Sweet Potato Cakes with Garlic Dipping Sauce

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Georgina

Sweet Potato Cakes with Garlic Dipping Sauce

Hello loves!

Happy weekend! I would like to announce to the world that I’M DONE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!!

Pretty much a first for me. Usually I’m working away until 12/24! But they are done. I plan on wrapping them up this weekend. I have a few more things that are being delivered in the next coming days and I also have to make one more thing but I have all the supplies for it. I’m so happy!

Christmas is my favorite time of year. People are nicer, the decorations are beautiful (I mean seriously I could just stare at lit up Christmas trees all night long), Christmas music brings back so many happy memories for me, and I get so excited to give my loved ones the presents I’ve put effort and love into!

It all makes me happy. You know what else makes me happy? These amazing sweet potato cakes. Fo’ realzzz

Sweet Potato Cakes w/ Garlic Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

3 lbs. sweet potatoes
1 cup corn kernels (Frozen or fresh)
3 green onions
¼ bunch cilantro (divided)
¼ tsp cayenne pepper – can add more if you like spicy!
¼ tsp chipotle pepper powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal/polenta
2/3 cup plain breadcrumbs (I did gluten free with these)
Oil of your choice (for frying)
1 cup plain greek yogurt (I used this dairy free kind)
1 clove garlic or 1 tbsp of garlic powder for a milder taste

Instructions

Begin by cooking the sweet potatoes. The fastest way to do this is in the microwave. Prick the skin of each potato with a fork. Wrap one potato in a paper towel, place it on a plate, and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Carefully remove it from the microwave, squeeze it to make sure it’s soft in the center, and the allow it cool as you cook the next one. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them open and scoop the flesh into a large bowl.
Slice the green onions and roughly chop a handful of cilantro. Add the green onions, cilantro, corn kernels, salt, chipotle, cumin, and cayenne pepper to the bowl with the cooked sweet potatoes. Stir until well combined.
Add the breadcrumbs, cornmeal, and egg to the bowl. These ingredients will bind the mixture together and keep it from falling apart while cooking. Stir until evenly combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This step is important so you don’t have crunchy cakes 🙂
While the sweet potato mixture is refrigerating, mix up the garlic sauce. In a small bowl combine the yogurt, one clove of well minced garlic or you can use garlic powder for a milder taste, and a handful of cilantro leaves (roughly chopped). Stir until combined and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
After the sweet potato mixture has refrigerated, add enough oil to fully cover the bottom of a medium skillet. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until hot (but not smoking). Shape the sweet potato mixture into small patties and cook about 4 at a time in the hot oil. Cook until golden brown on each side; about 3 minutes per side. Once done, remove from the pan and place on a plate. Continue to cook until all potato mix is gone and add more oil to the skillet as needed.
Top with your yogurt sauce and enjoy!!

You can eat these without the sauce too- they’re equally delicious!!

Soooo damn good and healthy too. These are great by themselves or as a side too.

Hope you enjoy these and I hope you are enjoying the Holiday season so far! Do you have your present shopping done? What do you have left to do? Do you do homemade or buy gifts? Comment below, I’d love to hear from you!

xoxo

Lentil & Black Bean Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Georgina

Lentil & Black Bean Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing

Ah- Who still feels full after Thanksgiving?! Oh just me? There’s just always such delicious food and I over indulge every.single.time. No shame.

But I always run into the issue the week afterwards of obviously needing to eat, but not hungry, or nothing sounds good, or only the stuffing and mashed potatoes sound good but I ate them all… ugh, the struggles. I need something lighter.

Enter delicious veggies:

Yum. These plus protein rich beans and lentils= me eating without feeling guilty!

Plus it helps keep me full longer- ultra bonus.

Plus look how pretty it is! ultra ULTRA bonus

Lentil & Black Bean Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing

Ingredients
1 cup dry lentils (green or brown or both!)
2 cups cooked black beans or 1 15oz can, rinsed and drained
1 bell pepper of your choice, chopped
1/2 small red onion, diced
3 roma tomatoes, chopped
½ cup cilantro, stems removed and chopped

-Dressing-
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. chipotle powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions
Put lentils into a small sauce pan with plenty of water to cover, bring to a boil then lower the heat to simmer, cover, and cook until lentils are tender; which is about 30-40 minutes, but check your package for specific instructions! Drain lentils and let cool slightly

While lentils are cooking, make the dressing: place all ingredients in a small bowl or cup* and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Combine the bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, beans, and lentils in a large glass* bowl. Add the dressing and toss to combine. Add cilantro, and lightly toss once more.
You can serve it immediately or chill covered in the fridge to let the flavors combine and enjoy later!

This was really really really tasty and would be something awesome to make to bring for lunches at work throughout the week! It was just what I needed, light and refreshing.

*I suggest using a glass bowl because the dressing contains lime juice. The acidity in lime juice often reacts with metal in metals bowls and can give your food a metallic taste- yuk!

Pourrrrr over

Action shot 🙂

ta da!

now EAT!

This was perfect. Light and delicious. I preferred it chilled a little bit but it was great room temp too!

I hope everyone had a great holiday week/weekend and that you enjoy this dish too!

Ps- less than 3 weeks until Christmas!!! wooohooo! I’m so excited to share some of my crafts and homemade gifts I’m doing this year with you guys! But of course I have to wait until after the gifts are given so I don’t spoil the surprise 🙂

xoxo

Being Thankful

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Georgina

Being Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! (a day late)

I hope that you all had a wonderful day yesterday and spent it with those that you love. I spent mine doing some of my favorite things. Cooking, drinking, laughing, being with family. I was unfortunately only with some of my loved ones yesterday, but it was still great.

Jake was at his parents, which does suck we don’t spend it together, but he loves hunting and if I were to go with him, he’d be hunting most of the time anyway! So we usually spend it apart. Though next year getting married and all, that may have to change 🙂

And my dad and stepmom are in Oregon celebrating their wedding anniversary. I miss them, but I’ll be with them for Christmas!

I wanted to share a few of the things that I’m thankful for in my life. I hear so many cynical comments these days about how Thanksgiving is the celebration of “Americans” coming and kicking Native Americans off their land and so on and so forth. To me, that’s never was Thanksgiving was about. It’s about an “excuse” to be with family and friends and a nice intro into the Christmas season reminding us all to stop and take a look around and be thankful for all that we have. Each and every one of us have something in our lives to be thankful for, and most likely none are the same. I see Thanksgiving drifting further and further away from that. Don’t get me started on Black “Friday” shopping. For years I worked in retail and was forced to give up time with my family to go in and deal with crazed mean people pummeling each other for candles and soaps.

I hated it if you couldn’t tell.

But those times of my life are over, and I appreciate every single sacrifice that retail workers make during this holiday season. And ask you to stop and think twice before you feel the need to shop instead of be with family and friends, you know, actually connecting.

So to inspire you to find your own- here are a few things I’m incredibly thankful for in my life.

My wonderful family

A house full of a beautiful thanksgiving table setting, family, puppies, and love!

The best sister a girl could ask for ❤

My amazing Fiancé

Photo Credit: www.danistephenson.com

Jake and I have been together for over 7 years now! I’m lucky and thankful we found each other and have gone through everything we’ve gone through. I get to marry him next year and couldn’t be happier!

Beaver Island & Sunsets

So proud of this shot I took!

Seriously- I witnessed something this beautiful with my own two eyes?! I love nature and sunsets in general and there is nowhere on earth that makes my heart as happy to see them, than on Beaver Island, MI. If you’ve followed by blog for a while you know this is our family vacation spot. Honestly the most beautiful place on earth.

And finally, YOU.

Yes you. A reader of my blog. I started this as a fun hobby a more than 3 years ago and it’s grown into such a big part of my life. I live for it and breath for it and it makes my so happy to work on it and interact with all of you. But without you, it would just be a diary of food 🙂 So thank you, to each and every one of you, thank you for reading my posts and making my food and reaching out and connecting with me. I’m thankful for YOU!

Now- get off your computer and go hang out with good food, good wine, and great friends!

xoxo

Turkey, Leek, and Wild Rice Casserole

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Georgina

Turkey, Leek, and Wild Rice Casserole

Hello fraaaaands!

Last year around this time, I posted this enchilada recipe to give you a new way to use your leftover turkey!It was different flavors than most of us probably had on Thanksgiving and we all know I like to spice it up 🙂 butttt we also know I’m a creature of habit and love the holidays. I love the food of the holidays and usually have too many recipes on my wishlist and end up cutting some out because making ungodly amounts of food is wasteful…… That’s why this year, I’m again going to give you an EXCELLENT recipe to use up some of your left over Turkey meat from next week, but it’s a fall inspired comfort food meal!

Yes Thanksgiving is next week and this recipe is a “week early” but if you’re like me, you like to plan and that includes meal planning. This post is extra special because it contacts some sponsored products!

A while back, I was contacted by popchips to see if I would be interested in trying some of their products and sharing them on the blog. Um yes.

Upon further research- popchips are all natural, gluten free, low fat, not fried, no soy(as far as I can tell- though I haven’t tried every kind) and non to mention- delicious!

Originally I was asked if I could try some of the Cheddar Cheese products because they were interested in teaming up with bloggers in Wisconsin because Wisconsin is apparently one of the only places where Cheddar cheese is a snack consumed at higher rates then anywhere else . I said yes, even if I try to limit my cheese intake we all know- I love cheese. Too much.

They sent me a big box of samples of tons of flavors and even some veggie pop chips.

So I won’t lie- they were so good just as is (especially with Hummus) that that’s pretty much how we enjoyed them. However I did get the idea (rather genius if you ask me 🙂 ) so use them as a crunchy layer on a casserole. It was the PERFECT way to get a healthy crunch!

I was inspired by a fellow Wisconsin food blogger, Sarah from Wisconsin from Scratch. I get her blog posts directly to my email and love every single thing she posts! This dish she made particularly caught my eye. So I did my own rendition. Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Turkey, Leek, and Wild Rice Casserole
Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, thoroughly rinsed, chopped
8 oz mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
3 Tbsp gluten free flour
1 cup almond milk
1 cup chicken or veggie broth
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
½ cup plain greek yogurt
1 ½ cups cooked wild rice*
2 cups cooked turkey shredded or chopped (or chicken too!)
1 ½ Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup cheddar cheese popchips, crushed

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the leeks, mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook until vegetables are soft, around 5 minutes or so.

3. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, then stir so that the flour coats all the vegetables. Once coated, cook for about 1 minute more and add the milk and broth. Bring it all to a boil, and reduce the heat to low and simmer until it thickens a little, about 3-5 minutes.

4. Stir in the cheese and yogurt until well combined. Once cheese is melted in, stir in the already cooked wild rice and turkey.

5. Pour wild rice mixture into a medium sized (1.5 quart) baking dish or casserole dish.

6. Pour 1 ½ Tbsp melted butter into a small bowl. Add the crushed popchips and mix together.

7. Top the turkey/wild rice mixture with the crushed popchips. Place in the oven and bake at 350 until topping is golden brown and filling is hot and bubbling, about 20-25 minutes.

7. Let sit and cool for about 5 minutes and then ENJOY!!!

*To cook wild rice, combine ½ cup dried rice with 2 cups of water(or broth) in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Then drain off any excess liquid.

Hmmm baked cheesy, crunchy goodness. Soo good and comfort foody. So there you have it- the perfect thing to do with your leftover bird.

Hope you enjoy and happy holidays to you and your families! Take time to tell them you love them and unplug from social media/technology and have a drink, laugh and love with them!

xoxo

Basil Chicken Curry with Coconut Ginger Lime Rice

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Georgina

Basil Chicken Curry with Coconut Ginger-Lime Rice

Hi Hi Hi!

Happy Friday! So this week we have something special to share. A few weeks ago Eat Laugh Craft received an email from Adam at cheapproteindiscountcodes.co.uk who said that he found our recipe for Turkey Pumpkin Chili and loved it. He wanted to know if we would be interested in writing up a couple of recipes for his site that focused on low fat healthy meals. Adam is a body builder (check out his YouTube channel) so he wanted to focus on high protein and low fat meals, but these recipes are great for anyone to eat!

This is one of the recipes that we put together for Adam. It includes chicken and rice, which are weight lifting diet staples and some healthy fats (coconut milk) and TONS of veggies. We are happy to be collaborating with Adam and make sure to check back in the coming weeks for some more awesome healthy, fast, and delicious meal ideas. Until then, happy cooking!

Check out our recipe featured on Adam’s site HERE.

Ingredients
Basil Coconut Lime Rice
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1 cup jasmine or basmati rice*
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1 lime, zested and juiced

Chicken Curry
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken, cut how you want, I did cubed
2 bell peppers, sliced
1 zucchini, chopped
2 ears corn, kernels removed from the cob (or about 1 ½ cups frozen corn)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, grated or minced
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoon Thai curry paste (I used green)
1+ tablespoon spicy curry powder (such as Garam Masala)
1/3 cup unsweetened/unflavored almond milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Salsa
1 mango, diced
1 jalapeño, seeded + diced
Juice of ½ a lime

Instructions
Rice

Add the coconut milk to a medium size pot. Bring to a low boil and then add the rice, salt, ginger and 1 tablespoon coconut oil if desired. Stir to combine and then place the lid on the pot and turn the heat down to the lowest setting possible. Allow the rice to cook ten minutes on low and then turn the heat off completely and let the rice sit on the stove, covered for another 20 minutes (don’t look inside and let all the steam out!) After 20 minutes remove the lid and add the lime juice + zest and basil. Fluff the rice with a fork.

Curry

Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon coconut oil. Once hot, add the diced chicken and saute the chicken until browned all over and cooked through, about 5-10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.
Add another tablespoon oil to the skillet. Add the red peppers and corn, saute 2-3 minutes and then add the zucchini, ginger and garlic. Saute all the veggies another 5 minutes or until they begin to soften. Add the chicken back to the skillet and toss everything together.
In a small bowl combine the curry paste with the almond milk until combined. Pour into the pan and then add the curry powder and the fish sauce. Stir to combine, bring the mixture to a boil, cook 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil and cilantro.
In a separate small bowl toss together the mango and jalapeño and lime juice.
Serve the curry over the rice. Add a spoonful of the mango salsa and enjoy!

*You could also use brown rice instead of jasmine or basmati. You would just need to adjust the liquid to rice ratio.

I could eat this yummy salsa all on its own!

But I have to say that the rice was my favorite part, sooo good. I need to make that again like NOW 🙂

There you have it! Beautiful too huh? And as always you can make it as spicy as you would like. You know me, I had jalapenos in there and then couldn’t help but add some more hot sauce too!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic weekend.

xoxo