Tag Archives: Sweet potato

Doughnuts

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So there I am, cocooned in my sleeping bag, listening to the drops of rain that have been pounding down on the tent all night long. As I sleepily open my eyes on this Friday morning, I hear a car pull into the campsite. I realize Tom is no longer next to me as I hear Ethan’s sweet rhythmic breathing. I assume Tom must have gone to Dunkin Donuts for coffee since the rain won’t allow for a fire to make our morning cup of joe. I think to myself, maybe he got doughnuts for us all to share! I know which one I would want…that blueberry cake one that has the specks of blueberry and is lightly glazed. He unzips the tent door and comes in and before I even say “good morning”, I blurt out, “Did you get doughnuts?!” He smiles, “Nah, I didn’t want to start the day out with doughnuts”. He’s right, they aren’t the most nutritionally sound breakfast.

Fastforward to yesterday morning. With doughnuts still on my mind, I peruse my cookbooks for something that resembles them.

Back a few years ago, my sister-in-law, Sarah, told me about this genius idea by Jessica Seinfeld, (yeah, Jerry’s wife). The cookbook is called Deceptively Delicious. It’s all about ways to sneak vegetables into your kid’s meals without all that whining…because you know how they can be sometimes. I came across the book while killing some time before a movie at a second-hand book store a few months ago. It was $6 and worth every penny.

In this cookbook, there is a recipe for doughnuts that incorporates canned pumpkin and pureed sweet potato. While I scanned down the list of ingredients, I was elated to find that I had everything I needed, minus the doughnut pan. So, off to Michaels we go because I am one of those people that once the idea is in my head, there is no stopping me. Here is my new toy:

Doughnuts

(Recipe adapted from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld)

  • 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup sweet potato puree (roasted and mashed)
  • 1/2 cup skim milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 Tbs canola oil
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • dash of all-spice
  • powdered sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a doughnut mold.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, sweet potato, milk, egg, oil and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda and powder, and spice, mix until completely incorporated.

Pour the batter into a gallon sized plastic bag or pastry bag, and cut the bottom tip off of one of the sides of the bag. Squeeze the batter through, into the mold.

Bake until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted, about 20-25 minutes. Turn the doughnuts out onto a rack to cool. When cool, dust with confectioners’ sugar.

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Farmer's Market Muffins

A Whale of a Good Time

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5 things I learned this weekend:

  1. The underside of the tale of a humpback whale is different for every individual whale, like a fingerprint.
  2. Far more people than I thought don’t even give the notion of seasickness a thought until it they are out to sea.
  3. I am a total “tomboy”.
  4. My son is quickly surpassing my reading pace. He read 200 pages of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets in two hours. (Is that even possible?!)
  5. I love my husband even more with each passing day.

Saturday, my husband and I took our son to Boston for a whale watch. We had a little bit of time beforehand to walk around Quincy Market and eat at that place where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.  We boarded the catamaran with 397 other people and tried to get the best position possible for whale viewing. It took an hour and a half at 35 knots to get out to where the humpbacks were feeding at Stellwagen Bank in the Atlantic Ocean. The humpbacks were frolicking in the beautiful weather and the minke whales were showing us their m0ves. We probably saw ten different individual whales. While we were on our way back, I noticed a young woman combing her hair and checking her makeup in a compact. She continued to touch up her “face” and while I was witnessing this, I became aware of just how “tomboyish” I must be. I don’t carry a comb or a compact in my bag. I don’t even call it a “purse”. I carry waterproof matches, a breathing valve for giving mouth to mouth resuscitation and an all-in-one tool among my other necessities. I mentioned this to my husband and he simply stated “I just think of you as natural, the way a woman should be.” Isn’t he sweet?!

Yesterday, I wanted to make a muffin that we could feel good about eating. These “Farmer’s Market” muffins are low in fat and highly nutritious, with zucchini, carrots and sweet potato.

Recipe adapted from American Heart Association’s Low-fat and Luscious Desserts.

Farmer’s Market Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup shredded zucchini

1/2 cup shredded carrot

1/2 cup shredded sweet potato

3 Tbs. chopped walnuts

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 egg

1 Tbs canola oil

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Line your muffin pan. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar and baking soda. Stir in zucchini, carrot, sweet potato and walnuts. Add remaining ingredients and stir just until combined. Fill muffin cups and bake 18-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Each muffin contains 135 calories, 2 grams of protein, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber and 2 grams of fat.

I Yam what I Yam

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Buying rotten produce; now that is something that seriously troubles me. Yesterday, I went to the grocery store to buy a few necessities. You know, like chocolate, watermelon, sweet potatoes, honey and marshmellow fluff. Typical must haves for everyone, right? Well, I always have a container of fruit salad in the refridgerator for easy snacking. Generally I use whatever is on sale, usually a melon like cantaloupe, honeydew or watermelon, berries and an occasional orange or peach. I do this because I know we will eat more if it is all cut up and ready to go. So, last night I slice open the watermelon I bought just an hour before and yes, you guessed it; it was rotten. It’s like I had just taken five dollars out of my wallet and thrown it in the trash. The store I shop at has a 100% satifaction guarantee so I’m planning to get my five bucks back from the trash.

Anyway, I got the sweet potato I needed to make these Sweet Potato Walnut Spiced Muffins. I have shared this recipe with my facebook peeps but it is so darn good and nutritious that I had to share it here as well. It has sweet potato, which is full of flavonoid anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. It also contains an apple and everyone knows that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. The recipe also calls for walnuts. They have lots of protein, fiber, and healthy monounsaturated fats. They may even lower cholesterol. My lifelong friend Lisa made the muffins even healthier when she tried out the recipe, by switching out the canola oil with unsweetened apple sauce, (Thanks Wisa!) and she also said she might use a bit less sugar next time around. I decided to try the applesauce switch but kept the original 3/4 cups of sugar. The recipe makes a dozen muffins, so try it and let me know what you think. Oh and in case you were wondering a yam is not a sweet potato. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Walnut Spiced Muffins

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

4 Tbs. unsweetened applesauce (formerly canola oil)

¾ cups sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 large apple, peeled & grated

½ of a large sweet potato, peeled & grated

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F and line muffin tin with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine applesauce (or oil)  and sugar and beat in the egg and vanilla until fluffy. Add grated sweet potato and apple and stir until combined. Add the dry ingredients and walnuts and mix until just combined.

Bake 20 minutes.