Oven baked Super Crisp Sweet Potato Fries

 I have made loads of sweet potato fries but I never was quite satisfied with how crispy they became in the oven. When I tried this I was blown over.

I'm sharing my sweet potato fries secret with you guys. You don't need to deepfry your fries to make them crisp using liters of oil. A tablespoon or 2 of oil is enough if you give them an ultra crispyfying coat of polenta.

A series of good dipping sauces to eat with these champs to replace mayonaise is coming soon!

Servings: 4 persons

Ingredients:

• 3 medium size sweet potatoes
• 150 gr polenta
• 1 egg
• about 100-200 ml milk of choice (I used unsweetened almond milk)
• 2 tsp seasalt (or a little less)
• 1/2 tsp spice of your choice (think cayenne/cumin/chili, I used smoked paprika powder)
• about 1-2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil or molten coconut oil

Method:

Wack the oven on to a 200-210 degrees C. Prepare a oven tray with greaseproof paper.

Cut the potatoes in thin fries.

Mix the egg and the milk together in a big bowl and throw in the fries, making sure all of the fries are covered with the egg-milk mixture.

On a plate, mix together polenta, seasalt and the spice of your choice.

One by one, take a fry out of the egg-milk mixture, shake off excess moisture, roll it through the polenta mixture until it is completely covered and put it on the oven tray. Do the same with the rest of the fries. Make sure you the fries have space between them on the baking tray and don't cover one another (stops them from getting crisp as they start 'steaming').
-> Quick version: pop all of the polenta mix and all of the sweet potato fries on the baking tray and use your hands to mix it up and cover all of the sweet potato.

When all of the fries are covered with a thin polenta coat and have been put on the baking tray, sprinkle them with the oil and put the oven tray in the oven for 30 minutes exact.

Keep a regular check on the fries while they're in the oven and shake them around halfway through.

Pink Strawberry Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

• 1 banana 
• 30 gr oatmeal
• 60 ml rice-coconut milk or unsweetened almond milk
• 100 gr mixed red berries (strawberries, raspberries, red currants)
• squeeze of lemon or lime juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or bean

Toppings:

• 30 gr of your favourite nuts
• 30 gr mixed red fruit
• 1 tblsp of your favourite nubutter
• scoop of low fat (Greek) yoghurt or quark
• grated coconut
  

Method:

The night before, blend together the banana, milk, berries, lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Stir through the oats. Pop in a bowl and put in the fridge to set overnight or for at least 4 hours (the oats will soak up the moisture and turn itself into porridge).

Next morning add your toppings and enjoy. 

Yellow Lemon Chia Pudding

 Acidic lemon juice and healing curcuma will give you a super refreshing kickstart. This breakky is made for warm summer mornings!

Servings: 1 (big breakfast) or 2 servings (smaller portion, do the garnish x2)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp ground curcuma
• 4 tbsp chia seeds
• 200 ml rice-coconutmilk
• 1 tblsp lemon juice (more/less to taste)
• 1 tsp organic lemon zest (more/less to taste)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean
• 1 banana
  
  

Garnish:

• more lemon zest
• 30 gr peccans
• scoop of coconut yoghurty/low fat Greek yoghurt/low fat quark
• few chopped mint leaves

Method:

Blend together the milk, curcuma and vanilla extract using a blender. Pop in a bowl.

Add the chiaseeds and give it a good stir. Put the bowl in the fridge to set overnight or for at least 4 hours (the chiaseeds will soak up the moisture and become a pudding like structure).

Next morning, blend the banana together with the lemon juice using a blender and stir it through the chia-mixture. Grate the lemon and stir thorugh the zest as well.

Dress up the chiapud with a scoop of your favourite type of low fat yoghurt, peccans, chopped mint and a little extra lemon zest.

Chia-Peanutbutter Pudding Parfait

Ingredients:

• 4 tblsp chiaseeds
• 200-250 ml rice-coconut milk (or unsweetened almond milk)
• 2 tbsp peanutbutter
• 1 banana
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 10 gr peanuts
• 4 scoops of low fat Greek yoghurt / quark
• handfull of berries (optional but very tasty, especially raspberries)
  

Method:

1. Blend the milk with 1/2 banana, cinnamon and 1 tblsp peanutbutter until smooth. Pop in a bowl and mix with the chiaseeds. (Tip: start with 200 ml of milk, add more milk the next morning if pudding is too thick). 
2. Pop the bowl in the fridge to set overnight or for at least 3-4 hours (until the chiaseeds have soaked up the moisture and you have a pudding like mixture).
3. The morning after, pop the chia pud in a nice glass or jar, and layer it alternating with yoghurt, sliced 1/2 banana and other tblsp of peanutbutter. Finish with the peanuts which give the pudding a nice crunch and tuck in!

My basic Steel cut Oats

Steel cut oats! The differce between 'normal' instant oats and steelcut oats is the way the original groat has been cut and processed. Steel cut oats are created by cutting the grout instead of rolling it. The result is a rice shaped grain. It's more chewy than your regular oats and it has an acutal 'bite'. Nevertheless you can make awesome porridge with steel cut oats, though it might take you a little longer to prepare.

In the end steel cut oats and  your regular oats don't differ much in nutrients but when raw, steel cut oats contain more vitamins and minerals than regular oats because they are less processed.

I listed two methods of cooking the oats, method 1 involves soaking the oats in water overnight which will save you a lot of cooking time! But if you forgot to do this, method 2 will be just fine if you don't have a rush morning.

Ingredients:

• 40 gr steel cut oats (Dutchies: havergrutten, te koop bij o.a. Ekoplaza)
• 200 ml unsweetened almond milk
• extra water (I used about 50 ml's)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tblsp dried shredded coconut
• 1 tsp hempseed (optional)
  

Topping:

• 30 gr raspberries (or other berries)'
• 15 gr peccans
• 1 tblsp dried shredded coconut
• extra cinnamon for sprinkling
• spoon of low fat Greek yoghurt / quark

Method 1 (1 night + 5 minutes cooking):

1. Pop the oats in a bowl and cover them with approx. 50 ml boiling water and cover it with a plate or lid.
2. Pop the bowl in the fridge and let it set overnight. In the morning the oats will have absorbed all the water.
3. Now boil the oats in a pan on the stove for approx. 5 minutes together with only 100 ml of the milk until the porridge has thickened and is ready. Hop to step 2 if using this cooking method. 

Method 2 (20 minutes cooking):

1. Pop the oats together with the 200 ml's of almond milk in a pan to medium heat, bring to a boil and put the heat down a bit. Let the porridge cook for approx. 20-30 minutes until the oats have absorbed the milk and the porridge has thickened to your liking. 
2. Stir through the shredded coconut, linseeds (optional for extra protein boost) and cinnamon. 
3. Blend the banana using a blender or a fork and stir it through the porridge.
4. Pop your porridge in a bowl, dress with extra shredded coconut, peccans, rasps and yoghurt and optional extra cinnamon.

Energizing Espresso Smoothie with Maca

This makes a good breakfast smoothie! Quick to make and it will definitly give you an energy boost we all need in the morning.

Maca powder is made from a Peruan root that grows in the mountains. Maca is rich in vitamins (B, C and E), minerals and is known for its uplifitng effects (it should be consumed in small quantities though!!).

The nutbutter adds extra flavour but also helps to prevent your bloodsugar from rising sky high due to the sugar you get from the banana and date. I used peanutbutter made from 100% peanuts, without amy added sugars or oils nut you can use any nutbutter you like (almond butter is amazing).

Time: 5 minutes

Servings: serves 1-2*

*If you are having this for breakfast add a tablespoon of oats to make it more filling

Ingredients:

• 1 espresso (or 40-50 ml coffee of desirable strength)
• 150 ml unsweetened almond milk or rice-coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon maca powder (optional)
• 1 banana
• 1/2 to 1 date 
• 2 tsp nutbutter
• small squeeze of lemon juice (optinal, to make it a little bit more fresh)

Method:

1. Blend together all ingredients and enjoy.

Sweet Soufflé-Omelet with Mango & Raspberry

Servings: serves 4-6

Time: 30 minutes
prep time: 10 minutes
bake time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, free range if you can 
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• big handful (frozen) raspberries
• big handful (frozen) mango, in small cubes
• 30 gr honey
• juice of 1 lemon (to taste!)
• 1 heaped tblsp dried grated coconut
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 can coconut milk (for the whipped cream on top)
• a handfull mint leaves
• 2 tsp coconut oil (for frying)

Method:

1. Turn on the oven to 175 degrees C.
2. Seperate the eggs.
3. Beat the whites with a pinch of salt until firm using a machine.
4. In a large bowl whisk together egg yolks, coconut milk, honey, lemon juice and vanilla extract.
5. Gently fold in the egg white foam to the yolk mixture, don't overwhisk (you don't want to lose the air of the fluffy egg white)
6. Put an oven proof frying pan on a low to medium heat, add coconut oil and grease it around the pan.
7. Pour the egg mixture in the frying pan and pop in the mango cubes and raspberries, sprinkle the grated coconut on top.
8. Continue to bake the egg for about 10 minutes on low/medium heat, until the egg is set around the edges and slightly golden.
9. Pop the frying pan in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until the surface is golden brown.
10. Open the can of coconut milk and scoop out the 'hard' part (the coconut whipped cream) and pop it onto the omelet. Enjoy!