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!

Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #37

Hello and good morning freinds!  I hope that this Sunday morning is treating you well.  Don't forget to take a moment to remember at 11:11. 

Lest we forget

Congratulations to Carrie from Frugal Foodie Mama who was the Premuim Ad Space giveaway winner last week!  You'll see her ad over on the right....go check her out!

Speaking of ads, I do have an AD SALE running! If you buy an ad in November or December, I will give you 50% off your first ad in 2013! Great opportunity for you to showcase your blog, etsy shop or Christmas Gift Guide leading up to Christmas!

If you didn't catch last week's features, you can find them here!

If you are in the voting mood and haven't already done so, I would love a vote from you! Addicted to Recipes has made the final four in the BEST NEW BLOG category in the 2012 Canadian Blog Awards!  Pop over to this link here...scroll down to the BEST NEW BLOG category, and vote for Addicted to Recipes.  I THANK YOU!

Now...onto the PARTY! Come on over and share your recipes...Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #37 is now open!

Don't forget, all featured recipes will be shared on my blog, and on my Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages!


Scrumptious Sunday #36 - Features

Another week is done...and I am so happy to be on a 5 day break from work!  Don't get me wrong. I totally love my job, where I work and what I do...heck I've been there for over 16 years, so I must like it!  But it is nice to have a little break.  It was a school day today so the oldest was off to school, and since we were paying for daycare already, the baby went to daycare...and I went shopping!  Seriously, today is the first day in FOREVER that I spent several hours on my own.  Yes...on.my.own!  I got some Christmas shopping done, and picked up a few new things for me :-)  I felt totally spoiled, and a little bit guilty.  And to top it off, we even had a double date tonight with some really good friends.  There's nothing like a delicious dinner with lovely friends to end off the day!

It's time to get to this week's features.  You shared over 80 fantastic recipes last week - thank you so much!  Lots of great fall-themed, comfort food.  So awesome!  It's always hard to pick 5...but here we go with this week's features!

If you are featured, please grab a BUTTON! Congratulations, you've earned it!

<a href="http://iamaddictedtorecipes.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w519/AddictedtoRecipes/addictedbutton.jpg" width="200" height="177" border="0" alt="I was featured, I was Featured by Addicted to Recipes"></a>

 

 

I am such a bread junkie, and sourdough is one that I love!  Sourdough Bread from Half Baked Harvest

 

 

I also love appies!  Curry Crab Stuffed Mushrooms from This Gal Cooks

 

 

This one sounds intriguing!  I've never had a hamburger soup before.  And sounds like something my hubby would love.  Warm You Up Spicy Cheeseburger Soup from The Daily Dish

 

 

Fish and chips...never made the before from scratch, but now I have a recipe!  I love fish & chips!  Battered Fish & Chips from Tartan Tastes in Texas.

 

 

This is fantastic...using up those leftovers!  Leftover Halloween Candy Blondies from Lady Behind the Curtain

 

 

All of these recipes will be pinned to my Pinterest account, posted on Twitter, and shared on Facebook!

Just a reminder, this week's Scrumptious Sunday Link Party goes live Saturday - at 8 pm PST. Can't wait to see what you bring to the party!

Remarkable Ratatouille - Slow Cooker Thursday

For this week's Slow Cooker Thursday, I decided trying someting TOTALLY new for us.  Ratatouille.  I had no idea what to expect...I haven't even seen the movie (we own it...but I tend to sneak away and do laundry or other chores when our son watches movies).  I've never even had eggplant before.  None of us have in our little family.  But, I saw the recipe in my Canada's Best Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook, tagged it (I should have shares at 3M/Post-It), and figured we should try it (since we did grow eggplant in our garden this year, and there was one beautiful one waiting for us to use).

PS - don't forget about the Slow Cooker Link Party running now! Link up at the end of this post :-)

Here is the recipe (Source: Canada's Best Slow Cooker Recipes)

3 small eggplants, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 onion, thinkly sliced and separated into rings
250 g of mushrooms, sliced
1 can (796 mL) Italian-style tomatoes with herbs and spices, chopped, with juice
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup Panko
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

Wash and slice the eggplants.  In a large colander, toss the eggplant cubes with salt.  Allow the salted eggplant cubes to sit for approxinately one hour, or until the cubes release their juices.  Once the juices have been released, rinse well under cold water.  Drain, squeeze out excess moisture and pat dry with paper towels.

In a large nonstick skillet, over medium, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and all of the butter.  Add the onion and mushrooms, saute until softened (approximately 10 minutes).  Remove with slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet.  In batches, saute the eggplant cubes until lightly browned (approximately 10 minutes).

In the slow cooker, layer half of the eggplant cubes, top with the entire onion mixture, then with half of the tomatoes (and juice).  Sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese, then add the remaining eggplant and tomatoes (and juice).

In a separate bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning and the mozzarella cheese.  Mix and spoon over the eggplant in the slow cooker.

Cover and cook on Low for 8-10 hours or on High for 4-6 hours, until the meal is bubbling.

Some tips from Canada's Best Slow Cooker Recipes:
- This can be eaten as a main course or as a side dish with salmon or chicken
- Slow cooking eggplant can cause it to become bitter, which is why it must be salted first
- This dish can be completely assembled up to 12 hours in advance of cooking.  Just prepare everything according to direction, but store in the fridge until morning (or when you put the stoneware into the base)

VERDICT:
Well...I can tell you that 1 out of 4 of us like eggplant.  That would be the baby...he ate a lot.  Not kidding...like two adult helpings worth.  Our oldest was under the weather and not really eating any dinner, so he had no opinion to offer.  Hubs and I....well, we liked the overall flavour of everything else, but we did not enjoy the texture of the eggplant.  Unfortunately, this dish just isn't for us...BUT I am glad that we gave it a try...you never know until you try!

HAVE YOU JOINED THE LINK PARTY YET?  This one is up all month...collecting your tried and true slow cooker recipes!  Thanks so much!

Natrel Baboo - Review & Coupons

You know what they say, every kid is different.  Mine are perfect examples of that in so many ways.  Whether it was walking (at 9 1/2 months for the oldest, 14 months for the youngest) or talking (not a lot of words by 2 for the oldest, lots of words by 1 for the youngest) - things are often so different.  A few exceptions with my kids - they are both almost the exact same height and weight at each age (which is funny because a lot of people comment on what a big boy the youngest is, and yet he's in the 50-75th percentile...and the same size his brother was...who is currently a tall, lanky 5 year old).  They have also always been really good eaters.  Those two eat practically everything, we feel really lucky about that!

One of the big differences between our two kids that always comes to mind is beverage consumption.  Both kids were (are) breastfed  - our first was introduced to homogenized milk at 9 months, but was still mostly breastfed until he was 1.  After his first birthday (and because I was back at work) - the nursing became morning and night, and then night, and then at 14 months, he was done. The rest of the time it was milk and water.  Our oldest was a milk fiend.  Between nursing and the 4 litre jugs of milk, that kid drank a LOT.  Seriously, we would go through milk like crazy when he was a toddler!

Our youngest...he too is breastfed. I am pretty sure he was a cluster feeder right from the start.  One night in the middle of the night (in a moment of clarity? Is that possible in the middle of the night? LOL) I actually started calculating the number of times I had breastfed the baby (by this point he was already one and he was still nursing several times a day).  We tried from time to time to introduce homogenized milk to him prior to his first birthday, but it was never well received.  We also tried getting him to drink more water at a younger age, again without much luck.  The kid just doesn't like to drink stuff (other than breastmilk).  Which has been totally fine with me, I feel lucky that both of my kids were good feeders.  We have also never been big on giving our kids juice (it's a treat for them), so when the opportunity to try the new Natrel Baboo with our little guy came up, we jumped at the chance. Here's how it went...

Surprisingly...WELL!  Our little guy LOVED it!  I hummed and hawed about whether to give it to him cold or just straight from the cupboard.  I decided to chill it first, just to see.  And he liked it.  This is great for all of us...not only do we now have another option for a beverage that he will consume, there is something to be said about the convenience factor of the tetra packs.  We're on the go a LOT (you've heard me talk about hockey for the oldest) and packing around milk that may or may not stay cold is always a challenge.  Now I can grab a Natrel Baboo, throw it into the diaper bag or my purse, and we have a good choice for a bevvie for the toddler when we are out and about. 

And...not to leave any of my readers out - any of YOU who are interested in trying Natrel Baboo can do so too!  Baboo is giving away 50,000 free coupons!  Head on over to their Facebook page to claim your coupon!

Disclosure - I am participating in the Baboo Blog Tour by Mom Central Canada on behalf of Natrel.  I received compensation as a thank you for participating and sharing my honest opinion.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

Anyone who knows me know that I'm not really a fan of meatloaf.  I just don't "get" eating a loaf of meat.  Smothered in ketchup.  LOL.  Please don't be offended...I am sure there are things that I LOVE that you don't.  It's all good! 

I'm not a huge meat eater as it is, BUT I'm married to a transplant from Alberta...and, well, that's beef country.  While I would be happy with salad and lighter fare most of the time, that doesn't please my hubby's palate.  Throw in the fact that our oldest loves meatloaf (it's "their" thing when I am not going to be home for dinner) so when I came across this recipe, I thought I had better give it a try.  Plus...the meatloaves turn out to look like cupcakes...that in itself is a selling feature for me! :-)  Here is the recipe:

Meatloaf Cupcakes

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrot, washed, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon oregano (dried)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup ketchup, divided
1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef
1 cup Panko
2 tablespoons mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs

Mashed Potato Icing & Toppings
Potatoes
Milk
Butter
Cream Cheese
Pepper
Garlic

Bacon (cooked and chopped), or bacon bits
Chives, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet.  Add in the onion, carrot, oregano and garlic.  Saute for 3-4 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the cooled onion mixture, 1/2 cup ketchup, ground beef, Panko, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and eggs.  Use your hands to mix these ingredients well.

Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.

Roll the meat mixture into large, muffin-sized balls and place into the muffin cups.  Shape the meatballs like cupcakes.  Top each cupcake with 2 teaspoons of ketchup. 

Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.  Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before removing from the tins.

While the meatloaf is cooking, prepare your mashed potatoes according to your favourite mashed potatoe recipe (mine always includes milk, butter and cream cheese). 

Once your cupcakes are ready to be "iced", set them out on a serving tray.  Scoop your mashed potatoes into a pastry bag and use the widest star tip that you have.  Pipe the potatoes on top of the cupcakes.  Note...allow your mashed potatoes to cool a bit before you start piping them (trust me!). 

Sprinkle with bacon and chives, and serve!

VERDICT
These were SUPER POPULAR with my boys.  I actually even enjoyed them as well, I think because it wasn't just a loaf of meat.  This way it was more of a meal...meat and potatoes...not just meat and ketchup!  While the piping does take a bit of time, it was still fun and a fun way to eat dinner.  We will do these again!

Did you know that you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter?!

Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #36 and GIVEAWAY!

Hello everyone!  Happy Sunday to you!  I hope that you've been enjoying your weekend...are you ready to party?!


Before we get to the party...I wanted to host an easy little giveaway for all of my blogging friends...here's your chance to WIN 30 days of PREMIUM AD SPACE here at Addicted to Recipes! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

AD SALE!  If you buy an ad in November or December, I will give you 50% off your first ad in 2013!  Great opportunity for you to showcase your blog, etsy shop or Christmas Gift Guide leading up to Christmas!

Now...onto the PARTY!  Come on over and share your recipes...Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #36 is now open!

Don't forget, all featured recipes will be shared on my blog, and on my Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages!