Sweet Potato and Summer Squash Tacos

The climate and growing season is very interesting in Georgia.  Currently, it is October.  To this Jersey girl, that means cool weather, brisk nights and crisp air.  However, in Georgia, it is still averaging 80 and muggy with heavy air.  But, what we give up in comfort, we gain in available fresh veggies.  Summer squash is still in season while cool weather crops, like sweet potatoes, are popping up.  It occurred to me to unite these unlikely companions and make tacos, a perfect excuse to open a jar of the salsa I put up over the summer.  The husband and I were both thrilled with the results.  The toddler ate beans and tortillas and, therefore, was also thrilled.   

I forgot to take a picture of the sweet potato before I diced and cooked it. 

Sweet Potato and Summer Squash Tacos
Makes 12 Tacos

1 Large Sweet Potato, 14 ounces

2 Medium Summer Squash, 12 ounces

1 Small Yellow Onion, 5 ounces

2 Small Sweet Peppers, 3 ounces

2 teaspoons Taco Seasoning

1 ½ Cups of Cooked Cranberry or Pinto Beans

12 Corn Tortillas

Your choice of guacamole, salsa and shredded cheddar cheese for topping.  

1. Peel and dice the sweet potato into a ½ inch dice.  Add to a 3 quart pot filled with cool water with 1 teaspoon of salt.  Bring potatoes to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium high and continue to gently boil for about 5-8 minutes, until potatoes are just tender.  You don’t want the potatoes to become a mushy mess once you add to the other vegetables.  Drain potatoes and return to the hot pot.  Set aside.

2. Thinly slice the squash, onion and peppers.  A mandoline slicer works nicely here, or just use a nice sharp knife.   

3. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Saute the onion until it is translucent and just beginning to brown.  Add the pepper and squash and continue to saute until the vegetable are tender-crisp.  Add seasoning and salt to taste.

4. Add drained potatoes and mix well to incorporate with other vegetables and seasoning.  

5. To assemble, place about 2 tablespoons of beans in the corn tortilla.  Top with about 2 tablespoons of vegetable mixture and your choice of cheese, salsa or guacamole.  We used all three, because that's just the kind of family we are.  

If you can get away with any leftovers, the filling makes a really nice sandwich spread.  

Fresh Corn Tortillas

This recipe is straight from the bag of Bob's Red Mill Masa Harina Flour with some editorializing. It makes a delicious tortilla and also an interesting cornbread.  

My tortilla cooking setup

As cornbread

2 Cups Masa Harina Corn Flour

½ teaspoon Sea Salt

1 ½ -2 Cups Hot Water

1. Mix the salt into the masa harina corn flour.  Slowly pour the water onto the dough to get a good consistency.  The dough should be firm and springy when touched, not dry or sticky, like playdough. 

2. Let the dough rest for 1 hour, covered.  

3. A few minutes before your hour is up, preheat a grill or flat cooking surface to medium heat.  

4. Divide the dough into 12, 2 inch balls.  Press using a tortilla press or roll between two sheets of wax paper until you have an approximately 6 inch circle.  

5. Place dough on hot grill and cook until you can start to see little air bubbles rising to the top of tortilla, about 1 minute.  Flip and continue to cook for a few seconds.    

6. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 175 degree oven.  

Sweet Potato Carrot Fritters

The word fritter has entered our dinner menu frequently in recent months.  Almost any vegetable does well with a quick shred, salt, drain, form and fry to form a delectable patty.  You can even mix up the seasonings depending on your mood.  Think potato pancake with more veggies.  I decided to post this recipe because my husband could not stop talking about how good these were.

My daughter was less impressed.  While she did not throw her food on the floor, she did sit at the table in silent protest, refusing to eat until I reminded her that she had bread on her plate.  We ate these on homemade whole wheat buns with cumin squash pickles, pea tendril and sorrel mix, and salsa spread.

Sweet Potato Carrot Fritters

Makes 9 Fritters

4 Large Carrots, 10 ounces
1 Large Sweet Potato, 11 ounces

1 Medium Red Potato, 6 ounces

2 Small Sweet Peppers, 4 ounces

1 Medium Yellow Onion, 6 ounces

 ½ Tablespoon Kosher Salt
⅛-¼ Cup White Whole Wheat Flour
1 Egg
½ Teaspoon Taco Seasoning

¼ Teaspoon Chili Powder

olive oil to pan fry

1. Grate the carrots, sweet potato, red potato, peppers and onion using a food processor or the large holes of a box grater.

2. Transfer the grated veggies to a large bowl, layering while you go with the salt.  Toss the veggies until salt is well incorporated.  If this sounds like a lot of salt, don’t worry, much of it will drain out along with the veggie juices.  Transfer to a colander placed over your large bowl and let sit for a minimum of 30 minutes, maximum of a few hours in the refrigerator to allow the vegetables to release their juices.

 3. Using your hands, squeeze out as much juice as you can.  One nice trick is to transfer the mix to a cloth napkin or dish towel, pull up the corners to make a neat bundle and twist and squeeze to get out all that water.  The more water you extract, the less greasy your fritters will be.                                            

Squeezed Veg

All the extracted juice

4. Coat a deep frying pan with enough oil to completely cover the bottom.  Heat the pan and oil over medium low heat until the oil begins to shimmer. 

5. Mix your drained veggies with the flour until you have a nice, dry mix.  Add egg and seasonings and mix thoroughly.

6. Using a ¼ cup measure, scoop out the mixture and form into patties about 3 inches in diameter and ½ inch thick.  As your form patties, place into the hot oil and fry for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.  Remove fritters to a wire cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet to cool and drain.  

7. Continue forming and frying patties until you have used all the mix.  You may keep the patties warm in a 200 degree F oven, if desired.

8. Serve as a topping for a dinner salad, on a bun or bread, or eat as is for a simple approach.  For a nice accompanying sandwich spread, mix equal parts prepared salsa and strained yogurt, spread on your bread, add a patty and some greens and you have a rad sandwich.  These are nice the eat the next morning on the side of some eggs, hash brown style.

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Taco Seasoning

I love blending my own spice mixes at home.  You can adjust the seasonings to your liking, use less salt than store mixes and buy many whole spices in bulk, grinding just before you need them to increase shelf life and freshness.  

Taco Seasoning

1 tablespoon whole cumin

2 teaspoons black peppercorns

2 tablespoons chili powder 

1 teaspoon paprika 

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 

1/2 teaspoon onion powder 

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 

1. Grind cumin and peppercorns in a spice or coffee grinder until you form a fine powder.

2. Add remaining ingredients and process until mixture is well blended.  

3. Transfer to an airtight container.  Label and store in a cool, dark cabinet.  

Sweet Potato Black Bean Pocket Pies

I've been away for a while.  I had a temporary spell of single parenting accompanied by sickness, travel, more travel, and lots of snot rag laundry.  I quickly learned that my free time was best spent sleeping.

It's times like these, through sickness, temporary single parenting, general busyness or particularly fussy eating habits on the part of my toddler that I am most grateful for my crazy freezer food hoarding.  When I feel particularly inspired to cook the weekend away, I make extra and freeze those wonderful leftovers.

One of the best freezer foods?  Empanadas, turnovers, pierogies, samosas, dumplings, or as I like to call them, pocket pies because I think it sounds cute and, if you don't mind a linty meal, they will easily fit in your pocket for transport.  They freeze and reheat wonderfully, are reminiscent of one of my favorite childhood foods(Hot Pockets) and my daughter loves them.

After a 2.5 hour flight, bag collecting, car finding and 1.5 hour drive home, I pulled one of these little pies out of the freezer and had dinner ready in no time for my road weary toddler.  She ate two.  And some rice cakes.  But not milk, it was a week old.

I came across the original idea for this recipe here.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Pocket Pies

Yield: 16 Pies

Pastry:

1 ½ cups of White Whole Wheat Flour

½ cup Milled Flax Seed

¾ teaspoon Salt

10 Tablespoons (5 ounces) Pastured Butter, chilled

¼ cup Very Cold Water

Filling:

1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds

1 tablespoon Chili Powder 

¼ teaspoon Ancho Chili Powder

2 pounds Roasted Sweet Potatoes, peeled and mashed

2 cups Cooked Black Beans, rinsed and drained

2/3 cup Chopped Green Onions, white and light green section of onion only

4 tablespoons Chopped Fresh Cilantro, or just a big handful 

1 teaspoon lime zest

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt, or to taste 

1 Egg, lightly beaten with about a tablespoon of water 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°.

For the Pastry:

1. Sift flour, flax seed and salt together in a large bowl.  

2. Cut butter into flour using a pastry cutter or your hands.  Work quickly to avoid melting the butter.

3. Add water, a sprinkle at a time, just until dough will hold together.  

4. Form the dough quickly and gently into a ball.

5. Refrigerate dough for at least ½ hour or up to one day.

For the Filling:

1. Cook the cumin seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat for 1 minute or until toasted and fragrant, stirring constantly.  Add chili powders and cook until just fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and let mixture cool slightly until you can handle it comfortably.  

2. Place cumin and chili in a clean spice or coffee grinder and process until finely ground. 

3. Combine spices, sweet potatoes, beans, onions, cilantro, lime juice and zest in a large bowl.  Combine with rubber spatula until mixture is quite uniform.  Add salt.

4. Remove dough from the refrigerator.  Portion into 16 equal pieces by forming ball into a log, cut in half and then cut each half into eighths. 
5. Roll each dough portion into a disc about 5 inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick (a tortilla press works well for this step if you're a fan of gadgets.  If not, use a rolling pin).    

6. Fill each dough circle with about two tablespoons of prepared filling.  Brush the inside edge of circle with egg wash, fold dough over to form semi circle and crimp edges with a crimper or fork.  Brush top of finished pie with egg wash for nice browning.  Continue this process until you use all the filling and dough. 
7. Place pies on a large baking sheet. Cut a few small slits on the top of each pie to allow steam to escape.  Bake at 400° for about 30 minutes, rotate baking sheet and bake for 10 more minutes, or until nicely browned.
8. Enjoy as is for an on-the-go meal or with a nice salad for a sit down lunch or dinner.  

             

To freeze, place fully cooked and cooled pies in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Freeze for about one hour on sheet and then move pies into your favorite style freezer bag and label.  They should keep for six months in a standard fridge/freezer setup or one year in a chest freezer.  

P.S. With the left over pie crust dough, I made mini peach pies, which were really just previously frozen peach slices enveloped in pastry.  

Shared at April's Homemaking Meal Planning Monday Recipe Link-up.

Noodle Soup

We needed a big hit for dinner yesterday.  My daughter, refusing her scrambled eggs ate toast for breakfast.  I was at a loss at what to make for lunch, so she had toast again, this time in the form of an almond butter sandwich, along with her smoothie.  Toast for two meals means we need some serious veggies for dinner.

This noodle soup should please palates of all ages.  It's nothing to spice up the final dish with a little crushed red pepper flakes.  Adding a drizzle of toasted sesame oil is also delicious.

This fed my daughter and I with plenty of leftovers.  It should easily feed two adults and two children, but feel free to double up the recipe for larger families.

1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, diced
3 cups vegetable stock
1 ear of corn, kernels removed or 1/2 cup frozen kernels
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup shelled edamame
4 ounces of brown rice noodles, I use this kind
Salt and pepper to taste 
 1. Lightly sauté garlic in oil until soft.  
2. Add carrot and stir for about a minute. 
3. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat and simmer carrots until they are tender, about 8 minutes.
5. Add corn, edamame and peas.
6. Return broth to a boil and add rice noodles.

7. Cook for about three minutes until noodles are tender.

Serve with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and red pepper flakes if you like.

Normally, she just plays with the noodles.  This time, she ate quite a bit while playing.  She only threw food on the floor when she was, "All done".
  

Baby Loves Baba Ganoush

My daughter has been Particularly Picky about eating lately.  She won't eat food she used to love, won't touch anything that looks like it may have onions in it and will only accept berries or cherry tomatoes so that she may, "Put it in the bucket," a skill she learned from various berry picking adventures this summer.  

Did I mention she turned down pizza the other day?  She turned down pizza the other day!

So, you can imagine my excitement when she Did Not throw her dinner on the floor tonight.  She even asked for seconds!  Just when I thought she would never eat again.  What was this miraculous dinner that even my picky daughter loved?  Baba Ganoush of course!  A lovely pureed dip made from roasted eggplant, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil.  

This is a special recipe for me.  I used to sell little jars of this while working at the farmers market my first summer in Georgia.  I had to come up with a good recipe for the massive amounts of eggplant we were harvesting at the farm.  This is such a good way to use large amounts of eggplant and a good recipe to try if you are turned off by the texture of eggplant.  

We ate it with whole wheat pita bread, fresh sweet peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes and lima beans from the garden.  I was so excited, I was almost able to drown out the memory of the Alton Brown episode where I learned that eggplant is a nutritionally neutral vegetable, by no means bad for you, but not especially good for you either.  Oh well, at least she tried something new and hey, it's all about baby steps, or bites.      

1lb eggplant, any variety

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup tahini

2 cloves garlic, roasted or raw, your preference

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1.Preheat oven to 400°F (If the eggplant are small enough, you can use a toaster oven to keep the kitchen from heating up from the big oven).  

2. Place eggplant on lightly oiled baking sheet and poke holes in the skin with a fork to let steam escape while roasting. 

3. Roast eggplant for 40 minutes or until soft, turning occasionally to prevent over browning. 

4. Remove the eggplant from oven and blanch in a large bowl of ice water.  Cool until able to handle. 

5. Drain eggplant, remove calyx (stem end) and peel off skin using your fingers. (If you are using a thin skinned variety of eggplant, such as Japanese, you can skip the peeling.  For the large purple globe eggplant, it is best to peel). 

6. Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini and garlic in a food processor.  Pulse until a smooth puree forms, scraping sides of the bowl down as needed.  

7. With food processor running, slowly drizzle olive oil into the mixture.  Continue to process until oil is well incorporated.  

8. Transfer puree to a serving bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving for best flavor and texture.

Enjoy with mixed veggies, pita bread, crackers, over pasta, or eat straight with a spoon like my toddler did.