Sweet Potato Quesadillas & Homemade Tortilla chips

I got this recipe from my Moosewood cookbook. It was very labor intensive to grate the sweet potatoes, but ended up tasting delicious. I wonder if it could be done in a food processor? Somehow I ended up using like every pot, pan and dish for this recipe, but it was worth it. I halved this for two people.

1.5 cups finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
3 TBS vegetable oil
4 cups grated peeled sweet potato (about 3 potatoes)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
generous pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

8 tortillas
Salsa
Sour Cream

Saute the onions & garlic in the oil until the onions are translucent. Add the grated sweet potatoes, oregano, chili powder, cumin and cayenne and cook covered for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. (I cooked for less time). When the sweet potato is tender, add salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat. Spread 1/8th of the filling and 2 tablespoons of cheese on half of each tortilla. Fold in half and place in the skillet. Add a little bit of oil. Cook on each side for 2 or 3 minutes. Garnish and dip with salsa and sour cream, if desired.

Homemade Tortilla Chips
This also is from my friend's homemade cookbook. These are easy!
4 8 inch flour tortillas, cut into 6ths or 8ths
2 TBS olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Optional: any or all of the following
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350

Combine olive oil, tortillas, salt, and any of the spices in a large bowl. Toss to coat. Spread in a single layer on a greased baking sheet and bake about 15 minutes (it took less for me), until the edges curl up and they are slightly browned and crisp. They will get firmer as they cool.

Skillet Glazed Tofu

I think I may have mentioned that for my birthday, a good friend of mine actually MADE me a cookbook. She is a phenomenal cook who is not afraid to improvise or make her own recipes. The hallmark of her recipes is her knowledge of alternatives or how to substitute. Everything i have from her has been so good!

The other night I made her Skillet glazed tofu. It was delicious. My only complaint is that it was very time consuming to turn all the little cubes. I am wondering if maybe it would work better to cook the tofu and then slice it.

1 block firm tofu, drained
2 TBS vegetable oil

2 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 TBS lime juice, lemon juice, or rice vinegar
1 TBS minced fresh ginger, or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 to 1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon molasses, honey, or maple syrup
2 TBS dark sesame oil
a few shakes of any other asian style sauce or ingredient (hoisin, terikyaki)
Cilantro or scallions (optional)

Slice tofu crosswise into two slabs. Press tofu with paper towels to remove excess water, then cut into 1 inch cubes.

Heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick frying pan until the oil is liquidy. Put the tofu into the pan in single layer. Cook undisturbed fro 5-6 minutes or until a nice brown crust forms on the bottom. Carefully turn the cubes so that another side is facing down. Cook undisturbed for another 5 or minutes until that side is brown, then turn tofu one more time and cook until browned.

Meanwhile, mix up all other ingredients in a small bowl with a whisk or a fork.

When the tofu is browned, turn down the heat to medium and pour in sauce. It will sizzle like crazy and smell really good. Stir to coat the tofu and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring and turning the tofu occasionally until the sauce had reduced to a lovely syrupy glaze and edges of the tofu are browned.

Serve over hot rice, toss in a stir fry, mix with noodles and steamed vegetables, put into wraps or eat plain!

Global Cupcakes

To follow up on Uma's post about Rainbow Cake, I wanted to show off more neat things you can do with cake and colored gel: Celebrate Earth day.






















Here are little world cupcakes that I made in honor of earth day. I think they turned out super well. They look kind of like little maps, all mini pieces of different continents. The toasty areas make for even more topographic variation. I could even go as far as to overlay a google map image on top...but we won't go there.



















Frosted with white, they were snow capped delicious cupcakes! Earth never tasted so good!

Taco Skillet

I found this recipe for Beef Taco Skillet and made the mistake of showing it to Rajeev. I was just asking if he'd want to try it one day. Little did I know he'd love the Campbell's picture so much that he'd ask for it every time I asked what he wanted for dinner. I finally made it last week (with ground turkey instead of ground beef) and it was a hit! I suggest adding some red pepper flakes to give it more of a kick.

I insisted we have some sort of vegetable to go with it so I simply sauteed some corn with red pepper.