Home Chef Cooking Tips

Sweet Potato Fries

Last modified on 2010-03-21 02:37:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Mr Sweet Potato-Henge

This is what happens after a long day at work when you promised your kids you’d make sweet potato fries when you get home. They don’t forget, & you tend to get silly.

The result – how Stonehenge was really built, if the world was inhabited by Mr Potato-Heads instead of people.

Sweet potato fries are a nutritious, easy to prepare, alternative to frozen, packaged french fries, that go great with everything from burgers to ham and turkey. Here’s how to do it.

Ingredients:

• 3 – 4 Med to large sweet potatos, scrubbed but not peeled
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable oil
• Ground Nutmeg
• Ground Cinnamon

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Cut sweet potatos in half lengthwise, then into 1/2 thick fries
• Place fries into a large mixing bowl, then pour vegetable oil over top and toss to coat all fries.
• Sprinkle in nutmeg and cinnamon while tossing to insure that all fries are evenly flavored (both of these can be added to taste, if unsure, start with 1 tsp each)
• Spread fries evenly onto two non-stick baking pans and place on center and lower rack in oven.
• Bake ~20* minutes, remove and flip fries.
• Return to oven, but switch shelves.
• Bake another ~20* minutes, fries should be browned on both sides and is easily pierced with a fork. (*oven temperatures vary so check occasionally to make sure they don’t burn).
• Transfer to a bowl and serve

Can also be cut into wedges, but reduce oven temp to 350F and increase cooking time to ~25 min per side.

These also make a great side dish at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Fruity Yogurt – A Healthy Summer Snack

Last modified on 2009-06-30 02:48:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Now that summer is here and kids are more acitve, it’s even more important for kids to eat healthy. Yogurt not only provides an excellent source of calcium and vitamins, but it is also cool and refreshing – which is especially useful on hot summer days. What is great about this Fruity Yogurt Snack, is that by making it yourself, you can customize the flavor to suit your child. If you paln ahead, you can also involve your child in the selection of the fruit, and have them prepare it (blend in the fruit). Depending upon your child’s age, they could be fascinated at how the yogurt changes color to match the fruit they added in (this works especially well with juicy fruits like berries).

Ingredients:

- Plain Low-fat or vanilla-flavored yogurt
- Fresh fruit of choice, cut into small pieces
- Honey or maple syrup (to be added only if a little extra sweetness is desired)
- Granola (optional – adds fiber)

Directions:

1. Mix fresh fruit of child’s choice into low-fat unsweetened yogurt.
2. Add a dash of honey or maple syrup for a touch of sweetness if desired
3. Sprinkle granola on top for crunch (a kid friendly texture).

You’ll be amazed at how fast the yogurt disappears when kids get to flavor it
themselves.
Get more information on How to Prepare Healthy Meals for Kids here.

Healthy Antioxidant Rich Snacks

Last modified on 2010-02-12 05:16:33 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

It is a widely accepted fact in scientific circles that eating foods rich in antioxidants help to protect your body from harmful free radicals. By helping to neutralize these radicals, antioxidants provide a barrier against heart disease, premature aging and some types of cancer.

By neutralizing free radicals that enter your body, antioxidants provide a protective barrier within your body. Free radicals are simply chemically active atoms or molecule fragments. They are active because they are electrically charged, either positively, missing electron(s), or negatively, containing excessive electron(s). This electrical charge seeks to become neutralize itself by scavenging your body to remove (or donate) electrons, in the process damaging your healthy cells.

Free radicals are generated naturally within, and are generated externally. Internal sources of free radicals include aerobic respiration, metabolism, and inflammation. External sources include sunlight, strenuous exercise, x-rays, smoking, alcohol and pollution.

Regardless of the source excessive free radicals (generated by pollutants) can cause damage to your body in excess of what it can naturally combat. Every time a free radical is neutralized by an antioxidant, the antioxidant itself is consumed, and is no longer able to defend your body. This is why your body’s level of antioxidants must be maintained.

The most antioxidant rich foods are nuts and berries – natural and unprocessed – which make a very tasty and healthy snack.

The top seven antioxidant rich nuts and berries (in terms of antioxidant content per serving) are:

-          Blackberries

-          Walnuts

-          Strawberries

-          Cranberries

-          Raspberries

-          Pecans

-          Blueberries

To make sure that your child receives the full benefit of theses nutritional powerhouses, each healthy snack should be at least a single serving in size.

For the berries, a single serving is 1/2 cup, and for nuts a single serving is 1 oz, or approximately 1/4 cup.