Diggin the hash

You've likely noticed that many of my recipes are variations of each other. I know I'm not the only who does that. It's easy to get bored of certain dishes, so why not mix it up?

Last night I was in the mood for my go-to hash browns with black beans and roasted veggies, only I had a bag of sweet potatoes instead. Game on.

Sweet Potato Hash
-6 medium to large sweet potatoes, washed, peeled, and grated (this is your cardio for the day, btw)
-1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
-3 tbsps olive oil
-1 bag baby sweet peppers, seeded and cut into strips/quarters
-1 large onion, diced into small-ish pieces
-1 1/2 cups fresh corn (can sub frozen)- this was 2 large ears for me
-Salt and pepper to taste
-1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
-Fresh cilantro
-Plain nonfat Greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine peppers, onions, and 1 tbsp olive oil on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for a total of 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, get a large pan heated up over medium-high heat. Add shredded potatoes. Stir every few minutes.

Once peppers and onions are starting to get browned, add corn, beans, and a few pinches each of salt and pepper, and chili powder if desired. Stir well and return to oven for 5-10 minutes.

After being in the pan for 10-15 minutes, the sweet potatoes should be heated up. They're not going to get totally crispy like regular potatoes because we're not using nearly the amount of oil/butter used for traditional hash browns. It's ok though- the crunchiness of the corn will compensate.

Put a scoop of potatoes in a dish, top with corn/bean mixture. Add yogurt and a few cilantro pieces if desired.

This is SO filling and satisfying- I love a sweet-spicy combo like this.

What I DON'T love is looking over to find my 3 year old giving himself a yogurt facial and leg-cial.

Makes six servings. Per serving: 425 calories.

Weekend Pictorial

Summertime weekends in Minnesota are intense. It's like all winter we're mostly indoors, so then when it's hot and nice out, WE MUST DO ALL THE THINGS.

Fortunately ALL THE THINGS are fun. Here's our weekend in pictures.

This kid loves watermelon that much. I've learned that I need to make him go shirtless. You guys, watermelon leaves stains. I found that one out the hard way. 

Treat yo'self @ #katespade

We took the boys to the Ramsey County Fair. Smart move on our part. Now we can skip the state fair 'cause, well, they won't know the difference. Mac said this- the "steering wheel" was his favorite ride.

Umm for the record- my figurative heart wanted the sampler bucket of curds. My literal heart said for the love of Pete don't clog me up with that. 

My husband went on this ride. He is more of a man than I am. 

This kid- you guys- he kept steering a hand-over-hand left turn THE ENTIRE RIDE. Good thing he takes his driving seriously. You got only 13 years to practice, little dude.

"Hey! I see her udders!"

Ugh, I definitely should've thrown at least half of this away without him looking. Kid had waaaaay too much sugar and blue #4.

Ok so maybe I did as well.

Sunday best? More like Sunday good-enough. 

Sunday afternoon homemade slip and slide. With our yard biffy in the background. We are those classy neighbors.

Treated myself with some homemade strawberry frosé. 

Backtracking to Friday night's dinner- I needed something quick, meatless, and easy. Though don't "quick" and "easy" kind of fall in the same category? In any case, enter spinach and black bean quesadillas!

I had about 2 cups fresh spinach on hand so I just tossed that in a pan with 1/2 inch water boiling water on high heat for a minute, then let cool/dry on a towel. You could easily use frozen spinach, but my method was faster than thawing.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray one side only of 12 whole wheat tortillas with butter (or other) flavor nonstick cooking spray. Spread beans out evenly among tortillas (I had two sheet pans going).

A shprinkle of this adds a nice kick.

Layer cheese on top- I had an 8 oz block of Monterey Jack that I grated up. Top with remaining six tortillas, spray with additional baking spray.

Bake at 400 for 5-8 minutes, then flip and bake for another few minutes. Serve with salsa or a nice big blob of plain Greek yogurt. So good! So easy! Would've paired well with that frosé.

Per whole quesadilla- 400 calories (without yogurt). 

Hope you all had a lovely summer filled with LOTS OF THINGS. 

Semi-Homemade

Do you guys know of Sandra Lee? In tabloid world she’s the girlfriend of Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York. In TV world she’s on Food Network as a chef/cook. Her schtick is “semi homemade” which I totally dig. I’m always down for from-scratch cooking, unless I don’t have time. Or ingredients. Or patience.

I recently created a SUPER easy semi-homemade hotdish that I have to share. It’s a great way to take a box side dish and create a whole meal.

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham and Veggies

-3 boxes scalloped potatoes

-1 ½ cups skim or 1% milk

-4 tablespoons butter

-1 teaspoon ground black pepper

-1/2 teaspoon onion powder

-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

-1 cup diced ham

-2 cups chopped vegetables of your choice (can be fresh or frozen). I swung by my workplace cafeteria salad bar and grabbed broccoli, shredded carrots, and peas. Add whatever sounds good to you! Next time I make this I want to try chopped spinach.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium saucepan, heat milk and butter and seasonings together until
almost boiling. While milk heats up, coat a 9x13 glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Layer dehydrated potatoes in the dish. Pour the packets of cheese powder over the potatoes (yep, we’re going there). Pour hot milk over potatoes. Stir in ham and veggies.

Bake for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and mixture is bubbling.

Makes six generous servings. Per serving: 440 calories, 60 g carbs, 9 g fat, 26 g protein.

Red, white, and bandwagon

I don’t know what it is, but all through June I don’t exactly build up anticipation for the 4th of July holiday. But then the day before, I’m all I MUST FIND PATRIOTRIC EVERYTHING.

I started my day by waking up early and doing more berry picking. I found the best urban patch not too far from my house. Two big Tupperwares took no time to fill with berries, plus a few spideys.

Just to be fancy I made some French toast with a vanilla custard sauce and berry sauce using what I’d just picked. On holidays I tend to make splurge breakfasts. Red and white and blue-ish. Kind of. Sort of. Definitely tasty.

I also made my three-years-in-a-row traditional flag layer cake. I’ll admit that this year I was a bit on the underachiever side in that I didn’t cut the layers in half to make an 8-layer cake. Stilllllll tasted the same. MMM cream cheese frosting. Dietitian what?

We spent the rest of the day hanging out with family and friends and got in a ton of lake time.

If getting excessive sun exposure and eating large amounts of sugar isn’t all-American than I don’t know what is. Happy 4th everyone!