Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes

"My dream is to become a farmer. Just a Bohemian guy pulling up his own sweet potatoes for dinner."

- Lenny Kravitz
I feel you, man.  All I ever wanted as a child was to be a mommy, an author, a chef, a teacher, an ice dancer, a fashion designer, and a farmer.  Three out of seven ain't bad, I suppose.  If you count the backyard garden as a farm, I guess I've nailed four of those life goals.  I've still got time for the rest!

As a child I would watch my parents order sweet potatoes in place of plain old Russets as their side dish in a restaurant, and inwardly I would cringe at the thought.  A potato that is sweet?  A potato that is orange?  Gag!  It was not until I was in my early-20s that I courageously tried a sweet potato.  I believe we may have been at a steak house, since that is typically where potatoes are offered on the side.  I screwed my face into a look of confusion and trepidation and took the first bite.  Oh my goodness!  I could not believe what I had been missing out on for 20 years.  Oh, yes, I ate them pureed as baby food sometime in 1984, but after that, psssht, no thanks.  Now I will periodically buy them and roast them at home.  When I first attempted this, I used the microwave.  After all, that is where we ALWAYS "bake" our potatoes at my parents house.  Then again, we only ever "bake" brown, boring, baking potatoes.  I caution you not to bake sweet potatoes in the microwave.  You sacrifice texture and flavor for speed and ease of cooking.  After a couple of failed attempts, which came out shriveled-skinned and gummy, I gave up.  Sometime last year I embarked upon the Deceptively Delicious (To Puree or Not To Puree) route of getting my kids to eat vegetables (not so much my daughter as my son).  It didn't turn out so well, but it required me to roast sweet potatoes.  I searched online for the perfect method of turning out stellar, steak-house-quality potatoes (theirs always seemed oranger, softer, more flavorful), and I came up a bit short.  There were conflicting methods, oven temperatures, times, etc.  So I did what I always do when I can't find something, I improvised and through a bit of trial and even less error I figured it out and had wonderful potatoes as a result.  Now I am more apt to pick up a few sweet potatoes and toss them in the oven.  My daughter loves them.  My husband and I love them.  In fact everyone I cook for loves them...except my son.  We still haven't won Mr. Picky over to the orange side...or any side of a potato that isn't fried.  Side note, he loves sweet potato fries - that is next on my list of "figure it out."

Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are the only ingredient for this, so you could use as many as you wanted.  I had 6.  The important thing here (which I clearly did NOT successfully accomplish this time) is to use potatoes that are relatively similar in size and weight.  Yes, I said weight.  My momma always said...when picking a sweet potato there are a few things to look for:

• Skin - tight, smooth, free from dents/cuts/rot/eyes
• Color - uniform
• Flesh - firm, no squishy potatoes allowed
• Weight - heavy for the size of the potato
• Size - smaller/heavier is better, uniformly shaped
• Scent - ummm, there really shouldn't be one except maybe dirt

Now, there are some who want a gargantuan potato, and that is fine...if that is what you like.  I tend to agree with my mom, though, that smaller potatoes with a uniform shape and heavy-for-their-size weight are best.  All of this size/weight/shape business is so the potatoes cook evenly and you don't have spots that are either overcooked or still crunchy.  The heavier ones tend to have more flavor and cook better, as well - lightweight ones are dry.

1.  First things first, you gotta scrub them taters.  I use a mesh kitchen scrubby from the dollar store.  They come in a pack of around 10 scrubbies for $1.  The green ones are my veggie scrubbies, the rest I use on dishes.  This is the easiest way for me to remember which is which.  Back to scrubbing - I hold them under lukewarm running water as I scrub so any dirt gets washed away.  If there are any eye buds or roots still hanging on, now is the time to pick them off and throw them away.  You don't have to scrub until the color comes off, but especially if you intend to eat the skin (like my dad) scrub until they are very clean.  If there are any "bad" spots - soft, wrinkly, rotted looking, or something else unappetizing - chop it off or excise it.  Then with extreme caution use the tip of a sharp knife or the tines of a fork to pierce the potatoes all over.  Please, please, please be careful not to stab yourself.  My mom missed the potato and instead stabbed her thumb with the fork when I was a kid...she had to get a tetanus shot.

2.  Place potatoes directly on top rack in a preheated 350° oven.  Spread them out so the air can circulate around the potatoes.  Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the lower rack to catch any drips once the sugars start oozing from the pierced areas of the skin - be sure that your potatoes are directly over the foil, or you will still end up with charred sugar burnt to the inside of the oven.

3.  I started out roasting for 45 minutes.  I checked them at that point, and they had started oozing a little.  The squeeze test showed me they were partially cooked - I could squeeze them, but they were still firm.  I set the timer for another 45 minutes, and at that point they looked like the image below - oozing from every place I had pierced them.  They were easy to squeeze.  I shut the oven door, turned off the heat, and let them sit for another 25 minutes while I finished steaming broccoli, making tea, and shredding chicken.  I will note that I typically do NOT let them sit in the oven after they are done.  It didn't affect the texture or flavor any, and the skin will be wrinkly after they start to cool regardless simply because it has been puffed up with hot air while it cooks and separates from the innards.  To each his own - leave them in, or take them out.  It makes no nevermind.

4.  While sweet potatoes are excellent on their own, and pack a lot of nutrients (a large one has approximately 162 calories, 6g fiber, 4g protein, a ton of Vitamins A & C, as well as some Calcium and Iron - SELFNutritionData), I love them with barbecue or steak.  This particular night I made Pacific Islands Chicken and steamed some fresh broccoli in the microwave in my Pampered Chef Large Micro Cooker from my favorite PC Consultant (1 head broccoli, 2 TB water, 4 minutes on HIGH).

Pacific Islands Chicken

"Southern barbecue is the closest thing we have in the U.S. to Europe's wines or cheeses; drive a hundred miles and the barbecue changes."
- John Shelton Reed

Sitting around Sunday afternoon, my mom asked casually what I wanted to cook for dinner this week.  I suggested barbecue chicken in the crock pot.  I love barbecue, albeit not as much as some people in my family, but I do appreciate pulled meat smothered in sauce slapped on a bun.  In addition to the chicken breasts, I requested pineapple and barbecue sauce.  I was envisioning a luau type chicken.  What I ended up with was yum-delicious pulled barbecue chicken that even my sometimes-picky-about-meat 5 year-old daughter gobbled up.

Pacific Islands Chicken

~3.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast (fat trimmed if desired)

20 oz can crushed pineapple
28 oz bottle barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
1 tsp ground ginger (or to taste)
1 TB pre-minced garlic (6 cloves, ~ 1/2 tsp per clove, or to taste)

1.  Place chicken breasts in crock pot - try to get it as close to a single layer as possible.  Mine overlapped a little - I had 6 total.  You can also plainly see in the image below that I did NOT trim the fat.  Ordinarily I would have, but having had migraines daily for 2 weeks I was trying to speed up the process so I could rest.

2.  Dump in the can of pineapple - DO NOT DRAIN - and the bottle of barbecue sauce.  Stir gently to combine.

3.  Sprinkle on the ground ginger, garlic, and brown sugar.  Stir gently to combine the sauce.  I kind of wiggled the chicken around a little to get the sauce between and under them.

4.  Set the crock pot to HIGH for 4 hours and walk away.  Just walk away.

5.  At the end of 4 hours, remove the breasts and shred or pull the meat.  I prefer to pull the meat side-to-side rather than shredding it bottom-to-top - if that makes any sense whatsoever.  I just don't think it is aesthetically pleasing to have meat that appears to have been pre-chewed.  Blech!  You could alternatively thinly slice the meat if you do not like to pull or shred.

6.  Add the shredded/pulled/sliced meat back to the sauce.  Stir to combine.  Keep on WARM until ready to serve.

7.  Serve sandwich style alongside Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes and steamed fresh broccoli for a complete meal.

Chicken Noodle Soup

“To feel safe and warm on a cold wet night, all you really need is soup.”
- Laurie Colwin

I had been craving homemade chicken noodle soup for weeks.  The weather was cold, dreary, and perfect for a steaming bowl.  It's not that chicken noodle soup is difficult to make, but it can be a bit time consuming what with all the chopping and picking meat from bones.  You can take a short cut and use all boneless/skinless breasts or a store-bought rotisserie chicken, or if you are really pressed for time *eek, I can't believe I'm suggesting this* use canned chicken.  At any rate, I finally said, forget this mess, I'm going to have my chicken noodle soup.  The results?  Well, Progresso and Healthy Choice, eat your heart out.  If you don't like egg noodles, you could add your choice of rice - it just might take a bit longer to cook.

Chicken Noodle Soup

4 14.5oz cans low-sodium Chicken broth (I prefer Swanson)

7 1/4 cups water

5lb fryer (roasting hens are not as juicy)

1 small onion (2" diam)

4 medium carrots

4 stalks celery

1/2 TB rotisserie seasoning

2 1/2 - 3 1/4 cups egg noodles

1.  Place chicken in microwave safe dish with lid (Pampered Chef Covered Baker, Corelle, Corning Ware, etc).  Microwave on HIGH 25-35 minutes.  Check temperature in thigh and breast (should be 165º).  If the legs look like they are drying out (brownish/red), and breast is almost done, remove from microwave and let stand covered.  It will continue to cook.  *I cooked mine 30 minutes, thigh was done, breast was almost done, added 7 minutes, and the legs were too done to use*  You are going to be boiling the chicken with the vegetables, so even if it's not all the way done, it will continue to cook.  You just don't want to be pulling raw/bloody meat from the bone.

2.  While the chicken cooks, halve onion (green end to root end), place cut side on board and thinly slice.

3.  Wash and trim celery (white and leafy parts).  Thinly slice on diagonal.

4.  Peel and trim carrots (both ends).  Thinly slice on diagonal.

5.  Add broth, water, vegetables, and rotisserie seasoning to large (7qt-ish), heavy stock pot or Dutch oven.  *I used a 7.8qt Lodge enamel coated cast iron Dutch oven*  Bring to a simmer.

6.  Carefully remove chicken from baking dish and pick all usable meat from the bone, including any meat from the back (it's really tender!).  Chop into 1/2" chunks.  Add to broth (broth does not have to be simmering before you add the chicken, just add chicken as you pick/chop it).

7.  Once vegetables are tender (about an hour and 15 minutes from the time I turned on the cap), add between 2 1/2 and 3 1/4 cups egg noodles.  Stir frequently until noodles are tender (10-15 minutes).

Granny's Christmas Dip version 2.0

"A shot of Tabasco sauce. It burns, but you don't have to worry about the headache anymore."
- Jimmy Reed

My family loves Tabasco.  Let me rephrase that, my uncles, dad, and brother love Tabasco.  The flavor is unlike any other hot pepper sauce.  You can't substitute wing sauce or any other cayenne-based sauce and get the same results.  The others have far too much vinegar.  My granny made this dip every holiday, and it was a favorite of everyone in attendance.  My dad and uncles would gather around the bowl, and if you weren't quick enough you didn't get any before they had it eaten.  I have been tasked with deciphering the flavor profile of that dip.  Eighteen years since I last tasted it the way Granny made it, but I can still feel the back-of-the-throat burn that you don't think is coming and the distinct flavor the French dressing lends.  Several years ago, my papaw gave me vague instructions as to the ingredient list, but no measurements.  Once upon a time, I came very close to hitting the nail on the head.  I wrote down the measurements I used and then promptly LOST the paper.  This year I found one version I had written out, and I think this may be the recipe I concocted the year everyone "oohed" and "aahed" over just how close I'd come to getting it right.  Granny passed away when I was only 13, and with no warning it was coming I had no time to get copies of the recipes held in her memory.  This is as close as I'll get to tasting Granny's dip again.

Granny's Christmas Dip version 2.0

2 8oz cream cheese, room temp
1/2 c mayonnaise (We use Hellmann's Mayonnaise with Olive Oil)
2 tsp Worcestershire
6-10 tsp Tabasco (I used 10!)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 c French dressing


1.  Cream all ingredients together.

2.  Chill.

3.  Serve with crackers or veggies.

Note: if you add more dressing, add more tabasco

Oven Roasted Onion Potato Wedges

"I only like food without color, like potatoes, bread, and pasta."
- Emma Roberts

I wonder if these would qualify as "without color" potatoes?  This is NOT an original recipe, but it is so delicious.  This is one of those foods my mom brings to just about every barbecue themed gathering, and we take along the necessary ingredients when we go on extended vacations as well.  Potatoes are a versatile food - you've got your crispy-on-the-outside tender-on-the-inside french fried potatoes, your thin and crispy potato chips, your velvety smooth whipped potatoes, your chunky mashed-with-the-skin-on potatoes, your too-hot-to-handle smothered-in-butter-and-sour-cream baked potatoes, your crispy crunchy hash browns and nuggets of shredded potatoes called tots or home fries that you aren't sure whether they are actually a breakfast food or a school-lunch side-dish, your creamy and cheesy comfort-food potato soup, and your pan-fried potato pancakes.  Shoot, you can even use potatoes to put a crust on things!  Now that is versatility!  This Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue moment brought to you by the humble, yet mighty, potato.  My mom typically cuts the potatoes into cubes.  I decided to jazz it up a bit by cutting them into wedges.  The process is the same regardless of what shape you want the potatoes to be in, and they taste delicious no matter what.

 Oven Roasted Onion Potato Wedges

Difference in color is due to half cooking in pan with chicken

8 smallish or 4-6 medium potatoes of any variety
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 packet onion soup mix

1.  Cut each potato into 8 wedges - halve potatoes lengthwise, place cut side down and halve lengthwise, carefully halve lengthwise once more.

2.  Mix together oil and soup mix in a glass bowl or measuring cup.  Pour over cut potatoes and stir to coat.

3.  Scatter around the chicken or on a separate greased, foil-lined pan.  Bake at 425° for up to 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, checking for doneness at 30-35 minutes. *If you do them on a separate pan, they will get done sooner*

Oven Roasted Butterflied Whole Chicken

"What's the two things they tell you are healthiest to eat? Chicken and fish. You know what you should do? Combine them, eat a penguin."
- Dave Attell

Chicken is one of those meats that you can dress up or down any which way you choose.  A roasted chicken is an excellent base for other meals (Chicken Salad), and it pairs so easily with a million side dishes that you can serve it every night and never have the same exact meal.  I prefer to roast mine with the skin on but without any additional spices or seasonings.  You can certainly rub on some rotisserie seasoning, but I peel the skin off before I eat it so to me it seems superfluous.  You can roast it whole in about an hour-and-a-half, but if you butterfly the bird it takes half that time.  If you are unfamiliar with how to butterfly a chicken, Alton Brown has a YouTube video showing the process (approximately 01:00 - 01:54).  It may seem daunting at first, but once you get the knack it is actually pretty easy and gets dinner done much faster.

Oven Roasted Butterflied Whole Chicken

1 ~5.5 pound whole fryer (tends to be juicier than a roasting hen)
sharp kitchen shears/scissors

1.  Remove chicken from packaging and pat dry with paper towels.

2.  Turn chicken breast side down.  Using shears cut through the meat and rib bones on each side of the back bone from "laying" end to "neck" end.  Remove back bone.  You may choose to simmer this with vegetables and herbs to make stock, or you may discard it.  It makes good gravy base as well.

3.  Cut through flesh surrounding the keel bone that divides the breasts.  Remove and discard keel bone.

4.  Pat inside of chicken dry.

5.  Place breast side up on a greased pan (I used a jelly roll pan greased with Crisco).

6.  Turn wing tips under upper wing bone to secure them.  This also keeps wing tips from burning.

7.  Place Onion Potato Wedges around chicken and roast at 425° for 45 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer registers 165° in the thigh.  Remove to cutting board to carve.