Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Pecans

Today my hubby suggested we BBQ for dinner...with fall turning towards winter we haven't been grilling as much as we normally do (and especially with the wet October that we've had).  So when he made the suggestion, I though- YES! Great!  Funny thing, about an hour after we decided to BBQ for dinner, my cousin (who is one of our neighbours) called wondering if we had a spare propane tank handy as she was cooking a turkey on their BBQ and was worried about running out) - guess it was a grilling kind of day!

We needed some veggies to go with our chicken, and we usually do a Grilled Vegetable Basket, but since tomorrow is grocery day, our veggies are a little thin right now!  BUT, I had a beautiful sweet potato that was calling out to me.  And then I remembered a grilled sweet potatoe recipe card that I had picked up at Safeway a while back.  Took a look at the recipe, had most of the ingredients (well, a few of them...and then improvised on the rest!).  Here is what I did:

1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes
1/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat your BBQ to medium. 

Make your glaze by mixing the lime juice, orange juice, corn syrup and cumin.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.

Peel your sweet potatoes.  Cut into 1/2 inch slices.

Lightly brush the sweet potato slices with olive oil.  Place the sweet potatoes directly on the grill.  Cook over medium heat, turning every 5 minutes.  They will take about 15 minutes to become just tender.

While the sweet potatoes are grilling, put the pecans into a single layer on foil on the grill.  Toast 2-3 minutes, stirring often.

When the sweet potatoes are cooked, remove them from the grill.  Put into a bowl, toss the sweet potatoes with the glaze, and add the pecans.  Serve, and enjoy!

VERDICT
These were really good!  And pretty easy to make. I wasn't sure about the glaze, but I really really liked it.  Nice and fresh tasting.  A hit all around (well, except for the baby, but he's not feeling well today, and he just wanted oatmeal, cottage cheese, milk and a banana for dinner).  I will totally make these again!

Rhubarb-Buttermilk Tea Cake

My monthly Chatelaine magazine never lets me down.  There is always new inspiration in there...fueling my addiction!  A few months back, there was a recipe for Rhubarb-Buttermilk Tea Cake that really caught my eye.  You know that we love our banana breads, but this looked like a nice change of pace for us.  Here is the recipe (Source: Chatelaine, May 2012):

CAKE:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup chopped pecans

GLAZE:
1 cup sifted icing sugar
4-5 teaspoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.   Stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.  Add in the rhubarb and pecans, stir only to moisten.  Pour batter into sprayed (bottom only) loaf pan.

Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 70 minutes, or until insterted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack, in the pan, for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice.  Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice at a time until the glaze is thick and smooth.  Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake, the glaze will (and should) run down the sides!

VERDICT:
This cake went over really well with the family!  Our son loved it, and my hubby had no complaints :-)  I especially liked the glaze on top, it was a little addicting!!

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Morning Glory Muffins

I'm on a muffin kick again...are you surprised?!   It was hard NOT to make these ones, found over at Ezra Pound Cake.  Hey, I'm heading back to work after my extended maternity leave and I already know that mornings are going to be a challenge.  I am NOT a morning person...yet I am surrounded by morning people!  My hubby leaves for work really stinking early, so I'm on my own with the kids to get ready for the day.  I need all the help that I can get...and be prepared to see some breakfast type recipes here over the next while :-)  Here is today's recipe:

Morning Glory Muffins

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut (shredded)
3/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or in my case, a mixture of the two
1 large apple, peeled and grated
1 cup pineapple, crushed and drained
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
3 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Add in the coconut, raisins/cranberries and nuts.  Mix. 

Add in the apple, pinapple and carrots.  Mix.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, oil and vanilla.  Whisk well.  Add to the dry ingrediants, stir to combine. 

Line muffin tins with cups, fill cups full with batter.
Bake for 28-30 minutes (original recipe said 35 minutes, but mine were done by 30 minutes).

Remove from oven, cool on cooling rack, and store in airtight container.

VERDICT:
These smelled amazing when they came out of the oven.  Our oldest son ate one as soon as it was cool enough to do so, and he LOVED it.  He's usually not a muffin kid, but these passed with flying colours!

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

I have been craving cookies lately, I love cookies.  I'm a cookie monster of sorts.  Really, I am!  I come by in naturally, my Dad is a big cookie fan too :-)

I figured I would try to make some cookies that might please both my cookie palate as well as my husband's.  My favourite kind of cookie is my Mom's chocolate chip cookie, my husband prefers oatmeal raisin.  So this recipe combines my likes with my hubby's, along with a few extras.  These certainly are loaded cookies!  I found the recipe in a Taste of Home Cookies & Bars cookbook, and added raisins to the mix.  Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup quick oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut, flaked
1/2 cup pecans, crushed
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and two sugars.  Add in eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Add in quick oats, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans and raisins.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 11-12 minutes or until done.  Remove from oven and cool for about 2 minutes before moving to a wire to finish cooling.

VERDICT:
These were super tasty, and a hit with everyone, even though my husband did comment that the cookies could use a little less chocolate chips and a little more raisins.  Ha!  (Didn't slow him down eating them though!). These were super good, and next time I would probably try adding some sunflower seeds to the batter, just for fun!



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