the sweet potato test

I came across a recipe for dehydrated sweet potato chips on Vegetarian Times. I didn't know sweet potatoes could be eaten raw.  In all of my dehydrator escapades I had yet to try a sweet potato chip.

Instead of just trying the recipe out verbatim, I thought I'd give the potato a challenge. I made half of the recipe as instructed, and then the other half went in the oven instead of the dehydrator.

The oven batch came out crispy and delicious. It took about 10-12 minutes of baking before I flipped them over and finished them off with another 5 to even out the chip sides.

The flavor was a wonderful balance of sweet and salt, and I loved the hit of Rosemary. My daughter devoured the batch in a few minutes and was asking for more! (a make-again for sure)

The dehydrator recipe took about 4 hours at 118 degrees. Quite a wait!- but worth it to see how different they would come out.

They were terrible. Tough, not crispy, and although more pleasant to look at, I decided they make a great dog treat. No kidding! Bubbles, my 2 year old Bichon Frisee loved them. In fact, I may add them to my offerings at my etsy site.

So there you have it. The cooked and not raw variety won out over the raw variety. I do eat roasted veggies for dinner often, so making these chips will be a fun addition to my repertoire of root vegetable recipes.

Sweet Potato Chips

1 sweet potato
sea salt
1 T olive oil
1 tsp rosemary crumbled

Slice the sweet potato very thinly and on an angle to make nice large ovals. Place in a bowl and toss with the olive oil, salt to taste, and rosemary.
Arrange on cookie sheet lined with parchment.
Bake at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes or until they start to brown and then flip over for another 5 minutes or so.

Fresh Fruit Crumble

I am still pouring through the recipes in Cafe Gratitude's cookbook, determined to get the Irish moss thing going, but alas, I have put it off again. At least for another 24 hours while the moss soaks in my fridge. Then I will have to conquer it.

I don't know why I am so daunted by the task of soaking something and then blending it up with water. I tend to do that on a a daily basis with nuts and seeds. Irish moss just seems so... strange.

Mysterious Irish moss. It's a seaweed really. It makes raw desserts thicken up the way a gelatin would, which is really helpful in recipes that require food to take on a shape or stay firm when cut like a mousse pie.

So instead today I decided to make the fruit cobbler.
It's called I am Lovely in the cookbook.
I see why now it is named such.

It's simple to put together, requires no soaking for hours nor waiting for hours to dehydrate. I love that! One can also use fresh fruit on hand. The recipe calls for apples and strawberries, but I bet stone fruits like nectarines and apricots would be delicious as well.

I made a quarter of the recipe and found that I like these proportions even better since I can't possibly eat the entire thing in a week and it wouldn't keep anyway. The smaller portion I can eat with my daughter helping in a couple of days and not feel the guilt of not finishing something I spent time on creating. Sometimes the desserts are so good I feel terrible to throw out leftovers after they have been sitting in the fridge a while... the food is so pure, delicious and special I don't ever want to waste it. Perhaps smaller portions and cutting recipes down can help a bit.

Fruit Cobbler (serves 4)

Crust:

in a food processor, use the "s" blade and process together:
1 cup pecans (not soaked)
pinch of salt
2 medjool dates
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

Spoon and press half of the mixture into any bowl dish with edges on it that can give you a base about 5 inches wide. Individual cups like ramekins would work well for this also.

Save the rest of the mixture for the topping.

 Filling:

1 apple diced
5-6 strawberries cut into bite sized pieces
squeeze of lemon
tiny pinch of salt

 

Mix together in a bowl and scoop onto the crust.

Spoon the remaining topping on the fruit and it is done.

 

Enjoy

what to do with ripe bananas

I freeze them.

Grab a freezer safe container and tear chunks of ripe banana into it, close the lid, place in the freezer and wait about 8 hours.

Then when it's time,  take the bananas out, add about 2T fresh water to a blender or food processor and blend them up.

It's the fastest and easiest homemade ice- creamy dessert I know. It's delicious.

Garnish how ever you feel like- I like to add some dehydrated banana chips and cacao nibs for crunch and a chocolate bite.

1 or 2 bananas per person is a good amount to start with.