Coconut Cilantro Sweet Potatoes

A friend described this to me the other day and I went right home to try it because as far as I'm concerned, you can never go wrong with coconut milk and cilantro. This is absolutely fabulous and makes my mouth water just thinking about it. My kids still prefer sweet potato fries, but they didn't object too strenuously.

4 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 can coconut milk

5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

1. Place sweet potatoes and coconut milk in a crock pot. Cook on low until very soft, perhaps 6-8 hours.
2. Stir until smooth.
3. Add garlic, cilantro, red pepper, salt and pepper
4. Serve immediately.

This makes a lot, so I froze half of it for a later dinner.

Roast Potatoes with Garlic

We all loves these -- they're great with hamburgers or any kind of grilled or roasted meat. I found this recipe originally in Cook's Illustrated, but I've modified it a bit.

2 lbs little red potatoes, scrubbed, dried and cut into 3/4" pieces

3 Tbs. olive oil

salt and pepper

3 large cloves garlic, crushed and mashed with 1/8 tsp. salt (set aside in bottom of large bowl)

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss potatoes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
2. Place potatoes flesh side down in a single layer on a shallow roasting pan. Cover tightly with tin foil and cook about 20 minutes.
3. Remove foil and roast until the side of potato touching the pan is crusty golden brown, about 15 minutes more.
4. Remove pan from oven and carefully turn potatoes over using a metal spatula to safeguard the crusts. Return pan to oven and roast until the side of the potato now touching the pan is golden brown and the skin is kind of wrinkly, 5-10 minute more.
5. Remove from oven and place potatoes in bowl with garlic paste. Toss to distribute garlic and serve immediately.
6. This is really good without the garlic as well, so if you want something a little more traditional, skip it.

Grilled Vegetables

I'm not sure what it is about grilling, but my kids will eat almost any vegetable if it's been touched by a flame. Things they normally think are "gross", are suddenly eaten without a murmur. Go figure! 

When I make these I usually do a bunch so we can have left-overs the next day. I use a gas grill, but I'm sure you could do the same on charcoal. If you use charcoal, keep a close eye on the vegetables as you may need to move them around if things start cooking too fast.

2 red peppers, washed and each one cut into eighths

2 zucchini, washed and cut into long strips (make sure they're thick enough not to fall through the grill)

2 onions, quartered and then pulled into 2-3 layers

2-3 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Other vegetable options: asparagus (FABULOUS!), any kind of pepper (yellow, orange, green, etc.), eggplant, mushrooms (use big ones -- I like them whole), broccoli (it gets a little dry, but still good)

1. Preheat grill on high.
2. Put all prepared vegetables into a large bowl. Pour on olive oil and salt and toss gently with your hands. Try to get some olive oil onto each vegetable.
3. Adjust grill heat to medium. Place vegetables on grill in single layer. I place the zucchini perpendicular to the grill lines so that they don't fall through. I segregate the peppers since they take the longest to cook; that way it's easy to get to the zucchini and onions. Close lid.
4. Cook onions and zucchini for 2-3 minutes and then turn. You should see grill marks on the sides. Of not, you may want to turn up the heat. Continue cooking the peppers.
5. Cook onions and zucchini an additional 2-3 minutes. At this point, if they are limp when you move them around, they're done. Check the peppers for grill marks and turn over. 
6. Continue grilling peppers an additional 3-5 minutes until they're limp.
7. When the peppers are droopy, remove from grill.
8. Tent with tinfoil on a platter until ready to serve.

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar

I love asparagus. My kids are very lukewarm on this particular vegetable, but here's a way that at least my son will eat it -- my daughter still turns up her nose. Neither of them like balsamic vinegar so I set aside a few pieces before I put it on. I know we're almost to the end of asparagus season, so before it's gone (and all you can get is imported from South America), give this a try, it's really good.

1 large bunch of asparagus, bottoms trimmed or broken off

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

ground pepper, to taste

2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

Freshly grated Parmesan

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Toss asparagus with olive oil in shallow baking dish. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Roast asparagus, turning once until slightly browned, about 10 minutes.
4. Set aside a few spears for your kids. :-)
5. Sprinkle the rest with balsamic vinegar, toss to coat.
6. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with Parmesan.

Sweet Potato Fries

I probably make these once a week. My kids like them and I LOVE them. They don't really taste like regular fries, but they're yummy and it's much easier to get my kids to eat them in this form than it is when they're mashed at Thanksgiving!

2-3 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into thick french fry shapes (don't cut them too thinly or they won't fit on the pan and they're more likely to burn; mine are usually about 1/2" thick)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp. cumin (optional)

3 cloves garlic, crushed (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine olive oil, cumin and garlic in measuring cup, stir to combine.
3. Place fries in a large bowl or plastic bag. Pour oil blend over potatoes. Mix gently to coat potatoes.
4. Place on large cookie sheet in single layer. (The single layer part is important. If you stack them, they'll end up kind of mushy.)
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until lightly browned.
6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.