My Oh My, Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries

I used to hate sweet potatoes. My sister and I would scoff at the orange tater when my mom would serve it at dinner. Sometimes we need extra time to develop our taste buds.

I’ll never forget the moment I realized sweet potatoes were delicious. Ryan and I were on a hot date to Boston Market in college and ordered the sweet potato casserole as one of his sides.

Sweet Potato Casserole (Picture from jbarhtexasfoods.com)

Ryan offered me a bite and I promptly told him I hated sweet potatoes. He encouraged me to try them several times. Eventually I became intrigued by the streusel topping and gooey marshmallows and gave in.

Wow-zaa! This casserole was amazing!!! For a while I had to doctor up my sweet potatoes with cinnamon and brown sugar, but these days I enjoy the tasty tater all by itself.

At dinner tonight sweet potatoes (in the form of cinnamon sweet potato fries) stole the show. I began by cutting a sweet potato into strips and soaking it in cold water for 20 minutes. Apparently this helps the fries become crispy when baked in the oven (not sure if I believe this).

Soaking Fries

I then tossed the fries in some olive oil before spreading them out on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprinkling them with cinnamon. After baking in the oven at 450 degrees for approximately 15 minutes, I flipped the fries and baked them for an additional 5 minutes until they were crispy and fragrant. Yum!

Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries

While I was making the fries and roasting some yellow squash, my meat man grilled up some teriyaki chicken to add some protein to our meal.

Baked Fries

Squash, Ready for Roastin'

My Plate

Dinner was easy and yummy! Not a bad combo if you ask me.

Tasty

What’s your favorite way to eat potatoes? Yes, French fries count. 🙂

PB & J Remix

Today’s lunch was a PB & J re-re-re-remix! Since I do not have any jelly in my apartment and I polished off my beloved apple butter weeks ago, I had to get creative to settle my peanut butter and jelly sandwich craving for lunch today.

To create my pb & j remix, I subbed out the bread in favor of a Tam-x-ico’s whole wheat tortilla to make a roll-up.

Fortunately the amazing people at Barney Butter sent me a delicious lil’ packet of almond butter that served at the nutty spread in my revised PB & J.

Barney Butter Almond Butter

Creamy Almond Butter

This almond butter is so tasty! I bet I could eat an entire bowl full of it without a problem (though my thighs might disagree 😉 ).

In place of jelly, I used REAL fruit. Who would’ve thought!? I used frozen raspberries that I let thaw to add the sweetness normal jelly provides in a traditional PB & J sandwich.

Raspberries

The bad boy did not disappoint. Though my PB & J sandwich was more of a AB & R roll up, I enjoyed every last bite.

PB & J Remix!

Is there anything almond butter wouldn’t make better???

All Rolled Up

What is your favorite kind of nut butter?

I am dying to try pumpkin seed butter, but haven’t had a chance to yet. Whole Foods has a machine that cranks out honey roasted peanut butter that is unbelievable!

Okay, all this nut butter talk is a little too much for a peanut butter lover like me… I’m officially salivating and I just finished lunch!

Cheerios! Oh, oh, oh!

Does anyone else remember that old Cheerios jingle? “The one and only Cheerios oh oh oh!” I’ve had it in my head ever since I bit into the first crunchy o in my breakfast this morning.

Tuesday's Breakfast

Yesterday when Ryan and I got home from the grocery store and were unpacking our green bags (love those things!), we randomly had a big box of Cheerios in one of the bags that neither of us remember placing on the conveyor belt. Free Cheerios – not a bad deal!

Naturally I had to incorporate the crunchy lil’ guys into my breakfast. I combined a cup of Cheerios with a cup of thick Greek yogurt and some thawed raspberries from my freezer.

Breakfast Bowl

I served my cereal-yogurt-fruit combo with a hot cup of Bigelow eggnogg’n tea.

Eggnogg'n Tea

I saw the tea at the grocery store yesterday and couldn’t resist picking it up! The tea smelled heavenly. It was good, but I think it would have tasted even better with milk, a little sweetener and some whipped cream. 😉

What’s your favorite holiday beverage?

Breakfast was tasty!