Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries

 

There are a great number of ways to make fries in the air fryer.  We found a great recipe (from Yumna Jawad's Feel Good Foodie) to serve as a base and started mixing in different spices until we found a great taste.  These are a quick and easy way to add a great side to your meal (if you have an air fryer).  Since sweet potatoes are a super food - it is a nice way to get them into your diet more.  The trick here is to be patient and not overload the sweet potatoes in the air fryer.  Working in batches might be in order if you are cooking for a crowd.  They need a bit of room to cook!

Ingredients (2 servings)

2 medium or 1 large Sweet potato
1 tsp Olive oil
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Onion powder
1/2 tsp Paprika
Pinch of Black Pepper (adjust to taste)

Directions

1. Preheat the air fryer to 380°F. 
2. Peel the sweet potatoes, then slice each potato into 1/3 inch thick sticks.  
3. Place the sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl, and toss with olive oil, kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder paprika and black pepper.
4. Cook without overcrowding the pan.  This will be between 13-14 minutes.  Half way through, shake the basket to get all sides cooking.  

Enjoy!

Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Browsing a recent issue of Cooking Light (my favorite cooking mag), I stumbled across this recipe for a healthier cookie (Crunchy-Chewy Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies).  I played with the recipe a bit and LOVED the way it came out.  We have been really smitten (as so many people are) with having sea salt added to cookies.  At our local grocery store, they make this amazing cookies with sea salt and caramel.  Funny story - we were shopping there one night when a fellow shopper (and older woman) came over to us and told us that we HAD to try these cookies.  As they often do at Busch's in Saline - they have samples out.  Well she practically forced us to try the cookie.  Well, it was love at first bite (as they say).  The cookies were simply put - the best I have ever had.  Healthy?  Probably not.  So that put us on an Odyssey to find a good alternative that we can make at home.  And boy did we find one.  I played with the recipe for the first go around.  I will play more over the coming months - but this is definitely a keeper.  These cookies came out great.  And are they healthy?  Well, they are healthier than the ones we find out and about.  Baby steps....

Ingredients (makes 36-38 cookies)

1 cup Light brown sugar (packed)
4 tbsp Canola oil
8 tbsp Butter, softened
2 tbsp Honey
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 Egg (large)
2 cups plus 2 tbsp Whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tsp Baking soda
3/8 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup Shredded coconut, packed
1/2 tsp Coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. In a stand mixer, place the brown sugar, oil and butter in the bowl.  Beat at medium speed until  blended. Add honey, vanilla, and egg and mix until well combined.
3. In another mixing bowl, add flour, baking soda and salt, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed until almost combined. Add chocolate chips and shredded coconut  until combined.
4. Spoon dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets (12-14 cookies per sheet).  Sprinkle a small amount of sea salt over each cookie (lots will end up on the baking sheet).  Bake in batches at 375° for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool cookies on pan 3 minutes, then move to a  wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!  BTW - These are so good that we needed protection from eating them all...

Zombie Eyes (Easy Chocolate Pretzel Treats for the Holidays)

These are very simple and very delicious!  It was adapted in part from something Pam saw and this recipe for ROLO Pretzel Treats that we already shared.  Perfect for the holidays...or any day!

Ingredients:

You will need equal numbers of the following (up to around 40 on a cooking sheet at a time)

• Small pretzels (I used mini twists) 
• Hershey Milk Chocolate Kisses
• M&Ms (or Smarties if you are in Canada) - any candy coated chocolate

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325°F. Line a flat cookie sheet with parchment paper. (NOTE: use a cookie sheet without a lip for easy removal)
2. Place pretzels on the cookie sheet (they can be as close as 1" to each other). Top each pretzel with one unwrapped Hershey's Kiss, with the point tucked into one of the holes in the pretzel.  They will look upside down.  
3. Bake 4 minutes and remove from oven.
4. Carefully, slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheet onto a flat surface (NOTE: This will help it not melt as much)
5. Top each pretzel with Rolo with a M&M (or other candy coated chocolate), carefully pushing down onto the kiss. If you want, add sprinkles here before the chocolate cools.
6. Leave on parchment paper until cooled completely (it will take a while to cool).  You may speed up the cooling in the fridge (use a plate or tray under the parchment paper). If they touch as they cool - that is not a problem as they break apart nicely.

Enjoy!

Roasted Spiced Chickpea Snacks

The recipe was adapted from Eating Well Magazines's Spiced Chickpea “Nuts”. I added a bit of Cayenne pepper to give it some kick, but I will tone it down for another variation that I will try later this fall. These are really great and I love that they really have a snack feel - with some always needed protein. I am going to male some again soon. This is definitely a keeper and a fun snack for the next time we have people over for an event or a game. I think you can even add them to salads for a bit of added crunch!

For the record - Chickpeas and Garbanzo Beans are the same thing. Well, they are the same for the sake of this recipe!

Ingredients (Serves 4):
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
1 tbsp Olive oil
2 tsp Cumin, ground
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper, ground
1/4 tsp Allspice, ground
1/4 tsp Black pepper, ground
1/4 tsp Kosher salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Rinse and dry chickpeas dry.
3. Toss chickpeas in a bowl with oil, cumin, cayenne pepper, allspice, black pepper and kosher salt.
4. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for around 25 minutes, stirring once or twice.
5. Let cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

ROLO Pretzel Delights

(Adapted from the Hershey's Kitchen recipe. These are simple, taste amazing and are kinda fun to make. I changed the recipe because I think the original cooks too long - making for a messy candy treat. Perfect for the holidays...or any day!

Ingredients:

You will need equal numbers of the following (up to around 40 on a cooking sheet at a time)

• Small pretzels (I used mini twists) 
• ROLO Chewy Caramels in Milk Chocolate 
• Pecan halves (raw)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325°F. Line a flat cookie sheet with parchment paper. (NOTE: use a cookie sheet without a lip for easy removal)
2. Place pretzels on the cookie sheet (they can be as close as 1" to each other). Top each pretzel with one unwrapped ROLO Chewy Caramel in Milk Chocolate.
3. Bake 3 minutes and remove from oven.
4. Carefully, slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheet onto a flat surface (NOTE: This will help it not melt as much)
5. Top each pretzel with Rolo with a pecan half, pushing down onto the ROLO. If you want, add sprinkles here before the chocolate cools.
6. Leave on parchment paper until cooled completely. You may speed up the cooling in the fridge (use a plate or tray under the parchment paper). If they touch as they cool - that is not a problem as they break apart nicely.

Enjoy!

Flatout (Flatbread) Baked Dippers

This was adapted from the Flatout site. As huge fans of Olga's Snackers - I fell in love with these for dipping into hummus and salsa. Flatout bread is made in my hometown of Saline, Michigan - but practically any flatbread will do.
Ingredients
1 Flatout® Light Flatbread
Olive oil cooking spray (or delivered via a mister)
2 tsp Bread dipping Seasoning
(NOTE: you can create your own mix by adding 1/4 tsp of each of the following ingredients: ground black pepper, kosher salt, dried rosemary, dried basil, dried oregano, dried parsley, dried thyme, and garlic/celery salt. You can simply add the ingredients that you like here - but the mix is about 2 tsp per flatbread).

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Cut each Flatout into 16 pieces and place on a nonstick cookie sheet.
3. Lightly spray all the flatbread pieces with cooking spray or oil and then sprinkle the spice mix over the pieces.
4. Bake for around 9-10 minutes.

Enjoy with Salsa, Hummus, or cheeses!

Kale Chips

Adapted from a few different recipes I found on the web - and Dr. Oz. These are amazing! Great way to eat Kale AND get a treat that is 100% good for you. You can really limit the oil and it will even be better for you. Yep...once again. Dr. Oz shows us the way!!!!!

Ingredients
1 bunch of Kale
1 tsp Olive Oil - OR olive oil spray (see below)
Kosher Salt or Sea Salt to taste

Directions
1. Wash the Kale and then rip or cut the leaves off the stems. Rip into small pieces.
2. Dry Kale thouroughly with paper or regular towels. It is good to let it air dry for a bit.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
4. Layer kale with a very light layer of oil. This can be done in two ways:

4a -> In a large bowl, add the kale and the 1 tbsp of Oil and mix thoroughly. Then place the kale on two cookie sheets (you can use parchment paper)

4b -> On two cooking sheets (lined with parchment paper if you choose), layer the kale and then spray lighthly with a mister filled with olive oil. Using the spray, you can actually use less oil.

5. Sprinkle salt lighthly ontop of the kale.
6. Place in oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Enjoy at room temperature or cooled!