Light Bites - Roasted Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Pilau

This week's recipe was my choice.  I chose the recipe because I was intrigued by a 'pilau' it sounded very fancy and I am trying to make more dishes with squash and sweet potato/yams.  What is a sweet potato to you?  To me it is white and yams are orange, it seems like these two vegetables both go by sweet potato and it confuses me.  For this recipe I chose yams sweet potato because of their color to go with the pumpkin. 

 I didn't actually look at the directions before choosing the recipe.  It is a lot of work!  I am so glad that my mother-in-law had Ally and Zoe at her house because I don't think I could have made this with them here.  When I sat down to actually read the recipe, I was very scared.  I had never used fresh pumpkin and cutting it up seemed really difficult.  It actually wasn't that bad but it was more difficult for me because I had to break up the steps between nursing Georgia.  The best part is that it does taste delicious and makes all that hard work worth it.  And I am not even a huge rice fan.  So if you have fresh pumpkin and and afternoon to cook, I highly recommend this recipe!

I did make a few changes like using yams and I added some sliced almonds for a bit of crunch.  I also used jasmine rice because I have a ton of it and no brown rice.

Check out the group page here and I highly suggest you join us, it is tons of fun!

Ingredients
adapted from Cooking Light

2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled fresh pumpkin (about 12 ounces)
1 1/2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato (about 1 medium)
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion (1 small)
1/3 cup diced celery (about 1 rib)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup brown rice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
1/4 - 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°.

Arrange pumpkin and sweet potato in an even layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 35 minutes or until tender and just until vegetables begin to brown, stirring after 18 minutes. Remove from oven, and set aside.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Add broth and remaining ingredients to onion mixture, stirring to combine; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 50 minutes or until rice is done and liquid is mostly absorbed. Remove from heat; discard bay leaf. Add pumpkin mixture; stir gently to combine.

12 weeks of Christmas Cookies - Sweet Potato Craisin Cookies

My goal with joining the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies was to bake a little each week and slowly stock my freezer. That isn't really happening because the cookies are so good that we eat them and I never seem to be able to make as much as the recipe says, so I really should start tripling the recipe. I wanted to make some thing healthy this week and to use up my sweet potato. These cookies are really good, a little softer than I like but I don't feel bad eating them in the middle of the night when I am nursing Georgia.

Ingredients
adapted from Vegfamily

1/3 cup  agave nectar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup mashed cooked sweet potato
1 3/4 cups whole wheat,
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Beat together sweetener and butter substitute or coconut oil until smooth. Add vanilla, egg replacer, and pumpkin and beat well. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir flour mixture into liquid ingredients. Fold in dried cranberries and nuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto unoiled cookie sheets. Bake about 10 minutes, or until bottoms are golden. Cool on wire rack.


Makes about 3 dozen

Note: If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, use 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg.





Week 3 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

Light Bites - Buttered Sweet Potato Rolls

Another great Light Bites recipe, I have been having lots of fun with my group blogging.  I somehow managed to make these for Thanksgiving.  I am pretty proud of myself that I did with my new baby being only 5 days old.  Truthfully, Ally was at Grandma's and the two little ones were napping, so I cheated.  I found these easy to bake even though I did not knot them, I was running out of time.  I have a problem with buns because I always forget how long they are going to take when you factor in the rising time.  These are delicious but I can't taste the sweet potato.  Everyone at Thanksgiving dinner loved them and they were a perfect compliment to the squash soup my Mom made.

Ingredients
adapted from Cooking Light

1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm 2% reduced-fat milk (100° to 110°)
3/4 cup canned mashed sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
5 cups bread flour, divided
Cooking spray

Directions

Dissolve yeast in milk in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes.  Add sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon butter, salt, and egg yolks, stirring mixture with a whisk.  Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 4 1/2 cups flour; stir until a soft dough forms.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel very soft and tacky).


Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Gently press 2 fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down. Cover and let rest 5 minutes.



Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough into 24 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time (cover remaining dough to prevent drying), shape each portion into a 9-inch rope. Carefully shape rope into a knot; tuck top end of knot under roll. Place roll on a prepared pan.



Repeat procedure with remaining dough, placing 12 rolls on each pan. Lightly coat rolls with cooking spray; cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.



Preheat oven to 400°.



Uncover rolls. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes with 1 pan on bottom rack and 1 pan on second rack from top. Rotate pans; bake an additional 7 minutes or until rolls are golden brown on top and sound hollow when tapped.

Remove rolls from pans; place on wire racks. Brush rolls with 2 tablespoons butter. Serve warm or at room temperature.