Tag Archives: sweet potato

Flashback Friday – Central Bar Happy Hour – NYC

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Happy Friday!! A few months ago I stopped by my colleague’s happy hour birthday party at Central Bar, which is an Irish bar in NYC.  It was a Friday night during Lent, where I decided to give up cheese and can’t eat meat.  In addition, I was on a diet.  Given the situation, I was limited to what I can order.  After scrolling the menu and I was impressed of the happy hour drink specials.  So I decided to participate by ordering the following:

Sweet potato fries $6 – House made sweet potato fries and chipotle mayo

Spiked Arnold Palmer $6 (happy hour) and $9 regular price – Firefly Sweet tea Vodka  and housemade lemonade

20160226_190557Food and drink was worth the price for happy hour.  The Spiked Arnold Palmer was well-balanced with tea/lemonade mixture and the vodka.  The sweet potato fries were perfect to absorb the alcohol content.

Personally, I love sweet potato fries and I was inspired to make my own, but I came across a product when I visited Trader Joes for only $2.29 for a 15 oz. package.  The package serves 5 people and each serving size is 3 ounces.  Now 3 ounces is equivalent to 5 tablespoons.  The fries were very good and well coated.

Recently there was a video posted on Tasty on making sweet potato fries.  Below is my product of the recipe.  Texture was crispy as I was mixing in the garnishes of salt, cheese and parsley.  The addition of cornstarch definitely added crispiness to the fries.  I just need more practice on mastering this dish.  Meanwhile, I will definitely stick to ordering at a restaurant or bar especially at Central Bar.

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Sweet potato fries are a healthy snack.  The history and health benefits on consumption are posted on my Meatless Monday post, which was also National Potato Lover’s Day.

Now that Lent is over, I would definitely return to Central Bar and take advantage of the drink specials and their potentially health friendly meat/cheese dishes.

 

 

Meatless Monday – National Potato Lover’s Day

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Happy National Potato Lover’s Day! As Chinese New Year officially begins, let’s start off the year right by focusing on the goal of Tablespoons and Teaspoons!

As previously mentioned in the Sunday Game Plan and commemoration of National Potato Lover’s Day, let’s begin the first Meatless Monday post with a recipe that was made from a previous Sunday Game Plan, which has been addicting.  The awesome part of this dish is it consists of only five (5) ingredients, all of which have health benefits.  But today we will focus on Yam and its history and health benefits.

Sweet Potato is one of the oldest vegetables that originated in Central America and Peru at around 750 B.C. It became widespread when Christopher Columbus brought back the crop to Europe.  Sweet potato is sometimes referred to as yams despite their physical differences for marketing purposes by Louisiana farmers.

In addition, coincidentally it’s African American History Month, George Washington Carver demonstrated how the sweet potato is useful economically and nutritionally.

Health Benefits of Sweet Potato Consumption

  • High source of Vitamin A – helps with fertility, lactation, vision, slows age related degeneration
  • Beta-carotine – may help reduce prostate and colon cancer, maintain healthy immune system
  • Contains antioxidants, which can have an anti-inflammatory effect
  • Regulates blood sugar
  • Contains batatins and batatosides, which are anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties
  • Contains vitamin B5, B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and, due to their orange color, are high in carotenoids
  • High fiber – prevent constipation & help with the digestive tract
  • Low glycemic index

Here’s the first Meatless Monday Recipe – Total Cost: Less than $10, 4/5 items can be part of the pantry and used for other recipes:

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Cinnamon (adapted from Tyler Florence’s recipe)

1 sweet potato = 103 calories

1 tablespoon olive oil = 120 calories

2 teaspoons cinnamon = 12 calories

2 tablespoons honey = 129 calories

Black pepper

 

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Peel and slice sweet potato.  

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Preheat oven at 375 degrees.  Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.  In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until seasoned.  Lay seasoned sweet potato slices in a single layer on the foiled baking sheet. 

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Roast potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes and remove potatoes from the oven.  Serve.