ROASTED CARROTS, SWEET POTATOES, ONIONS, PRUNES AND APRICOTS

I have made this recipe several times and it is a favourite of mine. I have modified it from 'Friday Night Suppers' by Bonnie Stern. I like this cookbook as it has a variety of recipes and they are not complicated to make. 

These roasted vegetables make a wonderful side dish to compliment other dishes you may be serving. If you don't have orange juice, you could use other juices such as apple or pineapple or you could use lemon juice concentrate with some water added to it to make one quarter cup.

Ready to be covered with tin foil and put into the oven.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into smallish cubes
4 medium to large carrots, peeled and sliced into one inch slices
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into small chunks 
1/2 cup prunes, cut into halves
1/2 cup apricots, cut into halves or thirds

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp chopped parsley as a garnish  

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, prunes and apricots.

2. In a smaller bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, combine the oil, honey, orange juice, salt and pepper and cinnamon. Add to the vegetables and combine well.

3. Line a large baking sheet or two medium size baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread the vegetables over the parchment paper, cover with foil and roast in a preheated 400 degree F oven for 25 minutes. Uncover and continue to roast for 20 to 25 minutes or until browned. 

4.  Sprinkle the parsley over the served vegetables.  Makes 8 servings.

Adapted from Friday Night Suppers.

SWEET POTATO, CARROT AND CAULIFLOWER SOUP

I like to add some variety to the soups I make each week. In looking for a soup without grains or beans I decided to make this soup. The carrots and sweet potatoes add sweetness to the taste of the soup and by pureeing it, the taste is smooth. I used six cups of chicken broth and I didn't add the full cup of almond milk but used just over half a cup.  

You could add some barley (1/2 cup uncooked) or chick peas (1 to 1.5 cups cooked) to the soup if you want to bulk it up and thicken it while it cooks. Since I made it late afternoon, it wasn't served as part of supper. But I did have a sample from the ladle and it tastes just right.

Ladling out the soup from the pressure cooker.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large onion, coarsely diced

1 large celery stalk, diced

1 glove garlic, minced

2 tsp oil

2 medium size sweet potatoes, peeled, finely chopped

3 medium to large size carrots, peeled, finely chopped 

3 cups of chopped cauliflower

5 to 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

1/2 tsp dried thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup milk

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oil in a large stock pot on medium high. Once hot, add the onion and celery, stir a few times and reduce the heat on the stove to medium. Sauté for four minutes, stir frequently and add the garlic. Stir frequently for another two minutes so that the garlic does not stick. If the vegetables are sticking, add a bit of water to the pot. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the milk. Cover the pot with a lid. Turn the heat up to high until the soup boils. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 45 to 60 minutes until the vegetables are tender. 

Using an immersion blender, purée at least half of the soup. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can purée the soup in a blender or use a potato masher. Add the milk. Makes 8 servings.

Pressure Cooker Option

If using an electric pressure cooker, follow the same directions for sautéing the vegetables using the sauté option on the pressure cooker. Cook the soup for 15 minutes using medium pressure. Once the pressure is released from the pot, purée the soup and add the milk.

SWEET POTATO BISCUITS

Recently the DH and I went over to our friends Bev and Wes for brunch. A wonderful selection of food including these sweet potato biscuits. Bev kindly provided me with the recipe. It is a biscuit dough with sweet potato. They taste much better than regular biscuits.

In making these biscuits, I know I used more than a cup of sweet potato and the potato was on the larger size of a small potato. Of course I eyeballed the amount of sweet potato and didn't measure it as I didn't want leftovers of sweet potato. After mixing the dough, I thought it was a bit too stiff so I added a bit more almond milk. I use almond milk instead of cow's milk. I also made the biscuits on the small size. I didn't add the nutmeg.

They are great to include in a meal or as a mid afternoon snack with a piece of cheese. The DH has been enjoying them.

Patting the dough down.

Getting ready to go into the oven.

I opened up one biscuit to see how it looks after baking.

Cooling on the baking sheets.

INGREDIENTS:

1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp baking powder
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup cooked, cooled, mashed, sweet potato
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup
pinch of nutmeg, optional

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. 

In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. In a separate medium size bowl, mix together the egg, sweet potato, oil, milk, sugar and nutmeg. Mix well. Stir the flour mixture into the egg sweet potato mixture. Combine. If the dough is too stiff, add more milk or if too loose, add a bit more flour.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. To save cleaning up a messy counter, I used a sheet of parchment paper on the counter, floured it and put the dough on top of that. Pat the dough down using your hands or the back of a wooden mixing spoon, into a circle with about a thickness of three quarters of an inch. Cut into rounds using a two and a quarter inch biscuit cutter. I don't have a biscuit cutter so I used a shot glass with a two inch diameter. Place the rounds onto the baking sheet, one inch apart. Gather up the remaining dough and keep on cutting out the rounds until you have used all of the dough.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden. Makes one to two dozen depending on the size you make the biscuits.