Sweet Potato and Avocado Panini

Well, I told you that this recipe was coming soon, so you shouldn't be too surprised to see this post.  :o)  I was so excited to try this sandwich, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!  The hubby and I both thought it was awesome and well worth the effort.  So without further adieu.....

1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced 1/4-1/2 inch thick

1 avocado, sliced

1 yellow onion, sliced in rounds

Garlic Mayo 

Bread of choice (I used sourdough)

Preheat oven to 350.  Place the potatoes and onions on a cookie sheet and brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for 10 minutes more.  While the veggies are baking, prepare the mayo (you have to believe me when I say this stuff is a-maz-ing).  Brush the outsides of the bread with olive oil.  I sprinkled the bread with some dried rosemary as well; I love rosemary with sweet potatoes and there's also some rosemary in the mayo so I wanted to mirror that. Spread the garlic mayo on the other sides of the bread, then layer on your sweet potatoes and onions. 

Place the other piece of bread with the mayo and olive oil and close her up.  Grill until the bread is golden and crispy.  Since the veggies are cooked, you only need to grill these until your happy with the color.  Take them off and remove the tops.  Placed the sliced avocado on then put the tops back on. 

You can play around with this: add tomatoes, cheese, bell peppers, whatever you like.  I liked it just as is, but I might add some Daiya mozzarella shreds next time, we'll see.  

So give this one a try.  I hope you love it!!

Sandwich Possibilities

I was surfing around on the web today and came across an interesting sounding sandwich.  One Sweet Vegan has a recipe for a  Garnet Yam and Avacado Panini.  I am intrigued.  

I've never thought of these two flavors going together and now it's all I can think about.  And luckily for this Veg over here, I have two beautiful yams hanging out on my counter.   

 

 So be expecting my rendition of this sandwich to pop up sometime soon.  Are there some interesting flavor combinations that you've had success with?  I'd love to hear them!

Eggplant Curry.....Mmmmmm

The third Wednesday of the month is my favorite Wednesday.  "Why?", you ask.  Because it's cooking demo day at our local CSA.  There are always some yummy recipes and are great for inspiration.  Last demo day I tried an eggplant curry that I couldn't stop thinking about.  It was simply delicious!  They didn't have a recipe printed for it, so I was left to think about how I would recreate that dish with the eggplant that I had received in my share.  After some recipe searching online and not really finding anything that looked or sounded like the dish I had tasted, I decided to give it a go anyway.  The end result was surprisingly tasty!  And guess who got more eggplant in her share this week?  ME!  Very excited to make this again!

Here's the recipe that I came up with.  Even if you're not a fan of eggplant you should give this one a try!  The most time consuming part of this is roasting the eggplant.  It needs to roast for about 30 minutes, but if you do this step ahead of time you can throw the dish together in about 15 minutes.  I read a tip that you should always poke holes in your eggplant before roasting or you run the risk of an explosion in your oven.  I didn't want to test that theory, so I poked the holes.  :o)  Once the eggplant had cooled I removed the skin and scooped out what seeds I could.  I was worried that if I left too many seeds it would be bitter, but not sure if it would have made a noticeable difference or not.  Then I just mashed it up with a fork, covered it in a bowl, and put it in the fridge until it was time to cook.  

Ingredients

1 large eggplant or several small ones 

1 onion

4 or 5 medium sized tomatoes

1 T fresh ginger finely chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 t cumin seeds
1 t mustard seeds
1/2 t ground coriander
1/2 t ground tumeric

1/2 t garam masala

Oil of choice

Over medium heat, coat the bottom of a large sauce pan with oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds.  Once they pop, add your onions, garlic, ginger, and spices.  Stir well and cook until onions are soft.  Add your eggplant and mash it around with the other ingredients.  Cook for about 5 minutes then add your tomatoes.  **HINT** I put the tomatoes in my ninja (you can use a food processor) and pulsed it a couple of times.  This made for the perfect consistency and also kept all of the juices, which are absolutely necessary.  I actually used the ninja to chop my onions too; they come out perfect and rustic!  :o)  Ok, back to the recipe.  Mash everything together.  I mashed until the eggplant was nearly annihilated.  At this point, take about half of your dish (or more, depending on how you would like the consistency), put it in the food processor, and puree.  Add it back to the pan, and at this point, I like to add a handful or two of frozen peas.  Feel free to leave this out, but I think it adds to the texture, flavor, and look of the dish.  You're done!  Serve with some basmati rice and naan.  

I hope you enjoy!!

Here we go.....

Ok, I'm going to let you guys know right off the bat that I'm really bad with these kinds of things.  Like really bad.  I've done blogs in the past and can never seem to keep up with them.  But as I've said in the past, "This time is different!"......  Wish me luck!

So over the last several years the way I think about food has changed, and thus the food I eat has changed.  I've gone from carnivore, to no red meat, to nothing with a head (except maybe some leafy greens!), to what I like to call, "vegan-ish".  I want to share my experiences with food.  I get so many, "Well, what do you eat then?" comments.  My answer is always a lot of amazing food!  I love to cook, and on my top ten list of things I love to do, eating is definitely towards the top.  I'm going to end this initial post though because it's time to, well, eat!  :o)