So so so sweet potato crisp

It's holiday pot luck season and I've found a new go-to dish to cart along to parties. It's a crowd pleaser, gluten free, vegetarian (though not vegan) and easy to whip together. It's part dessert and part side-dish so it's perfect for any type of get-together. And there's seasonal ingredients so it'll put you and the guests in the right mood for some holiday cheer.

What you'll need:
8 oz cream cheese
1 can sweet potato (or about 2 medium cooked sweet potatoes)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 apple (I used Granny Smith), cut into small cubes
2/3 cups cranberries
1/2 cup flour (I used rice flour to make this gluten free)
1/2 cup oats (old fashioned, not cooked)
1/3 cup butter/margarine (softened)
1/4 cup pecans (optional)

What to do:
1) Heat oven to 350 F

2) Beat cream cheese, potato, 1/4 cup brown sugar and the cinnamon in a blender or food processor until combined and smooth. Pout into a casserole dish (1 1/2 qt) and top with cranberries and apple pieces.


3) Mix together the flour, oats and remaining sugar with the butter. Use your fingers to mix it all up until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in nuts and sprinkle the crumbs over the dish.

4) Bake, covered, for 30-35 mins until heated through and golden brown.

I would suggest experimenting with this too because pears or pomegranate seeds sound awfully good too! And I didn't have pecans so I used peanuts and it worked out well.

If you're making this ahead of time for a party, you can bake it and cool it down before refrigerating. When you're at the party, put the dish in the oven again to re-heat and away you go!

(not so) Basic pork tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is one of the easiest things to prepare...and it presents excellently for company. All you have to do is get a regular, boneless loin of pork. These are usually featured at grocery stores on special every few weeks. Or if you get your meat from a butcher just ask for a portion of loin (depending on how much you need) and ask that the fat cap be left on the meat. When you get the pork home, all you have to do rub with salt, pepper and whatever spices you like. This time around, I used Spice Barn For the Birds rub. Then put the meat on a baking sheet with the fat cap on top. While the meat cooks, the fat will melt and self-baste the meat. It sounds odd but trust me it works! To avoid overcooking your pork, cook until it's internal temperature reaches 160F (that's about 25 mins for 1lb). A cooking thermometer is an excellent cooking gadget. When the pork comes out of the oven you need to let it rest for 10 minutes to let the juices re-distribute and the muscle to relax. Then you're ready to carve and enjoy!

A great side to pork tenderloin is sweet potatoes and roasted peppers. They're just as easy to prepare as the meat and the grilled taste matches the pork so well. For the potatoes, slice them up and par-boil or microwave for a few minutes to lesson the oven time. Then put the potatoes and peppers (sliced in large chunks and de-seeded) on an oiled cooking sheet. It can all go in the oven at the same time. Roast the veggies for about 20 minutes, checking to make sure they're not blackening too much. You can do this roasting technique with lost of veggies or try the same thing on the BBQ.

In about 30 minutes you have prepared, cooked and served a healthy meal that is as tasty as it is presentable. If you want to go overboard, make a quick applesauce or a mustard-mayo.


Meat Thermometer

Easy sweet potato side

We had a quick BBQ Saturday afternoon and did hamburgers on the grill. As a side, dish I dressed up some sweet potatoes and stuck them in the toaster oven. I cut them up small and by the time the burgers were done so were the potatoes. Easy breezy.

Many friends have told me variations of this side dish but here's my go-to favorite:
- 2 sweet potatoes (or more if there's company or you're hungry...or want leftovers)
- olive oil
- a couple dashes of garlic powder
- a couple dashes of paprika
- a couple dashes of Montreal steak spice

Cut the potatoes up into cubes and toss with the oil and spices. Lay them onto a baking sheet in one layer and bake on 400C for about 15-20 minutes until soft and slightly crispy on the edges. The smaller you cut the potatoes the faster they'll cook. You can also cut them into "fries" instead of cubes if you'd like but sweet potatoes won't crisp up the same as regular potatoes. You can also try this technique with other kinds of potatoes and they will crisp up just lovely!

Multitask tip: Adding some sliced onions on top of the potatoes will season them even further and cook the onions for an extra side dish or for on top of your burgers or steak.