Sweet Love and Ginger

Crispy Honey Mustard Sweet Potato Fries

Crispy Honey Mustard Sweet Potato Fries

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Honey Mustard Sweet Potato Fries

I might be the smartest person to ever enter a kitchen.

Ok that might just be my opinion, but you should strongly consider the possibility that it’s true.

I came up with the craziest concept the other day and I had to try it. Then tweek it, and try it again, and again, and well hell 4th time is the charm. I may or may not have eaten all the experiments in between, you guys, because omg they were all delicious. Too bad I wasn’t just going for delicious though.

Honey Mustard Sweet Potato Fries

Not that delicious is bad (it’s totally great), you see, I wanted sweet potato fries and honey mustard, because they just go together you know? I mean that combination is already delicious so I wanted to do something different than just make a dipping sauce, because lets be real here that’s been done for year now. Not that there’s anything super wrong with dipping, dipping sauce is awesome, but not what I was looking for either.

I wanted an all in one fry, kind of like barbecue chips, they need nothing, all the flavor is there already.

Honey Mustard Sweet Potato Fries

So I toiled and toiled in a hot steamy kitchen; ok maybe I just baked a few batches of fries while I waited for Chuck to get back from golfing and it was actually a lot of fun. Let’s just go ahead and establish my dork status now, I like to experiment and you know use the scientific method, that thing we all learned in middle school. Yeah I’m that girl. Anyway coming up with the right spice to liquid ratio was the key here. We want crispy fries, with all the flavor and then there was the honey. I’m pretty positive there’s no way to cook the fries with the honey on them and have them come out both crispy and not burned honey tasting.

In the end the honey drizzle was just the thing. I’m pretty sure I ate my weight in sweet potato that day. It’s cool, I don’t have a wedding dress to squeeze myself into in a few months or anything. Psh. Whatever.

You are going to love this really, it’s the best, and the new way to cook sweet potato fries. I’m telling you this is going to be a thing.

Crispy Honey Mustard Sweet Potato Fries
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon ground mustard
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon paprika
  • 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into strips
  • 1-2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon of course sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon green onion, chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a small bowl whisk together the oil, vinegar, lemon, mustard, turmeric, salt, pepper, and paprika.
  3. In a large bowl toss the sweet potato with the spice mixture until well coated.
  4. Spread the potato out on a large prepared baking sheet, so that none of them are touching and place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
  5. Turn the fries once and place back in the oven for 15 minutes then remove from heat and let cool slightly.
  6. Drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with salt and green onion. Serve immediately.

Honey Mustard Sweet Potato Fries

Lessons I’ve Learned from House Hunting

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lessons from house hunting

After a few months of house hunting I have learned quite a bit about this process, and more about foundations, electrical panels and septic tanks than I care to know. Every place is different when it comes to home buying, we even noticed major differences in the span of a few miles, but here are the basics of what I learned, most of which I believe are pretty universal.

  1. Its way more emotional than you think. Seriously it is like a roller coaster, you get so attached and then you lose the house one way or another and it feels like you are starting from scratch.
  2. What you want in the beginning will may not be what you want half way through or at the end of the process. While we stayed with the same basic idea, our priorities changed a lot. We realized how much a big back yard outweighed a second bathroom, and that we actually did really want a fireplace.
  3. You have no idea what the seller is thinking. Don’t even try to guess. We had the higher offer on one house and the seller still chose the lower offer. We have no idea why.
  4. The other houses in the neighborhood can affect the value of your house. If your house is the nicest house on the street its value could be dragged down by the houses around it.
  5. The orientation of the house can affect the amount of light that the house gets. This one is kind of intuitive, but it’s something that we kept forgetting to consider while we were visiting many homes. Knowing that the living room never gets sunlight but the bedroom is in direct morning light can really affect how you feel about the house.
  6. Foundations are always a problem spot. We saw 1 maybe 2 houses that did not have some issue with the foundation.
  7. Closing costs are probably more than you think. First off there are the loan fees, taxes, lawyer fees, the inspection fees, if you have a septic, that’s another inspection and fee. It all adds pretty quickly.
  8. No amount of research will prepare you for walking into that nasty old living room. The pictures might be great, it might be in the best location, and the price is amazing, but then you walk in the door and realize the ceiling is only 6 feet high, the walls are actually painted particle board, and that cool brick fireplace is actually brick wall paper.
  9. You may never get that Everyone talks about getting a “feeling” when they walk into the house they want. Sometimes you go with the house that makes sense, and the feeling comes after. Some people need to see their stuff in the house to get all the feels.
  10. You can fire your realtor. We didn’t have this problem, our realtor was awesome, but I have known people who were unsatisfied and stopped working with them, even if you signed up with them there is a way out, though you may need lawyer to help you figure it out.

Recently No. 10

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Well ladies and gentlemen, as some of you may or may not have noticed there have been some big changes around here lately; specifically this week when I finally made the switch over to wordpress. That’s right; this tiny space is growing up! It has its own dowmain, hosting, and bills for the first time ever. We are in adult territory over here.

The site should show up on your feeds just fine, but feel free to update it or email me if you are having any issues at all.

A few other changes will be happening in the next few weeks while I work out the tweeks, and learn how to use this monster that is wordpress. I think this is a great step toward a more professional and polished blog. Now if there’s anyone out there who wants to give me a redesign I’d be ever so grateful.

Now, on to all of the other stuff that happened around here in the month of April, which admittedly wasn’t a whole lot, but sometimes you need a slow month.

Easter came early this year, but the weather was perfect for a morning Easter egg hunt with my family.

If I felt like a little kid again hunting Easter eggs then I grew up a bit and told you all the things I learned since college. Ok maybe not all the things, but there’s some good ones inthere.

I started planning and prepping for my garden this year, including giving my indoor plants some love.

More house hunting.

Making Soap

My sister and I made a little craft for mothers day.

Wedding preparations are underway; I put this whole thing off long enough, time to start actually working. Literally, I’m making the alterations to my dress myself.

Last weekend we made a little trip to Lake Winnipesaukee for a wedding. It’s a beautiful place and we are totally going back some day.

I know this month seems slow, but it really was a whirlwind for me, there’s a bunch of stuff going on over here that I can’t tell you all about quite yet, but next month is going to be full of announcements and big big big changes. I promise. Just hold tight I’ll let you in on all my secrets just as soon as I can.

Filed Under: Recently

Chicken Basil Meatballs with Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

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Chicken Basil Meatballs & Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce Recipe. This decadent sauce is the perfect companion to the flavorful and tender meatballs.

Chicken basil Meatballs w Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce

Oh man you guys this sauce. It’s pretty much the best thing ever, err at least this month.

I originally saw the recipe over at Closet Cooking, but it made a reappearance on damn delicious both here and here and on Julia’s Album.

I have made it quite a few times, and poured it over many different things, chicken, fish, shrimp pasta, rice. Basically you name it. I swear this is one of those sauces that I could eat for life and not get bored, though it may add some inches to my waistline. It’s seriously that good.

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This time around I wanted to try it with meatballs, because meatballs are like my favorite thing right now. Combining two of my favorites in one dish is usually a good idea. In this particular case it was an amazing idea!

These tender and flavorful meatballs were only amplified by the delicious, creamy sauce and sweet little bits of sundried tomato. Of course I served this tossed together with pasta, because again we are talking favorites here.

IMG_7368

 

 

Chicken Basil Meatballs with Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 Servings
Ingredients
  • 16 oz. short pasta
  • 1 lb lean ground chicken
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon Pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon Oregano
  • 1 tablespoon basil chopped fine
  • ¼ cup unseasoned bread crumbs
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 cup of chicken broth
  • ½ cup whipping cream
  • 1/3 cup oil packed sundried tomatoes, chopped
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Cook pasta according to package instructions and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl combine the chicken with salt, pepper, oregano, basil, bread crumbs, and egg white. Use your hands to mix well and then form balls about 2 inches in diameter.
  3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add meatballs and cook for about 6 to 8 minutes, while turning frequently. They should be browned on all sides and cooked through. Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside.
  4. Add the butter to the pan and let it melt. Add the garlic and cook until it becomes fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes.
  5. Add the broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the sundried tomatoes, cream and parmesan. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Return the meatballs to the pan tossing well to coat. Remove from heat and stir in the pasta. Serve immediately.
Clean Salisbury Steak Meatballs

Clean Salisbury Steak Meatballs

Teriyaki Chicken Meatball Skillet

Teriyaki Chicken Meatball Skillet

Shrimp with Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Shrimp with Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Garden Prep 2015

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It’s probably about time that I updated you on that indoorwinter garden that I started a while ago. Well it kind of fell flat. My herbs
did fine, as did my Swiss chard. The beans grew and produced fine until they
were attacked by ants and house flies. I think the fake warm up that we had
back in March prompted them out too early and they tried to survive inside. Oh
well maybe next year.

As for the real big kid garden things are finally starting to roll around here. The
snow has melted and the threat of frost is starting to dwindle, which means it’s
time to put this garden into gear.
I decided that many of my indoor plants needed updates. Many
had been in the same pots for years, and desperately needed nutrients in their
soil, others needed more space. I recently bought quite a few new pots and
containers for my garden this year since we are house hunting I’m planning a
mostly mobile garden. You can check out my original plan here, though it’s
already undergone a few changes.
I spent an afternoon this past weekend giving my plants refreshed
homes and preparing some pots for the eventual transplant of seedlings. I’m
decided to make my own potting soil with this recipe sans fertilizer. I also used foam (packing peanut material) for the bottoms of
some containers to allow for drainage and to keep the pots light.
In the raised garden beds I pulled out the top layer of dirt
and laid down some compost. Then replaced the dirt and added a little more
garden soil. Peas are about the only thing that I can really start now so I put
those in along the trellis we built under the deck last year.
I think for the first time in quite a number of years I’m
actually ready for this growing season to start. Another couple weeks and I can
start hardening off and transplanting.

Have you started working in your garden yet, or have plans
to? I’d love to hear about how you prepare your garden beds for the upcoming
season!

Filed Under: Garden