Recipes #5 - #7

Yesterday was an ambitious Tuesday. We get a produce bin delivered every other week, and it is my goal to use up all the produce in the bin. This usually doesn't work--a bunch of parsley is A BUNCH of parsley, but I continue to try.

For Recipe #5, I had everything except for the pumpkin seeds. (As an aside, I stopped at a grocery I don't usually frequent on the way home from work. I couldn't find the pumpkin seeds. Turns out, they're with the beer. Huh.)

This is Sweet Potato Salad with Apple and Avocado from Vegetarian Times. We ate it over salad greens.


A word about sweet potatoes--actually, the same word I use for butternut squash: HARD. After two knives, much pain, and a pretty childish flipping off of the sweet potatoes, Andrew took over with knife #3 and whacked them into chunks for me. I later found that I had actually cut the heel of my hand on the back of the knife from pressing so hard. I didn't even know that was possible. It still hurts this morning. I am a delicate flower. I am also in need of a) knife skills and b) better knives. Or a personal chef. That would work just as well.

Besides cutting the sweet potatoes, everything else went well. This recipe is sweet potato, apple, onion (which I omitted), cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, corn, pumpkin seeds, and black pepper. If I could find the sweet potato already cut and in the freezer section, I would seriously consider making this again. As it is, I enjoyed it last night and will enjoy leftovers.

Recipe #6 was Mexican-Flavored Edamame, and it was really, really good. Boil edamame, drain, mix with red cayenne pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Eat. Weight Watchers also has Japanese and Indian versions, so I can eat edamame all the time. Since it's a good source of protein, I probably will.


I stuck some multigrain bread under the broiler to round out the dinner. Here's how pretty everything looked on the plate. The cilantro is on the side since the friend who came for dinner (and to help prepare) doesn't like it.

For dessert, I made Recipe #7, also a Weight Watchers one: Twice Baked Apples with Cinnamon-Yogurt Vanilla Sauce. As far as I can tell, there's no "twice baked" about it, but it does make it sound fancier. It's done in the microwave and uses applesauce to keep the apples very moist. Andrew thought they could be sweeter, but I liked it as is. I'm thinking he can sprinkle more Splenda brown sugar on his next time.

This is a pretty easy way to use apples, and spooning some yogurt over the top and sprinkling it with cinnamon takes no time but makes it feel very elegant. I'm a fan.

I'm going to call all of those successes. Seven down, eighteen to go.*

*I called my mom last night, and she said, "I thought you were making one new recipe a week!" Um, no. Twenty-five in 2010 is a good goal for me, thankyouverymuch.