baked sweet potato fries

My first year of college, I lived a right around the corner from the place called Kerbey Lane Cafe. If you live in Austin, you've heard of it. If you went to UT, you probably had a few wee-hour, post-party chow-downs there. They have these totally amazing sweet potato fries, served with chipotle mayo. And they're open 24 hours a day, every day! Also, I gained a hefty 15 pounds my freshman year--what a coincidence, right?

Since then, I've said a not-so-heartfelt goodbye to my freshman 15, along with the 2am meals at Kerbey Lane. But I still crave those sweet potato fries. Except now I make them myself, in a slightly healthier, baked incarnation.

BAKED SWEET POTATO FRIES

1-2 large sweet potatoes
4-5 tbs olive oil
1 tbs salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder

Preheat the oven to 375. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into uniform fry-shapes. Toss them on a baking sheet with a few tablespoons of olive oil and the seasonings (use your own seasoning discretion; it's an inexact science.) Arrange in a single layer and bake 30-40 minutes, turning once in the middle of baking.

flourless peanut butter cookies

If you know me "in real life," you probably know my love affair with peanut butter. It's one of my main food groups. I've been known to carry a jar around in my car. Just in a case of a, you know, emergency requiring, uhh, peanut butter.

I firmly believe that peanut butter deserves respect beyond pb&j's (though I love them) and pad thai (still one of my favorites.) It deserves to be fabulous. It deserves to be a cookie.

These are totally flourless, but they compromise nothing. They're gooey on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and oh so peanut butter. If you can spring for the organic, stir-up kind of crunchy peanut butter, do it. The taste is infinitely better, not to mention hydrogenated oils do scary and mysterious things in your gut.

Also, thus far I've found that these freeze pretty well. Keep them stocked for your cookie fix.

FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for dusting
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Thoroughly combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls, then roll them in the extra white sugar to coat. Arrange on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Press down with a fork (you know, those pretty fork marks.) Bake for 10-12 minutes.

roasted butternut squash soup with a secret ingredient

Check me out, being a grown-up, cooking squash! Enjoying squash, even. It's surreal. If I ran into my 10-year-old self, I do believe she'd give me a very scathing "I don't even know who you are anymore."

Clearly, I've jumped on the fall flavors wagon. While I was researching butternut squash recipes, I found a video of Giada making a savory butternut squash risotto with vanilla. Being a practical skeptic, I found myself leery of savory vanilla. Even though I love Giada. Even though everything she makes is heavenly. Even though I have what we may call a "girl crush" on her.

Yet again, foodie curiosity got the best of me. I threw some vanilla (acting on wild impulses occasionally works in my favor) in the soup. It is. So. Good. I'm sorry I ever doubted Giada. The vanilla makes the soup fragrant, and beautifully delicious in that "I have no idea why this is so good but it is" kind of way.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP with VANILLA

1 butternut squash

1/2 large onion

1 tsp ground sage

1 tbs vanilla extract

16 oz (half a box) chicken stock

salt & pepper

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400. Peel, core, and cut the squash into cubes. Dice the onion.

On a baking sheet, toss the squash with a drizzle of olive oil & a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Bake until soft, about 10-15 minutes.

In the meantime, heat a large pot with a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Cook the onions until they are soft and start to brown, about 10 minutes.

The squash and onions should be ready about the same time. If the onions go to far, remove them from the heat for a few minutes until the squash is ready.

When the squash is cooked through, throw it into the pan with the onions. Toss together for a minute or so, then add the chicken stock. Allow to return to a boil.

When the soup is cookin' again, use an immersion blender to blend until completely smooth. (I'm assuming you could do this in a regular blender, though I didn't try.)

Add the sage, and the salt & pepper to taste. Allow the soup to reduce for a few more minutes. When it's thickened to your liking, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

carrot green apple salad (slightly tardy)

Right now you're probably thinking, "Carrot salad, Amanda?" It's October. Shouldn't you be breaking out the pumpkin?" Well, perhaps you're right. But remember when I said, we don't have autumn in Texas? All we have is "godawfully hot" and "those couple months where you have to wear jeans." And while it has been a beautiful and mercifully mild 80 degrees here the past couple weeks, I'm not quite ready to start my "fall" flavors.

So here's one of my very favorite summery salads--in October. I like mine a little sweet (I know, shocking), but if you prefer, you can leave out the honey & cinnamon.

CARROT APPLE SALAD

2 cups carrots (I used baby carrots)

1 granny smith apple

1/3 cup raisins

2 heaping spoons of plain yogurt

1 tsp honey

1/4 tsp cinnamon

salt & pepper to taste

Using a food processor shredder, shred the carrots and half of the apple. Peel and dice the other half of the apple. In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, honey, and seasonings. Stir in the carrot mixture and diced apples.

Makes 2-ish servings.

classic banana nut muffins: the safe version

Oh, banana bread, we meet YET again. Take a look through this blog, and you will find that banana muffins and I are good friends.

It's not that I love banana nut bread more than any other treat. It just seems that people frequently pawn off sickly-looking bananas on me. And, being a soft-hearted person, I can't turn these ghastly-looking creatures away. Come into my kitchen, I say, we'll make you pretty again, my triploid friends!

Today, I created my own recipe and it miraculously worked out again. Clearly, the gluten-free baking force is with me lately. Though I love wild and crazy banana bread deviations, this is a return to everything that is classic and lovely about banana bread. Bananas. Honey. Pecans. Except this time, it's gluten and dairy free. Double happy.

BANANA NUT MUFFINS, Gluten Free

(Wheat flour recipe follows)

1/2 cup almond flour *

1/2 cup sorghum flour *

1 cup rice flour *

2 tsp xanthan gum *

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbs cinnamon

2 overly ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil or butter

2 eggs

1 cup chopped pecans

1 tbs sugar

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins.

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk until the flour is uniform.

In a separate bowl, thoroughly combine the bananas, honey, oil, and eggs. (I actually combined mine with an immersion blender; it really helps with the texture of the muffins.)

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Beat until the mixture becomes thick and uniform. Fold in the chopped pecans.

Divide batter among baking cups and sprinkle with the sugar. Cook for 22-24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan asap to cool.

gluten-free apple cinnamon muffins

I'm jumping on the fall-flavors wagon--even though Texas doesn't really have what most people consider "autumn." Even though we'll continue to experience 90-plus degree weather well into November. To hell with it. Seasons are subjective! And, I'd like to point out, we did have a frigid cold front today...60 degrees this morning and only 85 this afternoon! Oh baby. I'm breaking out the heavy coats. Singin' Frosty the Snowman down here.

All weather aside, when my 8pm sweet craving crept in yesterday night, I wanted something warm and toasty. And I wanted to, at last, completely wing-it on gluten-free baking. It was a deeply gratifying (aka messy and anxiety-causing) experience. But here I stand--light jacket on, apple cinnamon muffins in hand. Today is indeed the day the Lord hath made. Let is rejoice and be glad and eat muffins in it.

Note: I used gala apples, because they're all I had, and they turned out great. However, granny smith is usually my go-to baking apple.

GF APPLE CINNAMON MUFFINS

Wet:

1 egg

3/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbs vanilla

Dry:

1/3 cup tapioca flour*

1/3 cup brown rice flour*

1/3 cup white sorghum flour*

1 tsp xanthan gum*

1 tbs cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

And...

1 1/2 cups diced apples

Preheat oven to 350 and line baking cups. Thoroughly combined the wet ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until very well combined.

Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, and stir thoroughly (don't worry about over-mixing.) Then, fold in the diced apples.

Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide the batter into the cups. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes about 10 muffins.

Wheat eaters! To make these muffins "normal," substitute 1 cup of regular flour for all the ingredients with an *asterisk.

kid pasta with pistachio (cashew) cream sauce

Okay, so I know it ain't pretty. And I know it's on Bob the Builder shaped gluten-free pasta. (Don't judge me...I'm a Gemini with a very active inner child.) But lemme tell you. This "cream" sauce. God. Pistachios. Pasta too. I loved it so much, it's rendered me incapable of forming cohesive sentences.

I was raiding my pantry today, and happened to see some pistachios left over from my good friend, the pistachio pizza. (This itself was a miracle, as I have minimal self control around pistachios.) Then I was surfing Pinch My Salt, and found a recipe for Sicilian pistachio cream pasta. I considered it fate.

Since I'm on the no-dairy wagon, I decided to try my hand at pasta sauces with cashew cream. It was all that I hoped it would be...creamy, rich-tasting, with none of that "ohmygod-i-ate-so-much-pasta-i-hate-my-life" feeling afterwards. And, the flavor and subtle crunch of the pistachios? Muah. I wanna go on a date with this pasta sauce.

PISTACHIO CASHEW CREAM SAUCE

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup pistachios, raw

1/2 cup cashew cream

3/4 cup chicken stock

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

In a food processor, finely chop the pistachios until they just have a little bit of texture left.

Heat a skillet over med-high with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil is hot, throw in the onion and cook until soft. Just when the onion starts to take on a little bit of brown color, toss in the garlic. Cook for another 30 seconds or so.

Then, reduce the heat to medium and toss in the pistachios. Mix together for about 1 minute, until the mixture is paste-like and you can smell the pistachios toasting.

Mix in the cashew cream, then add the chicken stock. Season well with plenty of salt and black pepper. Allow to reduce, stirring frequently, until it is the right consistency for sauce. If the sauce seems too tight, add a little more stock.

Serve with penne, farfalle, or (if you're adventurous) kiddo pasta.

If you're eating gf pasta, get the corn-based kind. It's the best!

Serves 1 with a little leftovers.