Sweet Potato Burritos

Now, normally I associate sweet potatoes with Thanksgiving dinner, the baked kind with brown sugar and mini-marshmallows melted on top. This image doesn’t quite seem to blend with the thought of salsa and beans, but have a little faith, people! This one’s a keeper.

Ingredients:

• 3 sweet potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 2 cans black beans
• 1 cup corn
• chili powder
• cumin

Directions:

Boil the sweet potatoes until cooked, then remove skin and cut the potatoes into cubes. While boiling potatoes, saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Heat up the black beans with the corn and add the onion and garlic. Generously sprinkle in chili powder and cumin to taste. But bean mixture and sweet potatoes into a tortilla; top with shredded cheese, cilantro and lemon juice. Enjoy!

*Absence of photo due to hungry housemates.

Chocolate Cravings Continue – Chocolate Almond Biscotti

As requested by my chocolate-starved biscotti-craving sister, Chocolate Almond Biscotti made a recent appearance in the Dubois kitchen. We found this recipe tucked away in Mom’s “Hershey’s Homemade” recipe book. The pages of the entire book are pristine and seem to be untouched – except this one. Mom has scribbled all over it with pen and white-out correction fluid, and the page is complete with the stiff wrinkles of spilled liquid.

This complete breakfast.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until blended, then add eggs and almond extract, beating until smooth. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Divide your dough into two relatively equal halves, and mold each half into a rectangular log with about a 2 inch diameter (each log will be about 11 inches long). Place both on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes.

In the oven, after 15 minutes.

Remove biscotti from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes before cutting each log into diagonal slices about 1/2-1 inch in diameter (use a serrated knife). Arrange the cut slices on the cookie sheet, cut sides down. Bake again for 8-9 minutes, turn each slice over, and bake for another 8-9 minutes.

Chocolate Glaze:

Microwave 1 cup chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon shortening (I used a mix of butter and canola oil) for 1-1 1/2 minutes. Mix and drizzle over the biscotti, or dip the biscotti in the glaze, or do both as I did!

Dip and drizzle!

Beginner’s Luck – Breakfast Crêpes

If the way to a man’s heart is food, housemates have to be similar, right?

Well my housemates are far from being men. In fact, though we sometimes have the appetites of men, we don’t crave large amounts of bacon and sausage to start off our weekend. So, in preparation for Saturday breakfasts next year, I instead tried my hand (or oven mitt?) at crêpes.

A finished crêpe!

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• butter
• optional toppings

Directions:

Whisk egg and milk together until mixed. Add flour and continue whisking until smooth. Heat a frying pan to medium/low heat, and grease pan with about 1/4 teaspoon of butter. Ladle ½ cup of batter into the center of the greased pan. Pick up the pan and tilt it around until the batter is circular and even. When the crepe is lightly golden, remove from pan or flip to cook the other side (I flipped mine, but you don’t need to). Makes 9-10 crêpes.

The batter and stack of finished crêpes.

I served mine with raspberries, sliced bananas and strawberries. We also spread Nutella on the inside and top with whipped cream. Perfect for a sweet Saturday morning!