the yeast, which is not what we want. little alton brown tidbit for you :)

mix the yeast mixture and milk mixture together and it's time to bring on the flour! add the flour 2 cups at a time until you get to the full 9-10 cups.

slowly, slowly, my mixture took just about all 10 cups, which seems ridiculous... but true.

after about 8 cups, i decided hands were the best tool to use. and most fun, obviously.

without overworking the dough, i just added flour on top and gently worked it in by folding the dough over itself, rotating it, and repeating.

being the fairly messy cook that i am, flour was not only all over the countertops, but also on the clothes that i wore for thanksgiving and definitely found under all my fingernails. i'm so used to working in restaurants where there is at least one box of gloves open at all times that when i cook at home and i'm about to touch something messy or gross-feeling, my brain almost always thinks: gloves.

when i grow up (ha!) and have my own nice kitchen, i am seriously contemplating buying gloves for situations such as this.

and this stuff was stickkkkky, let me tell you. so more flour, here we go!

after one last flour addition and one last flour spout all over myself, i smoothed out the dough and covered it in plastic wrap.

the directions say to keep it in a warm place until the dough doubles in size.

however, i live in wisconsin. it is november. my house is not exactly, dough-proofingly warm. so i put it on my mom's cooktop in between two burners and put them both on low. genius, or so i thought.

as the seconds slipped by, and the packer game drew closer and closer to halftime (when we were supposed to leave for my aunt and uncle's house), my dough had only risen by maybe 25% of what it started out as.

freak out mode commenced.

but then, what's a better place to crank the heat and get this dough rising than on the floor of a car with the heat blasting? hello! yes.

and that is exactly what i did. i kept it all nice and wrapped up, threw it on the floor where the heat came out, and cranked that heat until my siblings were rolling down the windows gasping for a shot of cold air. these are just some of the sacrifices we make for good food.

and when we arrived, the dough was higher than the sides of the bowl and pushing the plastic wrap to it's limits. unfortunately, i don't have any pictures of that, or of the rolling out and cutting process. my camera was left in the car and while i was hard at work in the kitchen, apparently my family thinks that the packer game is more important than taking pictures of food.

and it is very hard for me to disagree with them.

once i got there and managed to buy myself some real estate on my aunt's countertops, i threw down some flour, and plopped out the huge amount of dough. i cut it into 4 equal sections and took it one sections at a time.

after rolling out the dough into a circle, i smushed some room temperature butter all over it.

oh yeah i did.

 then, i used a pizza slicer to cut each round into 8 slices (just like you would a pizza).

starting from the fat side, i rolled them up just like crescent rolls and placed them on a buttered (yes, more butter) baking sheet.

i did the same for the other three sections of dough and then placed the very full sheets of rolls on top of the oven. i finished them with about 30 minutes to spare so it was the perfect amount of time for them to rise again sitting on that hot oven.

yeah, you know... just a couple of rolls...

the dough is so soft and easy to work with, it's miraculous.

and even better once you pull them out of the oven, all golden brown and delicious looking. take some more of that room temperature butter and just rub it all over the tops of these babies. they're still smokin' hot from the oven, so the butter should melt just about on contact.

and *bonus* it makes them shiny. and obviously more delicious. :)



i feel like the only downside of these is that they make almost 50 rolls, so you can't exactly make them for a weeknight kind of dinner.

then again, these are not something anybody should just be eating on an average weeknight. things like this should be saved for big events and holidays where family and friends matter more than calories and waistlines.

Buttery Dinner Rolls

1½ cups milk

¾ cup + 1 tbsp. sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp. salt

2 tbsp. active dry yeast

2 cups warm water

about 9 – 10 cups flour

at least 1 cup butter

                                               

Scald milk, ¾ cup sugar and ½ cup butter in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps is melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the mixture, they will melt.

To cool it down stir in 1-2 cups of flour, then add 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly.

**Keep track of how much flour you are adding!

Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture. Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour (counting the flour you have already added to cool it earlier). I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand.

At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise until it has doubled in size.

When your dough is close to rising completely, butter 2 cookie sheets and set them aside. Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Eyeball the sizes, then lift them up and feel the weight of each ball.

Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 Tablespoons per circle of dough.

Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter. Cut each quarter into 2 or 3 pieces. You should end up with 8-12 triangles from each circle of dough. The more even the size, the more evenly they will cook later. Then, roll the dough starting with the wide end of the triangle. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm place (on top of the oven if possible) to let them rise. Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven until they are golden brown and delicious. It will take about 10 – 15 minutes, maybe longer depending on how hot your oven cooks. Keep a close eye on them.

While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze. Makes 32-48 rolls, depending on how large (or small) you make the triangles.

an ode to banana harvesters and my kitchenaid mixer

i would like to dedicate this post to all the hard-working banana harvesters around the world. because while they have been working long hours in horrible work conditions and recieving little pay, i have been letting my once-gorgeous bunch of bananas sit on my counter, wilting away just so i can mash them into a shiny, yet sticky pulp of banana goo.

because although i like bananas in their raw, peel n' eat convenient form, mashing them, adding flour and some other nasty-on-their-own-but-somehow-magical-when-mixed-together ingredients and baking them into a loaf or a muffin always seems like the more delicious option.

but the guilt always arises as i proceed to dump in cups upon cups of sugar and flour into the mix. the hope i once had of convincing myself it was healthy because there was fresh bananas in there slowly fades with the 2nd stick of butter.

but friends, let me tell you. this recipe is good for you... but it tastes like it's not.

you know what i mean, don't you?

anyone who loves sweets but doesn't like the love handles that come along with them has tried making a "healthy" version of their favorites.

but aren't you always disappointed when the end product has a weird texture, doesn't taste the same, or (like most "healthy" versions) has no taste at all?

psst. the answer is yes.

well, this recipe is different. it's got greek yogurt and olive oil and whole wheat flour. and instead of pouring in 3 cups of sugar, the cinnamon and bananas add enough sweetness that you won't even miss the sugar!

just mash up those nanners, the yogurt and the baking soda until it's all combined. leave some chunks of banana that way the flavor is more prominent after it bakes.

next the dry stuff. twice as much whole wheat flour as regular flour is probably the ticket here, kids.

it keeps the bread moist without weighing it down too much. however, there are some perks to the all-purpose flour (which i won't go all nerd-town on you right now), but that's why there has to be a little bit of that still in the mix.

cream the sugars and the olive oil until it looks like caramel...

too bad it's not.

but don't get sad yet! here comes the good part!

first start with the dry. then the wet stuff, then the dry, then the wet, then the dry. 

got it?

words do not describe my love for my kitchenaid mixer. when i got it for christmas from my mom last year, i was literally squealing.

"jeez mol, it's a mixer, calm down," my brother slides in between my "oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-what-can-i-make-with-it-right-now-oh-my-gosh-get-it-out-of-the-box-let-me-look-at-it-it's-so-shiny...gaspforair...oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh."

biggest geek-out fest over a stand mixer this side of wisconsin has ever seen, i'm sure.

if you have one, you understand it's wonder.

if you don't, you probably think i'm a freak.

but this is the mixer of all mixers.

it's like the ziplock of sandwich bags, the q-tips of cotton swabs, and the kleenex of tissues.

someday, we will be referring to all stand mixers as kitchenaid mixers. either that, or everyone will have one because they have all realized how great they are.

oh yeah, banana bread... heh, minor sidetrack... whoops.

anyways, once it's all mixed, pour the mixture into your pans. the amount of batter that i had made 5 mini loaves and 1 shorter regular sized loaf.

and i am telling you, these taste like the ones out of the box with all the calories and preservatives and crap. only better, because you know what's in there. not a pat of butter to be found and not a lot of sugar either. your taste buds and your missing love handles will thank me later.

also, in lieu of the upcoming holiday season, i decided to give some of those cute little loaves away (and altough they're not crazy fattening, i still don't need them sitting around here begging me to eat them everytime i walk into the kitchen). one to my crazy cat-lady neighbor across the hall, one to my boss, and the rest to some friends.

showing the love of God one mini loaf of healthy banana bread at a time. :)

The I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Bad-For-Me Banana Bread

4 bananas, overly ripe and mashed

1 cup Greek yogurt, strained

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup AP flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease 6 mini loaf pans or one large loaf pan. Set aside. 

In a small bowl, mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, and baking soda, then set aside. In a larger bowl, beat oil and sugars, slowly adding the eggs, then vanilla. In another medium mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon), and whisk to combine (or sift). Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the creamed sugars. Next, fold in ½ of the banana mixture, alternating with the flour mixture until everything is just moistened. Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake for about 35-45 minutes, watching carefully not to burn the top. Cool for 10 minutes before attempting to remove the delicious bread. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store leftovers on a covered plate or in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic or aluminum foil.

the guess-who's-not-coming-home-for-dinner dinner

there's just something about the combination of grilled cheese and tomato soup that makes me so happy.

crusty bread. melty cheese. creamy soup. tomato-y goodness.

a.k.a. completely irresistible.

and making everything homemade just puts campbell's canned condensed soup to utter shame.

but there is an underlying reason behind my unconditional and obsessive love for the potential award winning combination of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

you see, my father was raised as a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy.

as in salad does not cut it unless it's just served as an appetizer for the main entree of beef pot roast and mashed potatoes later on.

as in those "where's the beef?" commercials were probably started when someone heard my dad's response when he found out my mom made soup for dinner.

as in while my mom, sister and i could settle for pretzels at the mall as our "dinner," the burger and fries we picked up from culver's on the way home is serving as a great distraction from hauling our shopping bags in from the car.

all while growing up (and even now and then when i'm home), whenever my mom would tell us "dad called and said he won't be home for dinner," we knew exactly what that meant.

grilled cheese and tomato soup.

it was a rare occurrance, but when it did happen, it seemed like a special occasion (no offense, dad).

so today when i apparently felt like avoiding protein and doing something somewhat nostalgic, i decided to make my own tomato soup. it wasn't terribly cold out or anything, but i think it was the fact that i picked up my commencement tickets that made me want to celebrate. 

see what i mean about this perfectly paired combination making for special occasions?   

 beautiful roma tomatoes sat in my refrigerator drawer longing for something savory. i quartered them, along with a sweet onion and tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper.

and obviously just a little bit of minced garlic, as you can see. ok, so it was more like a handful.

45 minutes later, your house/apartment/cubby (what i like to call my kitchen) will smell so gloriousy garlic-y and roast vegetably you'll want to just snack on them like that. in fact, i may have snuck a slice of onion... and eaten all the tomato skins i peeled off.

oh, sue me.

add the veggies into a large stock pot and cover with 4 cups of chicken stock and a little honey to balance the acidity of the tomatoes.

i also threw in a can of crushed tomatoes because i didn't have quite enough fresh ones on hand.

after blending in the food processor in batches, the soup looked (and smelled) pretty stinking fantastic.

unfortunately, my kitchen did not.

the transfer from the pot to the food processor was not a clean one, and neither was the one from the food processor to a bowl.

yep, that's tomato soup on my walls.

and my stove.

and my floor.

and my countertops.

and my shirt.

and probably my hair.

looked like mr. clean himself would've had a job on his hands, but a little elbow grease, and the cubby just sparkles.

 

after the blending and the mess was all over, i added some half and half to make the soup a little creamier.

and at the same time i was making this soup, i was also making some banana bread with the overly ripe bananas i had laying around. (another post, another day.) the only reason i mention this is because that recipe used plain greek yogurt and i had some leftovers so i whisked that into my soup as well.

mmmm. creamy, creamy, creamy.

and don't think i forgot about my tomato soup's other half! quickly grilled up some cheese, cut them into little cubes and called them grilled cheese croutons.

not trying to brag, but seriously. how flippin' cute are those??

and the soup was so so good. it was creamy, but i could definitely taste all that delicious garlic. and the flavor that comes out of the onions and tomatoes from roasting just comes right through. i will definitely be making this next time i'm home and my dad can't make it home for dinner. :)

make up your own special occasion (like the fact that it hasn't snowed yet) and make this soup.

i promise you will not be disappointed!

Creamy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

 

1 lb. Roma tomatoes, quartered

1 medium sweet onion, cut in half, then cut into thirds (depending on the size)

2 tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup garlic, minced

Salt and pepper

1 quart chicken stock or base (could definitely be made vegetarian by using vegetable base)

1½ tbsp. honey

1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 cup half and half

¼ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt (optional)

¼ tsp. ground thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tomatoes, onions and garlic on a large baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and toss to coat all the tomatoes with the garlic and olive oil. Roast in the oven (cut sides up) for 45 minutes.

Let vegetables sit for a few minutes before removing the skins of the tomatoes. Add the veggies and their liquid into a large stock pot and cover with the chicken stock. Add honey, crushed tomatoes and bay leaves and let simmer for 15 minutes to let the bay leaves do their job.

Remove the bay leaves and ladle the mixture into a blender or food processor (or use an immersion blender!) and process until all the tomato seeds and bits of garlic have been broken down. Transfer back to the pot and warm through again. Add the half and half, yogurt, and thyme. Let simmer for another 10 minutes or while you are making the grilled cheese.

Directions for grilled cheese: if you actually need directions for grilled cheese, I am truly sorry. But here’s the easy version: Take two slices of bread, butter one side of each slice. Butter side goes down in a pan or on a griddle. Add one or two slices of American cheese (or cheddar or anything else you can imagine). Other slice of bread goes on top, butter side up. When slice #1 is brown and awesome, flip and make the other side awesome. Note: make sure cheese is melted.

To serve, just cube up the grilled cheese, or just slice in half for convenient dipping, and ladle the soup into bowls. Serves 5-6.

sugar and spice and everything tasty.

what happened to me? i thought i was doing so well. a post ever 3 or 4 days... then all of a sudden, it's been two weeks! it's seriously like a part of me was missing. 

i thought about it every day. seriously i did. i would think to myself "what can i blog about today? ...ahhh nothing. no one wants to read about how i made a bowl of cereal, reheated leftovers and had chicken grilled on my george foreman smothered in bottled barbeque sauce."

so today, i changed that. chinese slaw salad, soy and chili chicken tenders, and honey roasted sweet potatoes. finally, some good eats around here.

to start, this salad is a staple around the schultz household. if i were to call my mom right now, she could probably tell me every ingredient and it's exact measurement for the whole thing, dressing included.

it is so simple and tangy-good, i would totally make the full 6-serving recipe for myself and just eat my way through it in about 3 days.

let's be realistic, it would take about 36 hours.

next item on the menu was chicken. i was cooking for both my roommate and me and she has recently been on a sweet chili sauce kick. we used the exact same stuff at the restaurant i worked at over the summer so when i first saw the bottle, i stopped what i was doing, blinked a few times, and then shook my head with somewhat resentful memories drifting through my head. on nights that i worked at the saute/pizza section of the line, when someone yelled out for a "sweet and spicy pizza" it was a buzzkill. 

go the freezer.

take out the pizza crust.

go to the reach in cooler.

take out the sauce.

grab a spatula.

grab the cheese.

assemble.

put on a pizza screen.

put in the oven.

set a timer.

if you think that sounds kind of exciting, you weren't reading it in the monotonous tone that i was writing it in. so try again.

however, there is another reason i feel resentment toward that pizza and hence the sweet chili sauce we used to make the pizza. ok here's the deal. there were 3 kinds of pizzas on our menu: regular (canned pizza sauce), sweet and spicy (bottled sweet chili sauce), and spinach and artichoke (homemade spinach and artichoke dip spread onto the crust). and for the first 3 months i was working there, i had never tried the spinach and artichoke pizza. we never had someone accidentally punch it in or mess one up or anything blissful such as that. and just the way the computer printed the tickets, the person reading them would sometimes confuse "swt n" (all we saw of sweet and spicy) with "spin" (all we saw of spinach and articoke). they would call out sweet and spicy and someone would make it, only to realize after it came out of the oven that the ticket actually said spinach and artichoke.

but it was never the other way around.

i bet we made at least 7 sweet and spicy pizzas that were actually supposed to be something else, but never once was it the spinach and artichoke.

hence my resentment for that sweet chili sauce. it tastes great, but the bitterness it surfaces will not soon be forgotten.

back to what i was originally talking about before that ridiculously unnecessary rant.

sorry, but hey, i never said you had to read this. :)

so yes, my roommate suggested we use it and since we were planning on the chinese slaw salad, i thought it would work out wonderfully. but being the foodie i am who always wants to try to make something better when someone has clearly already spent hours perfecting it, i added a few other things to make the sauce into a sauce... just a better one.

i started sauteing the chicken in a little olive oil, then tossed in some soy sauce. after i flipped the chicken once, i added the sweet chili sauce and a little ground ginger.

wah la! a sauce made into a better sauce.

while all this was going on, i also had sweet potatoes roasting in the oven. those suckers always take so dang long so i chopped them pretty small and tossed them in a little sweetly-spiced honey mixture. i threw them in the oven looooong before i even knew what i was doing with my chicken. so if you think i always plan these meals out earlier in the day or something, i'm blushing with your flattery. most times i walk into my kitchen with an empty stomach, walk around opening doors for about 5 minutes, crank on the oven, take out some pans and just kinda go.

but sometimes i do know what i'm making for dinner before i've even had lunch.
those are the days that normally end up on here.

ok enough rambling, time for some end products!

obviously the salad was great. the cabbage and carrot slaw mix is super crisp and crunchy and then that acidic dressing just cuts right through to hit your palate at the right time. and who can forget the toasted ramen noodles? helloooo. awesomely awesome and maybe just a little hint of awesome. oh and they're delicious right out of the pan. i'm kinda shocked some actually made it to the salad this time around...

the sauce that i created ended up really tangy with the soy sauce and the sweet chili, and the ginger just gave it that awesome kick in the background that i love so much. it also thickened up a lot and turned into more of a glaze... i think i speak for both my roommate and i when i say that my strange decision to try to make one sauce into a better sauce definitely worked out in the end.

mmm. honey roasted sweet potatoes. so soft and sweet and slightly savory and silky smooth it makes my mouth water thinking about the leftovers i have tupper-ware'd up in the fridge. and the combo of the spices they're tossed in make them into a perfect alliteration of adjectives... apparently. ;)

Chinese Slaw Salad

1 bag cole slaw

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 packages chicken flavored ramen noodles

¼ cup slivered or sliced almonds

2 tbsp. sesame seeds

2 scallions, chopped (optional)

DRESSING:

½ cup sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup vinegar

2 packages ramen flavoring

Brown the almonds, crushed up ramen noodles and sesame seeds in the butter until golden brown and delicious. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain some of the excess butter. Toss with the cole slaw mix. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to thoroughly combine. Toss dressing over the salad or drizzle over each individual salad to prevent soggy leftovers. Serve cold or room temperature. Serves 6.

Soy and Chili Chicken Tenders

2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cut into strips

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. lite soy sauce

¼ cup sweet chili sauce

1 tsp. ground ginger

 

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large non-stick skillet. Add the chicken tenders and cook for 3 minutes, or until they are starting to brown on one side. Flip them over and add soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, and ground ginger. Stir to combine. Continue cooking until chicken in thoroughly cooked and sauce has started to thicken. Serve warm. Serves 2.

Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup honey

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. allspice

¼ tsp. nutmeg

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and dice sweet potatoes into small to medium cubes. In a medium sized bowl, combine all other ingredients. Whisk to combine. Add sweet potatoes and toss until they are evenly coated with the honey mixture. Spread onto a baking sheet or shallow baking pan into a single even layer. Bake for 10 minutes and then stir in order to prevent some of the cubes from drying out. Depending on the size of your cubes, continue baking until the sweet potatoes are soft to the touch. Serve warm. Serves 2.