Thai-Style Twice Baked Potatoes

Joanna from Lofty Pines shared this recipe with me, and I drooled a little when I read it. Such a quick recipe with so many of my favourite flavours together! I'm no good at doing what I'm told (at least when it comes to recipes), so these stuffed sweet potatoes are a variation from the original, but they were divine. So filling and full of flavour! You could use them as a side dish....but we just pigged out and made them our whole meal!

3 sweet potatoes

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1/4 C peanuts

1/4 C peanut butter

3/4 C coconut milk

2 tsp sesame oil

1 Tblsp sriracha

2 Tblsp honey

2 Tblsp soy sauce

2 Tblsp rice vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

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3 green onions, whites and greens separated

1/4 C cilantro, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped fine

1 carrot, grated

1 1/2 C baby spinach, chopped

Wash sweet potatoes, and pierce all over to allow steam to escape. Place on a microwave safe plate, and heat on high for 7 minutes. Flip the potatoes over, and cook for an additional 7 minutes. Allow to cool until easy to handle. (Alternatively, you can bake the potatoes for about 1 hour at 400`...but who has time for that when you are starving?) Cut each sweet potato in half lengthwise. With a spoon, scoop out the majority of the flesh, leaving enough for the potato to hold its shape. Mash, and set aside.

Combine peanuts, peanut butter, coconut milk, sesame oil, sriracha, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and garlic in a food processor or with an immersion blender. Process until smooth.

Saute whites of green onions and red pepper until softened. Stir in cilantro, and cook until fragrant. Add carrots and spinach, and stir to combine. Cook until spinach wilts. 

Combine mashed sweet potato with sauteed vegetable mixture. Add 1/2 C of peanut sauce, and stir until well mixed. Refill each potato skin with this mixture. Place on a baking sheet, and bake at 400` for 10-15. Garnish with the greens of the green onions and more peanut sauce before serving.

Topped with some green onions...

And drizzled with a little (okay, a lot of) peanut sauce. 

If you really wanted some kick, you could put some sriracha on top too.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemons were on sale and I had a fridge full of eggs. Something made me think about lemon meringue pie, a favourite of my husband that I had never made. A little googling led me to this recipe, which looked simple and authentic. And since lemon meringue pie always reminds me of my Nan, it seemed right to go with one titled "Grandma's Lemon Meringue Pie."

This pie was so much easier to make than I anticipated! It only took a few minutes to put together, and presents so nicely. A 1-crust pie is so much more forgiving than a 2-crust pie, so if you are new to baking and have been hesitant to try making your own pie, this would be a great place to start.

1 C sugar

2 Tblsp flour

3 Tblsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 C water

2 lemons, zested and juiced

2 Tblsp butter

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4 eggs, separated

6 Tblsp white sugar

1 9-inch pie crust (I use this 1-crust pie recipe, but you could also use a premade pie shell)

Whisk sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt together in a medium saucepan. Stir in water, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat and stir frequently until it reaches a bowl. Stir in butter until melted. Beat egg yolks in a small bowl. Remove 1/2 C of lemon mixture and stir in to yolks to combine. Once combined, stir egg yolk mixture back in to pot of lemon mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until thick. Remove from heat and pour in to baked pie crust.

To make meringue, beat egg whites until frothy. Gradually add the sugar, and whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over lemon filling, working from the center and spreading outward, making sure to get meringue all the way to the crust (so no lemon filling should be visible). Bake at 350` for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

And does anyone else take delight in the little curly tips of meringue? I get the same excitement over whipped cream, and over the sweet little curl on the top of a soft serve cone from Dairy Queen.

Healthy Chunky Monkey "Ice Cream"

This serves like a dessert, but packs the nutrition of a snack. I was delighted when I saw this recipe, because I knew my kids would love it. And so did I! The quantity below is scaled down for a smaller serving and fits in a mini-chopper.

Banana freezes quite quickly if you decide to make this on a whim and don't have any in the freezer. When I have extra bananas that are starting to turn brown, I peel them and cut them into 1-inch or 2-inch chunks before freezing. They are great to have on hand for smoothies and frozen treats, like this one.

10 2-inch pieces of frozen banana

1 Tblsp walnuts pieces

1 Tblsp chocolate chips

2 Tblsp peanut butter (I used WowButter for Isaac once, and it was great too)

Puree banana chunks in a food processor, scraping down the sides regularly, until smooth. Add peanut butter, and pulse to distribute. Add walnuts and chocolate chips, and pulse until mixed in. Serve immediately, or wrap/cover tightly and freeze.

Isn't that little green bowl just the perfect Spring colour? 

It was a gift from my friend Joanna. She's the best!

Easy-Peasy Pie Crust

This Betty Crocker cookbook was a wedding gift, and has been a great source of basic recipes and information. It's wonderful to have a cookbook with simple and reliable recipes to use as a jumping off point for your own creativity. I have abandoned by previous go-to pie crust in favour of this Betty Crocker recipe, because of it provides consistently great results.

1-Crust Pie 

1/3 C + 1 Tblsp shortening

1 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tblsp cold water

Put shortening, flour, and salt in to food processor. Pulse until mixture is crumbly. Turn food processor on low and pour all the water in at once while it is running. Stop the food processor when the dough leaves the sides of the bowl, but before the dough forms a ball.

Shape the dough into a ball with your hands. On a well floured surface, roll into a circle (about 1-2 inches larger than the upside-down pie plate). Place dough in pie plate and press well against the bottom and sides of the plate. Flute edges, and prick all over with a fork.

Bake at 425` for about 35 minutes, until crust is golden. If edges are browning too much (often the case after about 20 minutes), wrap long thin strips of foil around the pie's edges.

Fill pie as desired.

2-Crust Pie 

2/3 C + 2 Tblsp shortening

2 C flour

1 tsp salt

4 Tblsp cold water

Put shortening, flour, and salt in to food processor. Pulse until mixture is crumbly. Turn food processor on low and pour all the water in at once while it is running. Stop the food processor when the dough leaves the sides of the bowl, but before the dough forms a ball.

Shape the dough in to two balls with your hands. On a well floured surface, roll one ball into a circle (about 1-2 inches larger than the upside-down pie plate). Place dough in pie plate and press well against the bottom and sides of the plate. Fill the crust. Roll remaining ball into approximately the same sized circle, and top the pie. Fold the top crust edge around the edge of the bottom crust and flute to seal. Using sharp knife, slit the top crust to allow steam to escape.

Bake at 425` for about 35 minutes, until crust is golden. If edges are browning too much (often the case after about 20 minutes), wrap long thin strips of foil around the pie's edges.

6th Anniversary Giveaway Winner

It's time to draw our winner from my 6th Anniversary Giveaway, where I'll be giving a $40 gift card to the grocery store of the winner's choice to help he or she host their own $40 Dinner Party!

If you think this fish bowl is the cutest thing you've ever seen, you're right. It is. It's by Tim Isaac Pottery and I bought it at Handworks Gallery, and it makes me smile every time I look at it.

My lovely little assistant pulled the winner...

Congratulations to Theresa McAllister! Email me at jane@hungryjaney.com to claim your prize!