Herb-Coated Sweet Potato Fries!

Well hello all. Back again with an easy recipe to share and enjoy just in time for the crisp coolness of fall. Don't you just love this time of year? It's that sweet seasonal moment when the colors all around turn warm and the leaves crunch beneath your feet. I've been completely obsessed with quick, fall-inspired meals (mostly featuring squash,) and here's one go-to non-squash recipe I've come back to again and again this late September. It's great for those watching their weight because the fries are baked and not deep-fried and it's also a delicious pick-me-up to cure those dreaded post-summer blahs:

Herb-Coated Sweet Potato Fries
Serves: 2

Ingredients
2 Large Sweet Potatoes (Yams or--my favorite--Japanese sweet potatoes, they're white!)
1/4 cup olive oil + 1 teaspoon for mixing with fries
1 tablespoon coarse grain mustard
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Peel the sweet potatoes
3. Cut lengthwise into slices about 1/2 inch thick
4. Slice these pieces again lengthwise so they form thin fries (no more than 1/2 inch in width)
5. Arrange the "fries" on a baking sheet and coat with olive oil (about 1/4 cup or just enough so all fries are coated but not too much so that there's excess oil on the baking tray.)
6. With your hands, mix the fries so that the olive oil is coated evenly.
7. Sprinkle fries with salt, pepper and a little cumin (not too much salt because we will be adding more salt later.)
7. Put fries in the oven and bake until crispy (about 35-45 minutes.)
8. While the fries cook, mix the mustard, white wine vinegar, oregano, basil, 1 tsp olive oil, salt (just a pinch! remember there's already salt on the fries,) and pepper in a bowl so that all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
9. Once fries are done, place them in a large bowl and mix with the mustard/white wine/olive oil/oregano/basil mixture. Start with just a little of this mixture and only add more if it doesn't coat all the fries. Once each fry has been lightly coated in the mixture, they're ready to eat!

As always, let me know how you like the recipe. Your feedback is deeply appreciated! Hope you enjoy!

Xo,

Organic Eats

Salad Celebration

Salads make the heart grow fonder. 

So if you've been checking out my recent twitpics, you'd know that I am currently OBSESSED with salads. As long as you keep a well-stocked refrigerator, easy salads become as low-maintenance as that perfect bed-head hair you just happened to wake up to one morning (guys, you wouldn't understand, girls, you get where I'm coming from...) Anyway, if you've got any of the following ingredients, throw them in a bowl NOW (no seriously, now...) and prepare yourself for a lunch that is the epitome of fresh and wholesome. Summer bikini season? We've got you.

A Salad to Celebrate

Ingredients:

-Lettuce, and any of these varieties will do:

• Butter lettuce
• Mixed spring greens (you can find these in a convenient pre-washed bag but wash them once again anyway just because...)
• Arugula (nothing like that classic peppery bite)
• Mixed herb salad (again you can find this bagged and ready go to)

-Dried cranberries

-Avocado (make sure it's ripe - the skin should be brown and frumply... yes frumply is an adjective)

-Chopped pecans (as many as desired)

-Chopped walnuts (again as many as desired... also, if you're feeling extra ambitious toast these babies up before you put them in your salad bowl!)

-Baby tomatoes sliced in half (about a handful)

-a few sprigs chopped cilantro

-some fresh chopped basil (rough chopped or even hand ripped and placed into the bowl)

-1/3 cup feta cheese (or crumbled goat cheese will also do but I like the saltiness of the feta)

-1 lime (juice + zest)

-2 teaspoons capers

-drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Combine all ingredients in your favorite salad bowl. Finish with sea salt and enjoy! Seriously, thank me later :)

Xo

Ginger Bokchoy and Shiitake Mushrooms

Ginger Bokchoy

Hi all. If you've been reading my tweets lately you would know that I have recently taken to cooking ALL. THE. TIME. as a form of therapy and relaxation. So here now is one recipe I came up with that I absolutely love! Hard to tell from the picture but this ginger bokchoy is great as a side dish or as a main meal on one of those nights when you crave something delicious and meat-free but don't want to spend time with the oven or with making a time-consuming meal. 

Ingredients

2 handfuls shiitake mushrooms *I love my shiitakes so I sometimes put more - washed and sliced lengthwise into thick slivers about half an inch or so wide

1 avocado - sliced

3 bunches baby bokchoy - rough chopped in large chunks

2 tablespoons ginger - chopped

1 small shallot - chopped

Salt and Pepper (as desired)

1/3 cup olive oil

For the sauce:

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons peanut butter (unsalted or if salted adjust salt above)

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Directions

1. Heat up a saucepan with the oil on medium high heat. Add shallots and ginger and allow to cook until all have opened up and released their scents. Kitchen should smell amazing at this point, by the way. 

2. Add mushrooms. Cook until brown around the edges or about 8-10 minutes. 

3. Add bokchoy and cook another 3 minutes.

4. While bokchoy is cooking, combine ingredients for peanut sauce (save a little peanut sauce for a drizzle.) At last minute, add sauce to pan and stir until combined. 

5. Plate with avocado slices surrounding bokchoy and mushrooms and drizzle with extra sauce. 

ENJOY!

As always,

Organic Eats

"Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." -Alice in Wonderland

It's A French Toast Kind of Morning

Hello OEaters! Your trusty food girl here to bring you some more recipes. This morning I have for you some delicious French Toast that is sure to make even the dullest of Sunday mornings feel bright and special. So as Spring approaches, let's celebrate the sunshine and start anew...

French Toast

yield: 5-6 pieces of French Toast depending on how thick you slice them

Ingredients

1 loaf FRESH Challah bread (Best if baked that morning)

1 cup goat's milk (I prefer goat's milk but if you don't like the taste feel free to substitute with cow's milk)

5 eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

1-2 pinches of salt

2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Slice bread in nice, thick slices. The key here is that they're thick enough to get a good bite but thin enough to be able to soak through.

2. Combine milk, eggs, vanilla extract, cane sugar and salt in a large bowl

3. Place bread slices in bowl. Using a spatula, pat down the bread then flip over and pat down the other side until bread is completely soggy and soaked through (this is SUPER important! Nothing worse than French Toast improperly made and dry in the middle. It may be that if your bowl is not big enough you divide the batter into two bowls just to make sure every piece is soaked through...)

4. As the bread is soaking... get a skillet going on medium high heat and allow butter to melt.

5. Once butter is melted, place bread in skillet and allow to cook until brown then flip over and cook other side (probably about 4-5 minutes on each side.)

6. Serve with some Grade A maple syrup, a little powdered sugar dusted on top (I prefer organic brown sugar sprinkled on top but whatever your heart desires,) cut up some bananas, get some nice coffee roasting and say it with me: GOOD MORNING SPRINGTIME!

Yours,

Xo Organic Eats oX

Potato Leek Soup

Hi all. Yes it's been a while since I've posted in my blog and yes I let the chaos of my life overtake what was an incredibly stress-relieving venture--namely, writing to you all, on here, sharing and exchanging healthy and thoughtful ideas about food. But here I am back again, (hopefully this time I can keep it up so that a new post appears every couple of days.)

And now, my recipe for potato leek soup. Envisioned after my uncle visited my house and declared there to be "several" edible leeks still unharvested in our small backyard garden. The soup was delicious and the preparation a breeze:

Ingredients

4-5 medium sized leeks - cleaned and chopped just a few inches past the part where it turns green

3 medium sized russet potatoes - peeled and chopped into 1-2 inch thick pieces

1 bag of fingerling potatoes (I find the contrast of starches to give the soup a little edge)

2 scallions - chopped

2 medium-sized shallots - chopped

4 cups low-sodium organic chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups water

2/3 cup cream (can substitute here for milk or yogurt though if you add yogurt I suggest adding it in the blender after the soup has cooked)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the first 8 ingredients in a large pot on high heat. Allow to reach a boil then simmer for up to 1 hour.

2. Place soup in blender (I did it in batches and waited a while for the soup to cool - trust me on this one, you don't want a potato leek facial)

3. Add salt and pepper as necessary/desired, and add more water if the soup seems a bit thick.

ENJOY!

See? Piece of cake! Err... piece of leek root....

Yours tastefully,

Organic Eats

Fish and Chips: An Update

Hello there! Yes I know, I've been slacking on my blogger game. Well I'm back today and here with a great (and Oeats tested) recipe to share! This recipe is light and perfect for a late summer night dinner. Hope you enjoy! (Also, feel free to double or triple the portions, this recipe yield is for two!)

Ingredients

For the fries:

3 small yams or sweet potatoes

Pink Peppercorn (ground)

Pepper (regular - ground)

Salt (to taste)

Oil (for sprinkling)

White wine vinegar (for sprinkling)

For the fish:

2 fresh (WILD!) cod filets

2 eggs - organic preferred :)

1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon red chili flakes (okay, so I like things with spice... downgrade this amount if you can't take the heat!)

Oil for frying - cold pressed olive oil is a healthier alternative to canola but canola is the typical frying oil

2 teaspoons capers

Directions:

For fries:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel and slice the sweet potatoes

Drizzle with enough olive oil to coat and toss so oil covers each fry.

Spread fries out so none touch (SUPER important, otherwise they won't crisp properly!)

Sprinkle pink pepper corns, pepper and salt over the fries.

Douse in a healthy coating of olive oil (helps them crisp up.)

Bake in oven about 40 minutes or until they reach desired level of crisp!

Now while the fries are baking.... (start making fish about 10 minutes before fries are done...)

First, crank up your stove to medium-high heat and put a pan on the fire so it can heat up.

In a bowl, crack 2 eggs and whisk until combined.

In another bowl mix flour, salt, pepper and chili flakes.

Dip cod filet in egg mixture then dip in flour bowl, shaking off any excess flour after coating both sides of the fish.

Add oil to now hot pan, enough to form about 1/2 inch pool of oil throughout the bottom of the pan.

Place cod filets in the oil and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until the surfaces turn golden brown.

Plate the cod and sweet potato fries and sprinkle with capers. (The saltiness of the capers combined with the spice of the filet is heavenly! Also, a nice ode to the sea...)

Hope you enjoy!

Xo,

Organic Eats

Scrumptious Scallops

Hello there! I know, I know, this blog has been collecting proverbial cyber dust for a little while now but I promise, just in case you missed me... I'M BACK with a sauteed, seared and scored vengeance. Today's recipe is a simple one and was the object of my dinner last night, so I consider it well-tested... okay, enough blabbing.... here's the good stuff:

Scrumptious Scallops (serves 1 so double/triple/quadruple accordingly)

Ingredients:

4 wild bay scallops (I said WILD ya hear?)

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon red chili flakes (can adjust for desired spice level)

1/4 cup cajun blackening spice

Directions

1. Clean the scallops and remove muscle, (it's that little boxy-like attachment on the side, peels off easily)

2. In a small saucepan, heat the butter on medium-high heat until fully melted.

3. Simultaneously, combine the salt, pepper, red chili flakes and cajun blackening spice in a bowl.

4. Dip each flat side of the scallop into the spice mixture and place in the saucepan with the butter. Put on timer and cook for 2-3 minutes or until crispy brown.

5. Flip scallops over and sear other side, again cooking 2-3 minutes or until brown.

6. Take off heat and place over bed of freshly sauteed vegetables... think something seasonal... or rice, or anything your culinary heart can think of really.... and that's it! There's enough taste on these babies for them to not even need a sauce. Diet-friendly indeed!

Enjoy :)

As always, leave comments/questions/concerns/LOVE!

Xo,

Organic Eats