Simple Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

The smell of roasting sweet potatoes with coconut oil has a lovely hint of toasted marshmallow. Maybe that's why I love them so much!

There are a lot of wonderful sweet potato ways. Today, they are big "fries," but tomorrow, it's chips with cinnamon, sea salt and nutmeg, served with a dollop of cashew butter (my favorite).

Give this one a try and share how it goes! So simple, so quick, so delish.

RECIPE

5 organic sweet potatoes, cut lengthwise into quarters, and if a big tater, eigths (I like to use jewel or garnet, but any orange fleshed sweet potato will be yummy.) Make 'em fry size.

2 TBS of coconut oil

2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)

Heat oven to 425 degrees F

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment (I use If You Care's unbleached, compostable parchment)

2. Place the fries on the sheet, and rub each slice with the coconut oil so it is well coated.

3. Sprinkle with sea salt, turning to cover all sides

4. Bake at 425* F for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

How do you like your sweet potatoes!  Share your wicked skills in the comments!

TIPS

1. Store sweet potatoes in a cool, dry, ventilated space and they will last up to two weeks. Try not to store in the refrigerator as it could make the core hard. Since I don't have a root cellar, nor air conditioning, I will store mine in the fridge in a basket, but use them in a matter of days.

2. Japanese sweet potatoes work well as fries, too, but they have a very different taste and are much more starchy. So, for those on gut healing diets that need to avoid starch, the orange fleshed potato is a better choice.

 3. Bacon Fat. Instead of coconut oil, bacon fat is simply fabulous with sweet potatoes. If you make bacon this way, the fat is easy to save and is a cleaner draw.

4. If you just want one. You can just make one.

A Little About Roasting Chestnuts

 

Chestnut Memories

Each year, during my 15 years of living in New York City, that wonderful aroma of chestnuts would waft gently through the crispness of winter. Their mysterious steam added a layer of Christmas to the heightened senses of Big Apple dwellers. I was always surprised at how creamy they were, these chestnuts roasted on an open vendor cart.

Season & Harvest

Chestnuts are available from October through December, henceforth dubbing them a Christmas, not just a cool season crop. They are also, as I just found out from this WZZM13 newscast, a growing crop in Michigan. Michigan has about 50 working chestnut farms right now. How cool is that?

In the newscast, WZZM13 interviewed Winkel Chestnut Farms and I was so fascinated by this new agricultural trend that I decided to give them a call and ask a few questions. The first chestnut lesson that owners Dick and Leslie Winkel taught me was that chestnuts bloom in July and August, but are usually harvested in September or early October. They are then put into cold storage with high humidity for a few months. This type of storage actually acts as a curing process because chestnuts sweeten as they age. Perfect timing for December roasting.

Pesticides & Allergies

The Winkels and I also briefly discussed pesticides, gluten and other allergen cross contamination, and different applications to keep the chestnuts fresh. A common pest is the potato leaf hopper, and most chestnut pests appear in the summer, just as the chestnut flowers / burrs start to form. Some farmers use pesticides, but Winkel Farms keeps bees for pollination, so in order to save the bees, they don't spray.

One of the issues that shocked me in our conversation at first, is that bleach and water is a common anti-mold technique after harvesting and before storage. According to the Food and Agricultural Association of the United Nations, chestnuts are highly susceptable to mold and various techniques are used around the world. Commonly, farmers can dunk the nuts after they fall from the tree into water and bleach to keep fungus at bay. The trees drop the nuts with or without the outer burr, but in the shell, so the meat of the nut is protected from the bleach. How protected is unclear, but the shells are quite tough. There are alternatives to this technique, and not everyone uses bleach in the water. 

Allergy Note: Chestnuts belong to the same botanical family as oak and beech trees do. According to Kids with Food Allergies and FARE chestnuts are considered TREE NUTS. It appears that there are some folks who are only allergic to chestnuts and not other nuts, and others who are able to eat the chestnuts, but not other tree nuts. Tender Foodie will do a little more research on this.

No matter what, however, if you are ALLERGIC to TREE NUTS do not eat chestnuts without discussing with an informed physician and doing adequate allergy testing.

Also, gluten-free peops need to be mindful that cross contamination of nuts with gluten at the processing plant or at a vendor is a possibility.

I discussed with the Winkels how to find chestnuts that have not been cross contaminated with gluten. Their farm is a U-Pick farm so it takes the cross contamination question away -- you go to the farm and pick them up from the ground yourself. The U-Pick season is over, but something to keep in mind for next year. It's always good to develop a relationship with your local farmer and ask them questions about how they grow, store, pack, and process their products. This practice helps support local farms, biodiversity, and ourselves!

"I've been an aerospace engineer all of my life, and I didn't realize how complicated farming was until I started a chestnut farm! I worked my way through college as a crop dusting pilot and my love of light airplanes led me to aerospace engineering. The crop dusting gave me an interest in agriculture. It's been important to get the chestnut farm working. I don't know why except for the little voices in my head in the middle of the night. I had to pay attention to the call of the chestnuts."

~Dick Winkel, Winkel Chestnut Farms

Nutrition

Chestnuts have less fat and more starch than regular nuts, and are more like a sweet potato in starch content than a nut. They are relatively low in calories but rich in minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, phosphorous, and potassium. Chestnuts, like green leafy vegetables and unlike most nuts, are also rich in folates, B Complex groups, and Vitamin C. Like other seeds and nuts, they are also full of bad cholesterol lowering (and good cholesterol raising) monounsaturated fats, like oleic acid.

Additionally, these little nuts make a great flour for gluten-free or grain-free baking, if you can find it. Oh yes they do.

How to Roast Chestnuts

Because of my wheat allergy and severe gluten sensitivity, I no longer can partake of those great street chestnuts in those romantic cities around the world. The risk of cross contamination is too great. But, we can roast them ourselves, can't we?

Here's how:

Choose chestnuts from a local farmer with whom you can discuss the risk of cross contamination. Fresh chestnuts are heavy for their size, glossy (not moldy), and rich in color. Score them (create little incisions in them with a knife) before roasting at an oven temp of 350 - 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The nuts have their own oils so you don’t need to use any oils during roasting. Martha Stewart has a simple, beautiful set of instructions here, and suggests a 350 degree roasting temp. Peel, salt (or don’t salt), and enjoy.

Want to grow some trees? Read this cool article on how to do so from Mother Earth News. Interesting tidbit: you need at least two chestnut trees to pollinate and 40 feet around each tree!

Read More About Local

Two Advantages of Buying from Small, Local Farms

2014 Locavore Index: See How Your State Ranks

Check Out Winkel Farms

Website

Facebook Page

Order Online from Allen Creek Farms

Labeled as gluten-free and still available as of this post date

Honey-Infused Chocolate Covered Bacon (using raw cacao)

In the last post, we learned that yes, you can cook bacon naked, and without peril to your naughty bits, if you simply cook it in the oven. It's easy, saves time, does not splatter, and this method helps you save or toss the grease without mess. For this chocolate-covered bacon recipe, you need evenly cooked bacon that stands at attention, so using the oven is the best way to acheive this.

We've also learned that bacon can stop an argument on a dime, just by its mere mention. If this legend is indeed true, then chocolate covered bacon will one day bring about world peace.

For those of you who have removed cane or beet sugar from your diet, the ganache for this recipe is made from honey, and you will love it.

Ingredients

Here is what you will need:

• 1/2 lb cooked gluten-free, thick cut bacon (see this recipe for the perfect bacon)
• 1/4 cup of GF, DF raw cacao powder (here's my favorite)
• 1 TBS organic coconut oil (I love Carrington Farms)
• 2 TBS of local honey
• a small saucepan, or stovetop-safe ceramic dish

(Double this recipe for 1 lb of bacon. If using more than one pound, make the ganache in batches for 1 lb of bacon at a time)

 Recipe

In your small saucepan or stove-safe ceramic dish, bring the coconut oil and honey to a boil by placing the burner on high. It will start to bubble like this:

Keep the pan on the stove until the honey and oil come to a full boil like the picture below. Let it boil for 30 to 45 seconds. No more than 60 seconds as you do not want this to burn. When cold, the ingredients will be separated, but after boiling they will come together and make a sort of caramel.

 

Let the honey and oil mixture cool for 5 minutes. If you place the raw cacoa powder in too early, you may burn it. The mixture should be warm but not hot. When at the right temperature, slowly add in the raw cacao powder a little at a time, stirring to completely incorporporate the chocolate/cacao into the mixture. Keep adding until you get the proper spreading consitency. You will get the right consistency somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 cup of cacao. I like it a little thicker (so I use almost the entire 1/4 cup), you may like it a little thinner. If you don't use it all, return the extra to the package to use later!

The consitency of the chocolate mixture will look something like this. It will slowly drip off of the spoon, and will be easy to spread.  

Lastly, break the cooked bacon strips in half and using a spoon, spread the chocolate onto one side of the bacon, half way up the strip. Make it a nice thick coat, using the bacon like a spoon. Chocolate lovers can put the chocolate side down on their toungue, while bacon lovers may put the bacon side on their toungue. Each will give you a slightly different experience. Covering one side also helps make the bacon look good on the plate right away. You don't have to use a separate plate to wait for the chocolate to harden and then waste a bunch of chocolate on the plate.

After it hardens a bit, place in the refrigerator, covered, for an hour or overnight. Served best chilled.

Enjoy!  (and have the leftovers for breakfast, seriously).

How to Cook Bacon Naked (in the Oven)

Bacon is one of the most beloved carnivorous foods on the planet. So loved, in fact, that if you find yourself in a disagreement with a friend or co-worker and need to lighten the mood, just pause, look at them whimsically, and say, "bacon." Argument over. If it is a particularly tough argument, say, "chocolate covered bacon," and your friendship will be cemented for life.

You may even know a few vegetarian friends who sneak a little gateway meat once in a while.

Cooking bacon is not as much fun as eating it, however; at least not in a pan on the stove with the spattering and the burning of sensitive skin. Plus, the house smells like bacon for days beyond its cooking and consumption when you bring it home and fry it up in a pan.

So try it in the oven. Guess what? It works far, far better! I've tried a few different temperatures, timings, types of bacon, and this method seems to work the best, and produces the most consistent bacon. If you do it right, the only cleaning is pulling the parchment paper and the cooled grease from the pan and into the garbage... or strain the grease and put into a jar to use later.

Using the oven, you can even make the bacon naked.

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

What you need:

• large sheet pan with sides
• thick, oven-ready parchment paper
• your favorite gluten-free bacon - thick cut preferred
• you can also use a rack, if you really want perfect bacon

How to do it:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place a large sheet of parchment paper onto the pan. It should be large enough to come up over every side of the pan by about one inch, but not so large that the ends of the paper burn.

If you have a rack, place it on top of the parchment. You don't need one, however, so if you don't have one, don't despair.

Remove the bacon from the package and line them evenly onto the parchment lined pan (or on the rack). The sides of each strip can touch but not overlap. Bacon usually has a skinny side and a fat side. Alternate the strips so that they have skinny sides on top for every other strip. It will feel like you are putting together a meat puzzle.

Place the bacon-loaded pan on a center rack in the oven for 20-30 minutes, depending upon the thickness of your bacon and your desired crispiness.

Check the bacon half-way through to see if it needs to be flipped. If there is excessive grease, you may carefully (very carefully) pour off some of the excess into a can or heat safe bowl until it cools enough to throw out, or save as grease for another dish.

Using a tongs, transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Pat dry with paper towels to remove excess grease and serve!

 

"We plan, we toil, we suffer – in the hope of what?  A camel-load of idol’s eyes?  The title deeds of Radio City?  The empire of Asia?  A trip to the moon?  No, no, no, no.  Simply to wake just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs." 

~J.B. Priestly (English novelist, playwright and broadcaster)

Recipe: Chocolate Squash Muffins (grain-free, egg-free, dairy-free, soy-free)

Grain/Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Soy-free, Egg-free

Copyright & Photos: Elisabeth Veltman, The Tender Foodie

If food were fashion (and we know that it is) then squash is the new black. Squash makes very moist, healthy, and yummy muffins. Loaded with antioxidants, magnesium, B Vitamins, and iron; you can serve these muffs for breakfast or have them hanging around as snacks. I think you might like paleo muffins even better than regular 'old wheat muffins. I do!

Inactive prep time: 1 hour
Prep time: 15 min.
Cook time: 35-45 min.
Makes 12 muffins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients

1 cup mashed butternut squash or acorn squash (roasted and peeled), or mashed pumpkin flesh (my favorite to use is Tropical Traditions Organic Pumpkin in a box).

1 small banana (or half of a large one)

4 TBS ground flax mixed with 8 TBS filtered water & left for 5 minutes to gel (this is your egg replacer)
 
½ cup almond butter (can also use a nut-free sunflower butter)

¾ cup honey

¼ cup coconut oil, melted (if your almond butter is very oily, you may need to leave this out, if the almond butter is very dry, leave it in.)

½ cup dairy-free raw cacao powder (make sure it is dairy- & gluten- free if you have guest w/ these allergies). I use Navitas Raw Cacao Powder.

½ cup coconut flour (exactly - sift out the lumps before you measure)

½ TBS of gluten-free cinnamon (McCormick brand) - Learn more about spices

1-teaspoon gluten-free, aluminum-free baking powder

1-teaspoon baking soda

1-teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

1-teaspoon gluten-free chocolate extract

¼ teaspoon of sea salt

Optional: add 1 cup of Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips for extra sweetness.

Instructions

1.    Vent the squash (poke several holes with a knife), the roast the squash whole at 425 degrees for about 1 hour or until a knife easily pierces through the center.  Cool.  Cut In half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.  Then scrape out the flesh into a measuring cup.
2.    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3.    Grease a 12 muffin tin with coconut oil, or use paper muffin cups
4.    In a food processor (this works better for paleo than a blender) combine the squash, banana, almond butter, flax seed mixture, honey, and coconut oil. Add the vanilla and chocolate extracts. Blend well.
5.    In a separate bowl, whisk the coconut flour, raw cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt, then add it to the wet ingredients and blend well.
6.    Scoop into the muffin cups filling to the top.
7.    Bake for 35 minutes.  A toothpick will come out moist with a little crumble.

Let muffins cool, and then remove from tin and nom.


*Please note: coconut is a drupe, not a nut, but some people are allergic to coconut (and the oils), so please double check with your nut-allergic guest to be sure that they can eat coconut.

ABOUT ELISABETH

Writer, owner of Blue Pearl Strategies, and lover of all culinary delights, Elisabeth started The Tender Palate & Tender Foodie, for people with food allergies, sensitivities and intolerance. She believes that everyone should live deliciously and have a healthy seat at the table.