Paulina's Sweet Potato Hash

I came home from Paulina's Cooking School last month most excited to share this dish with my husband. I loved it. I want to make it more often. It is sweet and flavorful. It would be the perfect way to add sweet potatoes to Thanksgiving. It works well any time of year, if you ask me!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Peel and cube up your sweet potatoes. Place them on a cookie sheet with foil and add a little olive oil and sea salt. Make sure they are evenly spread out so that they cook evenly. You will cook them for about 25 minutes- you want to poke them easily with a fork.

While they are cooking, chop up your bacon into pieces about 2" long and cook them on the stove top. They make their own grease and work best in a cast iron skillet. Pull them when done and place on a plate with a paper towel to absorb the grease.

In the same cast iron skillet, caramelize your onions. You'll chop one onion in thin strips and slow cook them in your skillet with the bacon grease on medium heat until the are this beautiful caramel color and really flimsy. 

The onions will cook off most of the bacon grease and you can add the sweet potatoes and the bacon back into the onion skillet and stir it all up. This is my new favorite side dish!

Cooking with my friend Paulina has been eye opening as I learn about new vegetables and seasonings and the world of preservatives and fake food we live in! If you resolve to eat more vegetables or eat healthier in general in 2013, check out more from Paulina's Cooking School or more resolutions here. 

Paulina's Asian Butternut Squash Soup

I love soup in the fall and winter months, but I can honestly only eat so much chicken tortilla, taco soup or chili. I was excited when Paulina recommended a Butternut Squash Soup. 

Start with a large butternut squash, peel it, cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Without Paulina, I would have had no clue what part of this vegetable you eat!

Give it a rough chop, cubing it and boil it in water until soft like a potato. In the meantime, with a little butter and olive oil, saute 1 onion with equal parts celery and carrots. You want the celery and carrots to be an even amount to the onion. Saute for about 5 minutes and add to soft squash.

Next, add some garlic and fresh ginger, about the size of your thumb. You can easily peel ginger with a spoon- I had no idea! Add some salt, a spicy pepper (like a habanero) and lemongrass! To open up the flavoring of the lemongrass, beat it with the back of a spoon or a knife. You want the flavoring of the lemongrass, but eating it can be too much. Pull it out of the soup before you blend it all up!

Doesn't it look so pretty! Next, you'll want to add a little coconut milk to the soup. We bought canned coconut milk in the Asian, not the cold milk found in the dairy section. Add about 1/3 the can. You can always add more to taste.

Your soup is now ready to be blended up. We used an emulsification blender which can be placed right inside the soup. Without it, you have to ladle all the soup into your food processor! 

We garnished our warm soup with more coconut milk, cilantro (my favorite) and bacon. Paulina recommends it with crab meat also. Delish- this soup is beautiful, impressive, and tastes great!

I love all the real ingredients in this soup- it is full of vitamins and that helps with my 2013 resolutions! For more resolutions, click on the button on the left.

Paulina's Sweet Slaw

Remember my foodie friend Paulina and the cooking school she created for me in July? At that time we talked about getting together in the fall to do some fall veggies. At the beginning of December, Paulina's Cooking School 2.0 was in session!

Paulina is a fabulous cook, uses natural ingredients, and would love to open a cooking school one day. She has been so kind to help me on two different occasions to learn to cook with some ingredients outside the box for me. I resolve to eat better in 2013 and Paulina can help us all do that!

Let's start with hearts of palm.... I had no idea what this even was! Due to limitations, either seasonal or geographic, we ended up buying this in a can. My face says it all- it was gummy and tasted like the vinegar it was canned with. Gross!

We also had this FUNKY cauliflower from the farmer's market. I had no interest in eating it, so we skipped right over it. It came in green or orange. Funky!

 But, lucky for us, we came away from the day with three recipes that I really liked and would make again, starting with Paulina's Sweet Slaw. This is made with brussel sprouts! I had no idea a brussel sprout can be eaten raw and is essentially a small cabbage. So, a salad made from brussel sprouts is a slaw.

For the slaw, we simply cut the brown stalk part of the spout off, then sliced them up to edible size pieces. Paulina wanted a sweet dressing, so she mixed up lemon juice, honey, olive oil and some whole grain Dijon mustard, pictured below. The mustard serves as a binding agent in salads and gave us the tangy taste to counter the sweet of the honey.

We also added crumbled bacon and it was a great option when you are tired of a standard lettuce salad. 

Paulina took the remaining brussel sprouts and cooked them according to 101 Cookbooks blog. I wasn't a huge fan of them cooked (they were soggy to me after just loving them as a slaw), but if you like sprouts, this recipes gives them good flavor and the cheese is delish on them.

More cooking school coming soon!

Squash and Paulina's School Wrap Up

The farmer's market was the perfect place to start Paulina's Cooking School. Everything looks so fresh, colorful and inviting at the market. Check out these beautiful purple, red, and green bell peppers. I had no idea they made purple bell peppers!

The red tomato above on the left is an heirloom tomato. Apparently, all tomatoes used to have this unique shape, but consumers preferred a more uniform shape and we no longer have heirloom tomatoes in mass. On the right above is a pattypan squash. It had such great color and shape as well!

Using our squash and some zucchini, we chopped them into bite size pieces and placed them in a skillet with a little butter and oil. You want a single layer of veggies in the skillet so that they cook evenly on medium-high heat. Add a little sea salt and stir until they have an even golden brown color. Yum!

Everything I learned at cooking school is posted. I hope you all learned a new way to cook veggies this summer. We plan to do cooking school again in the fall and are already talking about sweet potatoes, butternut squash soup, brussel sprouts and hearts of palm. 

Any vegetables you want me to add to cooking school 2.0?

Grilled Fruit a la Paulina

When Paulina and I were at the Farmer's market the morning of cooking school, we bought the most delicious white peaches from a vendor. I told Paulina that I had a friend that would grill peaches for dessert and that I'd love to know how. So, our cooking school dessert was planned.

I had no idea how easy it was. Cut your peaches in half to remove the pits. Brush a little high heat oil on each side. Grill for 3-4 minutes with the cut side down. Turn over, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and cook on an indirect heat source (like the top shelf on the grill) for about 10 minutes. 

We at ours warm with a dollop of greek yogurt and honey on top. Seriously, so stinkin' good!

While outside grilling, Paulina showed me her neighbor's fig tree. I'll admit I have never had a fresh fig. I have had my share of fig newtons, but that is as close to figs as I ever get. So, we ventured under the tree for a little lesson. The fig on the left is an almost ripe fig. Texas figs aren't dark purple like most, but rather a green to purple shade. This tree has hundreds of them! 

Fresh figs from her tree where yummy (like the one pictured at the top). We also tried grilling them. TO grill fresh figs, just place them on your hot grill for a few minutes. When they darken and shrivel, they are ready. These blistered a little which is a sign we were talking too much :).

I love finding a unique way to serve dessert with dinner and in the summer, love that it doesn't involve the oven!

Okra- Grilled and Sauteed

Are you guys loving Paulina's Cooking School? I had so much fun cooking with her and love that I have some healthy options for dinner with the family.

I love fried okra. Only fried okra. I hadn't ever known people cooked it in other ways. Just fried or slimy on the salad bar. Those were my options before cooking school. Because I like okra, Paulina offered me two healthier ways to cook fresh okra.

You can grill it! How easy is that! Just wash your fresh okra, drizzle it with a little olive oil and salt and pepper and place it on the grill with your meat. It will be done when there are grill marks on the outside, it was less than 10 minutes. Super easy to add when your steaks or chicken are cooking.

If you aren't grilling or want to add a little color to your plate, this dish was awesome! I'd call it Okra Succotash, a word I don't use often enough. Hehe!

Paulina's Okra Succotash


Chop the following veggies:

Okra
Red and Yellow Bell Peppers
Onion
Garlic
Roma Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
One Pepper, jalapeno or habanero for spice, is optional

Saute onion, pepper, and garlic in a skillet until soft

Add okra and squash and 1/2 cup water

Place a lid on the skillet and allow to boil/steam for several minutes.

Here is the fun part.... okra has a slimy liquid inside. It is great for your skin, but it can be a little creepy for people to eat. Adding the water helps to pull out the slime from the okra while it cooks. To test that, pull out a piece of the okra from the skillet and check it with your hand or your tongue.

After the okra is done, add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper to taste. Serve your succotash with a slotted spoon to leave the slimy water behind.

Enjoy your new okra dishes! Up next, delicious grilled fruit!

Kale Chips and Smoothies

When my friend Paulina and I got together to learn about cooking vegetables and kale, I didn't realize you could bake it and make kale chips! But, now I do, we did, and I would do it again :)

From the salad post, you'll remember there are different kinds of kale. She recommends the green kale on the right for salads and the dinosaur kale on the left for chips. 

The dinosaur kale is darker and is more narrow with long leaves. The green kale is more like lettuce. So, the picture above is the top of the dinosaur kale leaf and the picture below is the bottom. You don't want to eat too much of the thicker stem near the base of the leaves. We learned that during this process- it doesn't make the chip taste good and won't get to be crunchy like you would want.

To make kale chips, we tore the cleaned dinosaur kale up and in most cases ripped the leaves off the thick stems. Then you toss them with olive oil in a bowl. Lay them flat on a foil lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle your favorite seasoning mix on them- we used a brisket rub.

Bake them at 350 for about 7 minutes. They will darken and shrivel a little. When you pick them up, they will be stiffer than pre-cooking. The thinner pieces were the best- they have more crunch and grabbed the seasoning flavors better.

Kale chips are super easy and a great alternative to potato chips with a sandwich or burger.

We didn't have the ingredients to make kale smoothies, but Paulina recommends them. She has tried them numerous ways and thinks peaches, almond butter, kale and greek yogurt is best. Doesn't that sound good? Since kale really needs some seasoning to bring out the flavor, I have no doubt that you could throw it in your favorite smoothie mix and you would never know if was there!

Up next, let's talk okra! I had no idea it tasted good it is wasn't fried!

Massaged Kale Salad

When I met up with Paulina for cooking school I told her I wanted to know what kale is and how to eat it. I had heard so much about it, but I didn't know if it was green or purple, leafy or gourd-like. I was clueless!

So, I quickly learned that kale is not currently in season in Texas. It grows here in the fall, I think. But, our local Whole Foods store carries it so we stopped there on our way home. Kale is like lettuce, but way more beneficial to our bodies. It is low in calories and high in fiber. 

There are a variety of kinds- we bought dinosaur kale to make kale chips and green kale for our salad. More on the chips coming soon!

Because kale is so rich in fiber, it can be hard for our bodies to break it down, so it helps to break it up a little before eating it in raw form, like a salad. After washing the green kale, we placed it in a bowl with a little olive oil, the juice of a fresh squeezed lemon, and coarse sea salt. For about five minutes we tossed the salad, rubbing the liquids and salt into it. 

The kale will darken from the oils and becomes such a pretty shade of green. After you have massaged the leaves, you are ready to turn your bowl of kale into a yummy salad!

For our salad, we simply added fresh white peaches and toasted almonds. We also made a simple sweet homemade dressing from lemon juice, honey, olive oil and pepper. We let it all chill for about 30 minutes and dug in!

The salad might have been my favorite dish of the day. It was sweet and light and so nutritious. I ate a big bowl of it and I will not lie, I had a tummy ache later that day. I think my body was in shock to be eating something so rich in fiber! Super healthy kale!

Up next, kale chips and smoothies!

Eggplant Hummus

Our first installment of Paulina's cooking school (click here to learn more) is eggplant. When we arrived at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, there was a large eggplant in her CSA (the box of veggies they prepick for her each week). She traded it in for Japanese Eggplant. This form of eggplant is shaped more like a cucumber and cooks quicker than the larger gourd shaped eggplant. It is low in calories and super high in fiber and minerals.

We began with 3 or 4 japanese eggplant and after washing them, sliced them lengthwise. With the cut side up, we drizzled them with olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper on a foil lined cookie sheet.

We then turned them over and did a little more oil.

After roasting them on 350 for about 25 mins, they began to look like sausage. They are done when the skin can easily be pinched off from the meat of the eggplant.

Using a spoon, separate the meat from the skin and place the meat into your food processor. It worked best to wedge the spoon at one end between the meat and skin and run it down the length of the eggplant.

Once in the food processor, add 1 clove garlic, a little olive oil and some salt. 

Blend away until it is the consistency you like. Taste it and add more seasonings if needed. If I were serving this at a party, I think it would be fun to add a little food coloring to make it more purple.

Serve with fresh tortilla chips and you'll have a healthy way to eat eggplant!

 Up next, the amazing world of kale!

Paulina's Cooking School

If you spend much time on the blog, you know that I love to bake. I am not the healthiest cook- I like casseroles, desserts, breads and sweet tea. But, I recognize as I get older that doesn't provide for my body like it once did. Every blog, Pinterest, and online cookbook is full of the yummy stuff, but I need the basics when it comes to vegetables. What is kale? What does it even look like much less how do you cook it?

Enter my friend Paulina who once posted "low fat equals chemical sh*t storm". She is a working wife who still finds time to eat well. I asked her if she would be willing to go veggie shopping with me and then teach me how to cook it all. She was, so we did!

We spent about 4 hours last Saturday at the Farmer's Market, Whole Foods, and her kitchen. She let me pick our veggies and she showed me what to do with them. It was fun, healthy, and educational.

Her and her husband are foodies. I love this huge print in their dining room!

So, for the next few weeks I am going to share with you. We'll talk kale, okra, squash, bell peppers, peaches, figs and more! I wouldn't say the blog is on a diet, but she is going to be healthy for the next few weeks. I hope you'll join me for Paulina's Cooking School.