recipes

Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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If you’re baking for Christmas this week, Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies are one of my family’s favorite sweet treats! They’re free of grains, gluten, dairy and refined sugar. But still so full of flavor and delicious chocolatey goodness. My whole family LOVES them.

I’m really sensitive to sugar and if I eat it on an empty stomach I have a sugar headache in less than five minutes (a sign of the havoc its creating on my blood sugar levels & endocrine system). So when I bake sweet treats I use healthful sweeteners like raw honey, pure maple syrup or coconut palm sugar, and I like to balance the sugar with protein from nuts, nut flours, nut butters or my favorite plant based protein powder, to reduce the glycemic impact. Enjoying sweet treats (in moderation) AFTER a healthy meal rather than on an empty stomach also helps to reduce the disruption to our endocrine system.

Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies

If you’re hosting or attending holiday celebrations this month, you don’t have to eat perfectly. But I highly recommend making or taking a healthy dish or two that you can enjoy and fill up on completely guilt free. I also always take a sweet treat I can enjoy, and these Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies fit the bill. You won’t feel the slightest bit deprived or tempted by all of those holiday treats with health harming ingredients!

Easy Nutty Energy Bites

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Hello Friends, Happy Monday! I wanted to share a really quick and easy recipe my family has been enjoying this summer. These tasty and easy nutty energy bites are a healthful sweet treat that I’m sure will be making their way into my kiddos lunch boxes as they head back to school this week.

You know I love my chocolate and sweet treats, but I want to make them in the most healthful way possible–with wholesome ingredients that won’t sap my energy or derail my health and with sweetness that is balanced by protein and fiber to avoid a blood sugar spike or crash.

Easy Nutty Energy Bites

I love this recipe because its so flexible. This is one of my favorite combinations, but you can use any combo of nuts, seeds, oats, unsweetened coconut flakes, chocolate chips, raisins or other dried fruit for endless variations to suit everyone in the family.

And if you’re short on time or don’t feel like rolling out all of the bites, just grab a spoon and eat it right out of the bowl like you would cookie dough, its that good!

XO,  Kristi

PS – Speaking of school, its that time again! Make sure to check out my blog post Real Food School Lunches in Under Ten Minutes a Day for my favorite healthy lunchbox options and tips for making packing healthy lunches a breeze. Well as much of a breeze as packing lunches every day can be!

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Nutty Energy Bites

These make a perfect, healthful treat to satisfy your sweet cravings without the blood sugar crash and without derailing your health.
Calories: 3046kcal

Ingredients

Stir together:

Add in:

  • 1/3 c chopped walnuts
  • 1/3 c raw pumpkin seeds
  • 1/3 c mini chocolate chips we use Enjoy Life brand allergen free chocolate
  • OR 1 cup total of any combination of nuts seeds, oatmeal, unsweetened coconut flakes or dried fruit you prefer

Instructions

  • Roll the "dough" into small bite sized balls. You may need to adjust the amount of almond butter, honey and protein powder slightly as there is a lot of variation in the thickness of different brands of almond butter and raw honey. If your dough is too sticky to roll out, add a bit more Complete or just put it in the fridge for an hour or so. If its too dry, add a bit more honey or a bit of nut, coconut or olive
  • oil. Adjust as needed, you can't mess these up!
  • Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy! These freeze well if you want to save them longer.

Notes

A quick note about protein powders. I used to be a firm believer that protein powders aren't real food. Most aren't. I avoid anything with whey (a highly inflammatory and unhealthful byproduct of the dairy industry), processed or artificial sweeteners, colors, preservatives or additives. Juice Plus Complete is the only protein powder I've found that meets my definition of real food--minimally processed, nutrient dense, whole food, plant based protein from chemical-free, non-GMO legumes. grains, seeds and even mushrooms, one of the only food sources of Vitamin D--and its low glycemic and actually tastes really good! If you're interested in purchasing Complete I'd love to help! Just follow my link or shoot me a message.

Double Chocolate Buckwheat Waffles

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You all know I love my chocolate, and I also love buckwheat. And these Double Chocolate Buckwheat Waffles, well, they’re pretty magical!

So when my son and I went on a date to a local coffee shop where they sell the most amazing gluten free, chocolate waffles (warm chocolate-y goodness that reminded me of my Buckwheat Brownies) we had to come home and try to recreate them.

After trying out the few recipes I found on Pinterest, none of them were really what we were looking for. So we started experimenting. At least a dozen batches later, my tasters finally said this one was the winner. It’s not quite Honey + Moon’s chocolate bubble waffles (which I highly recommend trying if you’re local), but they’re just as delicious! We don’t have a bubble waffle iron, but if you do please try these out in it and let me know what you think.

Double Chocolate Buckwheat Waffles

If you’re interested in some of the healthful properties of buckwheat, you can read more about that (and get the recipe for Matteo’s Buckwheat Pancakes) here.

Or just dive right in to making these! They’re part healthy breakfast, part dessert, and 100% delicious. They will make the perfect Valentine’s Day breakfast for all of your loves!

XO,

Kristi

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Double Chocolate Buckwheat Waffles (gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free)

Delicious, healthful, chocolatey goodness in these gluten, dairy and refined sugar free waffles. Egg free/vegan option.
Calories: 2093kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups Buckwheat flour
  • 3/4 c. raw cacao (I like Navitas Organics Raw Cacao)
  • 1 tsp. unrefined sea salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp organic cinnamon (optional)
  • 1 1/2 c. vegan "buttermilk" (1 T apple cider vinegar or lemon juice + unsweetened, unflavored almond milk, or your favorite plant based milk, to fill a 1-1/2 cup liquid measure; let sit for a few minutes to sour)
  • 2 farm fresh or organic eggs
  • 1/2 c. pure maple syrup
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 c. melted coconut oil
  • 1 c. Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels

Instructions

  • Whisk together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
    In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, maple syrup & vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients, then add the coconut oil. (This prevents the coconut oil from solidifying if your milk and eggs aren't at room temperature.) Stir until well combined.
    Stir in the chocolate chips. Let the batter sit for a few minutes for the buckwheat to absorb the wet ingredients and the batter to thicken up a bit, If your batter is too thick, add a tiny bit more almond milk. Meanwhile, heat your waffle iron.
    When waffle iron is hot, scoop about 1 cup of batter onto your waffle iron and cook according to your waffle maker's directions. With my waffle iron, the indicator light comes on well before the waffles are actually done. I found setting a timer for 4-5 minutes worked perfectly. If your waffles don't come cleanly & easily out of the waffle maker, you probably need to cook them longer.
    Carefully remove waffles from waffle maker, place on a plate, and keep warm in a 200 degree preheated oven, if desired, while you make the rest of the waffles.
    We enjoy these waffles plain or with berries or banana slices. Feel free to serve with pure maple syrup if you wish! These will keep well in a zip lock baggie for 2-3 days (although I can't say any of ours have lasted that long!) or they freeze well. To reheat, place on a sheet pan and warm in the oven or pop in the toaster.
    Enjoy!!    

Notes

MAKES APPROX. 6 FULL SIZE WAFFLES (24 QUARTERS) OR 9-12 SERVINGS
You can substitute an equal amount of coconut palm sugar in place of the maple syrup if you prefer. I've tried both and it works great.
I haven't tried this recipe with flax eggs, but I think it would work fine for a vegan/ egg free version. If you try it, please let me know!
I'm a dark chocolate girl, so I love the dark chocolate morsels, but we also tried this recipe with Enjoy Life milk chocolate mini chips and they work just fine too.

Chocolate Crisp Rice Protein Treats

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Hello Friends! I promised you I would post this Chocolate Crisp Rice Protein Treats recipe this week, so here it is!

Chocolate Crisp Rice Protein Treats

I can’t really take the credit for this one. I originally got this recipe from my friend and mentor Bonnie Schnautz, ND of BRenewed Wellness Center. But it is so deliciously addictive and is a regular at our house so I have to pass it on to all of you!

I make these with Juice Plus Complete, my favorite whole food, plant-based protein powder. When it comes to protein powders, I’m extremely picky. Plant-based is a must. I avoid anything with whey (a highly processed by-product of the commercial dairy industry loaded with hormones and antibiotics) or any artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners or other questionable additives. Complete contains 15 different plants including nutrient dense legumes, ancient grains, broccoli sprouts, pomegranate, spirulina and even mushrooms. It is also high fiber, low glycemic, non-GMO and is NSF certified to be free of chemicals, heavy metals and any other contaminants or fillers.

Chocolate Crisp Rice Protein Treats

Try these for a delicious treat or (don’t tell my kids) they could even be a high protein, nutrient dense breakfast bar. Just don’t eat the whole pan at once!

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Chocolate Crisp Rice Protein Treats

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c. all natural organic peanut butter (make sure to buy a brand with no sugar added. We use Aldi's Simply Nature brand)
  • 1/2 c. raw honey
  • 1 scoop 1/3 c
  • Chocolate Complete
  • or your favorite whole food plant-based protein powder
  • 1-1/2 to 2 c. gluten free crisp rice cereal (I use
  • Barbara's Organic Brown Rice Crisps
  • )

Instructions

  • Stir together the peanut butter, raw honey and Chocolate complete. Mix in the crisp rice cereal. I start with 1-1/2 cups and then add more as needed. It really varies depending on your brand of peanut butter and how runny or thick your honey is.
  • Press into an 8x8 pan and cover tightly. I keep ours in the refrigerator. If you like them softer, room temperature is fine too. Enjoy!

Delicious Dairy Free Pesto

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Pesto might be one of my favorite summer foods. In Liguria, Italy, the home of pesto, it is made with basil Genovese and often served with a small, dense, twisted pasta also native to Liguria called trofie. Traditionally in Pasta al Trofie, blanched red potatoes and green beans are tossed with the trofie and pesto.

Sadly, I haven’t found anyone who makes gluten free trofie, but I do so love fresh pesto! Right now while my patio pots are overflowing with fresh herbs and we have an abundance of green beans from the farm, I’m really loving making this recipe and using about a third of it as the topping for my Garlic & Herb Wild Salmon, about one third stirred into green beans prepared per these instructions from thekitchn.com and the final third we spoon over a side dish of rice. The perfect light summery dinner.

While it’s not traditional, I like to use half basil and half parsley in my pesto and I substitute walnuts for the traditional pine nuts, both for cost & availability reasons and because walnuts have so many health benefits! I increase the amount of nuts and add an extra pinch of sea salt to make up for the missing cheese, which YOU won’t miss at all, I promise.

Buon appetito!

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Delicious Dairy Free Pesto

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves tightly packed
  • 1 cup fresh flat leaf Italian parsley leaves
  • 2 cloves fresh garlic
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt plus more to taste
  • 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper plus more to taste
  • 1/2 cup toasted walnuts
  • About 2/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  • Place first 6 ingredients (everything but olive oil) into food processor and pulse until finely chopped. With the food processor still running, gradually pour in the olive oil, until the pesto reaches a smooth and thick consistency. Taste and season with additional sea salt and pepper, as needed.
    Serve over pasta, vegetables, rice or anything your heart desires!

Buckwheat Brownies

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Happy Monday, friends!

As we head into this hectic holiday season I have to confess, I am already worn out! In the past three weeks we have had Halloween (thankfully the kiddos all took it pretty easy on me on their costumes), celebrated 4 birthdays, the end of the soccer season, wrestling, hours of Nutcracker rehearsals, a traveling husband, a teething toddler and then said toddler also had a cold (which means neither toddler nor mama have slept much in the past couple of weeks).

I can only imagine how poorly I would be functioning right now if I wasn’t fueling my body with real whole foods. During these especially hectic and sleep deprived phases of life, we need the nourishment that comes from plants even more. Which is why I take my Juice Plus religiously and do my best to get my green smoothie in every single day, even when I am so tired I can barely see straight. The phytonutrients from all of those fruits and vegetables provides more nourishment and sustained energy for my body than all of the caffeine in the world ever could.

But, after all of that talk about plant nutrition, I hope you will forgive me for sharing a brownie recipe today. Because once in a while we need chocolate too, don’t we?

Buckwheat Brownies

My son has been gluten and dairy free for six years now and his baby sister and I have since joined him. In the last six years I have tried a LOT of brownie recipes. When I bake, I like to use the most healthful ingredients I possibly can. But I have to be honest–the recipes I’ve tried with black beans and other mystery ingredients just don’t cut it for me. Neither have any of the other gluten and dairy free variations I’ve tried, whether healthy or not. None have ever measured up to the perfectly moist, rich, chocolatey, chewey not cakey, dense but not too dense, gooey but not too gooey brownie I have in my head.

That is, until these. It turns out buckwheat–one of my favorite flours–is the perfect solution! You can read more about the health benefits of buckwheat (and get our favorite pancake recipe) here. No one will ever know these brownies are gluten free unless you tell them. They are moist, amazing, and unlike many gluten free baked goods they stay moist and keep well (tightly wrapped) for up to a week.

Buckwheat Brownies

I use Nutiva coconut sugar, which is still sugar and should only be eaten in moderation as a special treat. But it is more healthful than conventional white sugar, which is heavily processed, bleached and almost always made from GMO sugar beets. Nutiva’s coconut sugar is organic and non-GMO. It is unrefined, which means that unlike white sugar which is completely empty calories devoid of any nutrition, coconut sugar retains some small amounts of nutrients from the coconut. According to Vani Hari, the Food Babe, coconut sugar has 10,000 times the potassium, 20 times the magnesium and 20 times the iron of conventional white sugar. It also contains inulin fiber, which slows the absorption into the blood stream. It also has just over half of the glycemic load of white sugar, which helps you avoid that blood sugar/insulin spike and crash.

I also like baking with Nutiva Shortening, which is a blend of coconut oil and red palm oil. Both are naturally solid at room temperature (so no hydrogenation, the process which turns Crisco shortening and margarine into toxic trans fats), minimally processed, healthful fats. It makes a close to perfect substitute for butter. But if you can have dairy, real organic butter works great here too.

Buckwheat Brownies

I may have mentioned it before, but its worth repeating: When baking with gluten free flours, use a scale! Baking by weight is so much more accurate than volume and allows you to substitute flours or make adjustments to a recipe with a lot more success!  You can buy a good, inexpensive scale from Amazon. I have this one.

Buckwheat Brownies

You may be wondering why a health coach who preaches the evils of sugar is sharing a brownie recipe. But I love chocolate and I’m completely fine with an occasional treat when it’s made with the most healthful ingredients possible.

My personal rules for sweet treats and desserts (that I follow most of the time) are:

1) Make them out of the most healthful ingredients I can (and avoid artificial colors, flavors & sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats and unpronounceable preservatives and additives as much as humanly possible).

2) Enjoy sweet treats after a healthy meal, never on an empty stomach. This helps to avoid the blood sugar spike & sugar headache I get from eating sweets on an empty stomach. And if I have already enjoyed a satisfying meal, one treat should be sufficient to satisfy my chocolate or sweets craving.

3) When you eat a sweet treat, make it a good one and enjoy it mindfully. I try not to eat treats that aren’t worth it and I never eat them on the run. It’s so easy to get in the habit of grabbing something to munch on anytime you walk by the pantry or as you sit in the car or at your desk. Try to get out of the habit of mindless snacking. This will make a huge impact on your health. Choose your snacks wisely–fruits and vegetables as much as possible, and when you do choose to eat a sweet treat, sit down and savor every bite!

Buckwheat Brownies

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I hope you are all surrounded by loved ones this week and take the time to count your blessings! I am thankful for YOU and for the commitment you make to your health and the health of your family with the choices you make every day!

XOXO,

Kristi

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Best Ever Buckwheat Brownies (gluten, dairy & refined sugar free)

No one will know these moist, amazing brownies are free of gluten, dairy and refined sugar and are made with nutrient dense buckwheat flour.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time22 minutes
Total Time32 minutes
Servings: 16 Brownies
Calories: 10426kcal

Ingredients

  • 6 oz. Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or 5 oz. Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels)
  • 8 (Approx 175 g) T. Nutiva shortening (or organic butter, if you can have dairy)
  • 1 c. Nutiva coconut sugar
  • 2 farm fresh eggs
  • 1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
  • 87 g approx. 2/3 c. Buckwheat flour
  • 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp. Sea salt
  • 1/2 c. Enjoy Life chocolate chips or chopped walnuts optional add-ins

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9 x 9 baking pain.
  • In a double boiler over medium high heat (or in a heat-proof bowl sitting over a saucepan with an inch or two of water in it) melt the chocolate and shortening and stir together. Let cool and then whisk in the coconut sugar. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, making sure they are completely incorporated. Then add vanilla.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the buckwheat, baking soda and sea salt.
  • Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir until combined.
  • Stir in the chocolate chips or walnuts, if desired,
  • Smooth batter into prepared pan and bake a 325 degrees for 20-22 minutes. Do not overbake! If you use a glass or an 8x8 pan you may have to adjust the baking time a bit. Let baked brownies cool and enjoy!
  • These brownies keep well, wrapped tightly, for several days and up to a week or freeze well for several months.

Notes

*I'm usually a dark chocolate girl, but I actually prefer semi-sweet chocolate in these. If you want a lighter brownie with a bit of a caramel taste, cut back to 5 oz of the semi-sweet chunks. If you like a darker chocolate brownie, by all means use the dark chocolate morsels instead.
**If you don't use Enjoy Life chocolate chips (which I highly recommend!) please use a good quality chocolate. It really does make all the difference in these brownies. I've tried them with a common grocery store brand of chocolate and they were just not the same.
***I honestly can't decide whether I like these better with chocolate chips or walnuts. So you choose! They're delicious either way!

Eggplant Lasagna Stacks

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My son LOVES eggplant and every year eagerly waits for it to be in season at the farm and start appearing at the farmers market. He loves Eggplant Parmesan, and I try to make my gluten and dairy free version for him once every season. But it is so time and labor intensive I don’t usually make it more than once. This year (after his Eggplant Parmesan) we are still enjoying an abundance of eggplant and he asked for eggplant lasagna. I couldn’t find a recipe I liked that met our dietary needs (half of us are gluten and dairy free) so I made up my own and it turned out to be a hit with the whole family.

eggplant-lasagna-stacks-collage

This sauce is one of our favorite tricks for dairy free cooking. Adding coconut milk or cream to tomato sauce makes it amazingly creamy and delicious and mimics the flavor you would get from ricotta cheese in a traditional lasagna or baked Italian dish.

I added the sausage because, well, my kids will eat just about anything with sausage in it. We use the Salt and Pepper ground pork sausage from Fischer Farms. With all meat, we focus on quality and enjoy it in moderation. Fisher Farms’ sausage is hormone and antibiotic free, from pastured pigs and completely nitrate and preservative free. And it adds amazing flavor. For me, its a good trade off for my kids enjoying eggplant, kale and all of the other goodness in this dish. If you prefer a vegetarian dish, just leave out the sausage and instead, add more kale and a few cloves of fresh chopped garlic to the caramelized onion and season generously with salt and pepper. It will still be delicious!

eggplant-lasagna-stacks

I still have fresh herbs growing in pots on my patio. I highly recommend growing your own herbs! It is so easy and such a huge help in making real food delicious, easy and affordable. Fresh herbs are too expensive in the grocery, don’t last long and I don’t always plan ahead enough to know what I’ll need. But I spend $10 to $20 on herbs in April or early May and I’m still picking from them now in early October. I love that I can just run outside and grab whatever I need, whenever I need it.

eggplant-lasagna-stacks2

I also used kale from my Tower Garden in this recipe. This is something else I cannot recommend highly enough! It makes it so easy to grow my own greens, herbs and other vegetables (all year around if you invest in grow lights!) and I can pick whatever I need, anytime. I pick kale or chard for my green smoothie almost every morning. You can’t get any easier, fresher or healthier than that!  You can learn more about the Tower Garden here, or if you are local and want to see mine you are welcome any time.

I’ve been experimenting with goat cheese for myself and my other dairy free family members. The proteins in goat cheese are much easier to digest than cow’s milk and much less inflammatory. So it is a good, more healthful alternative for some with dairy intolerance. Its totally optional here, but I sprinkled just a bit of goat cheese on half of our pan. We love it either way.

Find time to make these Eggplant Lasagna Stacks and enjoy with a big green salad!

And please comment below and let me know if you try it. I’d love to hear what you think!

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Eggplant Lasagna Stacks (Gluten & Dairy Free, Paleo)

My take on eggplant lasagna is gluten and dairy free but so full of flavor and nutrition you won't miss the noodles or the cheese! (vegan/vegetarian option)    
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour

Ingredients

  • 1 c. full fat canned coconut milk
  • 1 25 oz jar pasta sauce 2-1/2 cups (I used Aldi's organic brand)
  • 3-4 medium sized fresh eggplant choose eggplant that are firm and smooth with bright shiny skin
  • 2-3 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 lb ground sausage
  • 1 onion diced
  • 5-6 kale leaves or spinach or chard
  • 20-25 Fresh basil leaves
  • Goat cheese optional

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Trim the top stem end off of your eggplant and cut into 1/4" slices with a mandolin or sharp knife. (I recommend a good mandolin for this, as it makes it so much quicker and easier and ensures your slices are the same thickness. I have this OXO Mandolin and love it! You will need 44-48 slices. In my casserole dish, I can fit 11-12 "stacks" with 4 slices of eggplant in each stack.) Rub the eggplant slices with olive oil, lay them in a single layer on baking sheets and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast eggplant for about 5 minutes and then remove from oven.
  • While eggplant is roasting, combine coconut milk and pasta sauce in a small saucepan and warm it over low heat.
  • Combine onion and sausage in a skillet and cook over medium high heat until the sausage is browned and the onion is caramelized. While its cooking, chop the kale. Slice the leaves into thin ribbons and then cut up the ribbons into small bits. Add the kale to the sausage and onion mixture and stir until the kale is wilted. Remove from heat.
  • Spread a very thin layer (about 1/2 cup) of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan or a comparable size casserole dish (I use a 2 qt. Pampered Chef stoneware casserole dish and can fit 11-12 stacks, depending on the size of my eggplants).
  • Choose 11-12 of the largest eggplant slices and lay them in a single layer in on top of the sauce. (You want to start with the largest slices and with each layer, use the next largest so that you end up with the smallest slices on top of your stacks.)
  • Divide the sausage mixture into four parts and use one quarter of the mixture for each layer. Place a spoonful of the sausage mixture in the center of each eggplant slice. Tear 5-6 basil leaves into pieces and sprinkle on top of the eggplant and sausage mixture. Pour 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sauce over each stack. The stacks will not be completely covered with sauce.
  • Repeat this layering two more times: Top each stack with another slice of eggplant (using the largest slices of eggplant first) then top with the sausage mixture, torn basil leaves and 1/2 c. of sauce. Reserve 5-6 basil leaves to add as a garnish, just before serving.
  • After the fourth and final layer of eggplant, spoon the remaining sauce over the stacks. Then top with the last portion of the sausage mixture, spooning some on top of each stack.
  • Top with crumbled goat cheese, if desired.
  • Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Alternatively the dish can be refrigerated at this point and put back in the over before you're ready to serve.
  • Stack the remaining basil leaves and slice them into a thin julienne. When your Eggplant Lasagna Stacks are done, sprinkle them with fresh basil just before serving.
  • Enjoy!!

Notes

For a vegan/vegetarian option, simply omit the sausage and instead, to the caramelized onion add 12-15 leaves finely chopped kale, 3 cloves minced garlic and salt and pepper. Layer as instructed above.

Garlicky Roasted Sweet Potatoes

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One of our favorite places is our local CSA, Seton Harvest, otherwise known as “the farm”. Of course we get amazing, locally grown, chemical free produce, usually harvested the day we pick it up. But its more than that. Going to the farm to pick up our weekly share, we get to escape our normal routine and stresses and breathe in the fresh country air; visit with friends; pet the dogs; feed the chickens; pick strawberries, fresh herbs, arugula, sungold tomatoes or whatever is in season and available for u-pick; hunt for caterpillars; chase butterflies; climb piles of mulch and make mazes out of bales of hale (yes that was us, sorry Joe and Julie!)

My big kids have practically grown up at the farm and it makes me so happy to see my youngest experiencing her first year running around the farm and loving it just as much as the rest of us do. Perhaps most of all, I LOVE that my kids know who grows their food and where it comes from (not just the supermarket!) and that they love things like eggplant and eagerly ask Farmer Joe when it will be in season and that they love to pick greens like arugula and sorrell and eat them on the drive home.

Garlicky Roasted Sweet Potatoes

One of our favorite places is our local CSA, Seton Harvest, otherwise known as “the farm”. Of course we get amazing, locally grown, chemical free produce, usually harvested the day we pick it up. But its more than that. Going to the farm to pick up our weekly share, we get to escape our normal routine and stresses and breathe in the fresh country air; visit with friends; pet the dogs; feed the chickens; pick strawberries, fresh herbs, arugula, sungold tomatoes or whatever is in season and available for u-pick; hunt for caterpillars; chase butterflies; climb piles of mulch and make mazes out of bales of hale (yes that was us, sorry Joe and Julie!)

My big kids have practically grown up at the farm and it makes me so happy to see my youngest experiencing her first year running around the farm and loving it just as much as the rest of us do. Perhaps most of all, I LOVE that my kids know who grows their food and where it comes from (not just the supermarket!) and that they love things like eggplant and eagerly ask Farmer Joe when it will be in season and that they love to pick greens like arugula and sorell and eat them on the drive home.

One of our favorite events at the farm is the annual sweet potato harvest, when we enjoy a beautiful fall evening of fellowship and digging sweet potatoes. Sadly, kid schedules haven’t allowed us to participate the last couple of years, so these pictures are a few years old, but we have been enjoying the labors of our fellow shareholders this week. When was the last time you dug up a sweet potato and then took it home and roasted it with fresh garlic (also fresh from the farm)? If you haven’t been so lucky, put it on your bucket list and find a time and place to experience this!

Even if you can’t harvest your own sweet potatoes, you can still make these sweet potatoes! This recipe is very loosely based on a recipe I found in Victoria magazine many years ago. I can’t tell you what issue or who the original author was but I do know it was a Thanksgiving recipe and it had crispy sage leaves on top. We’ve kept it simple, just sweet potatoes and fresh garlic, maybe a pinch of sea salt at the end if you think you need it. That’s it. And they are so good.

Garlicky Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Whether you need a new sweet potato recipe for your Thanksgiving dinner or just a nutrient dense side dish for the next time you grill  — these will hit the spot. In a pinch, you can make them without the marinating time, but that is truly the secret to this recipe. Skip it and you will have perfectly fine roasted sweet potatoes. Plan ahead a bit and you will be rewarded with amazingly delicious, crispy potatoes infused with garlicky goodness.

One quick equipment note:  I highly recommend a good mandoline for this recipe and any others involving sliced vegetables. It makes quick work of the sweet potatoes here, and ensures that they are all the same thickness so they cook evenly and at the same speed. I have this OXO Mandoline and love it!

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Garlicky Roasted Sweet Potatoes

These sweet potatoes are marinated in garlic and extra virgin olive oil and roasted to crispy golden perfection. So simple and yet so delicious!
Prep Time2 hours 15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time2 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices. Use a mandoline to make this much easier and ensure your slices will be the same size and cook evenly.
  • Mince the garlic.
  • Put the sliced potatoes and garlic in a gallon size zip lock freezer bag. Add the olive oil. Zip the bag and then turn and massage the bag until the garlic and olive oil is distributed well. You want every slice of potato to be well coated, with some oil accumulating in the bottom of the bag. Lay the bag on one side and let it sit on the counter for at least 2 hours or in the refrigerator up to 24 hours. Turn the bag over a few times. This allows the olive oil to become infused with garlic flavor and gives the potatoes plenty of time to marinate in the garlic infused olive oil. The longer they marinate, the more flavor you will have.  
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
  • Remove the potato slices from the bag and lay evenly in a single layer on 2 or 3 baking sheets. The slices can overlap a bit, but you don't want to pile them up or the potatoes will steam, rather than roast, and will be mushy not crispy. 
  • Roast for about 30 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom of your oven part way through. At 20 minutes, start checking the potatoes. There is a very fine line between crispy potatoes and burnt potatoes. We like ours just this side of burnt. So it may seem a bit fussy, but I check them, remove any slices that are dark enough, and then put the pans back into the oven, checking every 2-3 minutes and repeating this procedure until they are all done perfectly. If you prefer not to fuss over your potatoes this much, just take them out when the first few are browned but not yet burned and the others are just beginning to turn golden brown around the edges or on the underside when you flip one over. They will be delicious either way!