Sweet potato fries

Recently, for about two months, I'd feel like my heart was fluttering or beating way too fast, more often than I was comfortable with. Somehow in my "Working with children & adolescents" class we got on the topic of heart palpitations sometimes being caused by wonky electrolytes, and electrolytes being something involving potassium and sodium, and in that moment I remembered a while ago (3-4 years ago) my nephrologist told me that my potassium levels were very low. I tried upping my potassium intake and bam! Haven't had any fluttering or pounding in a month and a half. Now, I like bananas, but I'm really not their biggest fan, and I certainly can't stuff dark chocolate in my face constantly. After a bit of googling, it came to my attention that sweet potatoes are an excellent source of potassium. Of course I immediately went out, bought two small sweet potatoes, put them in my produce drawer planning to make sweet potato pancakes the next morning, and promptly forgot all about them for two weeks. Guess it doesn't help that I don't want sweet potato pancakes like ever, and my boyfriend doesn't like sweet potato fries. He went away for the weekend, my roommate said something about sweet potatoes, and that night we enjoyed a lovely dinner with veggies, sweet potato fries, and chicken thighs!

- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1.5 tbsp canola oil
- 1-2 tsp of salt
- a few "shakes" or "twists" of pepper
- a pinch of smoked paprika

1. Heat oven to 400f
2. Peel the sweet potatoes (really peel them, don't stop at the yellow, stop when you see the sweet-potato orange) and cut them into half-inch wide fries.
3. Add everything to a bowl and mix, making sure everything is covered and evenly spread
4. Lay the fries down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
5. Cook for 30 minutes

Serve this with ketchup, mayo, chipotle mayo, or nothing!

Mushroom pork

Just on a quick note, this is a recipe I've made quite a few times very casually, so I don't have all perfect measurements but I will do my best <3

1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 tbsp (maybe more if you're feelin it) sour cream
1 splash of milk
2 large pork chops (usually these ones have the bone in them) or 4 small/medium
salt and pepper
a little bit of margarine or butter or oil

(Note - I prefer to brine my pork, I find it helps it stay nice and tender. I usually do a couple peeled and crushed cloves of garlic, a tbsp of salt, a tbsp of brown sugar, and maybe a little squirt of lemon juice with enough water in a bowl or container to cover the pork chops and leave them for at least one hour)

1. Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Pre-heat oven to 350f.
2. Pat down with paper towel and add pork chops to the pan once butter is melted and sizzling or your oil is doing that shimmery thing. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on one side only. Cook on each side for about 3 minutes for boneless, 5 minutes for bone in.
3. Combine the milk, soup, and sour cream in a bowl - try to smooth out any lumps but don't get too stressed over it.
4.  Spread a layer of the soup mix in a glass baking dish, whatever size you think will fit your chops even if they rest on top of each other a bit. Put the pork chops on top of that layer and spread the rest over top of them - if they overlap a little, put some between them too so you don't miss an inch of exposed pork.

5. Cook for 50 minutes to an hour, covered by tin foil. If you feel like it, remove the tin foil for the last 10 minutes
6. Serve over/with rice or mashed potatoes! I've done both and I love it. Favourite veggie to serve with this is green beans.

So... much... rice. I'm terrible at measuring normal rice
after months of just being lazy and using minute rice.

Yellow coconut curry - meatless monday!

So I needed something to make for dinner that didn't involve meat, I looked up a couple curry recipes and came up with this. I'm pretty proud of myself!

Curry sauce
14 oz can coconut milk
1/4 - 1/2 cooking/yellow onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
About 1 inch of ginger
Salt and pepper
Canola or vegetable oil (bout 1/2 tbsp)

Other stuff
1 can chickpeas
1 head of cauliflower
2 yellow or white potatoes
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
About 2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
Maybe a squirt of lemon juice if you're feelin' it

1. Heat oven to 400f, line a baking sheet with tinfoil
2. Cut the cauliflower into small bite-sized florettes, peel and cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes, drain the chickpeas, throw everything into a bowl or ziplock bag
3. Add salt, pepper, 2 tbsp oil, a couple shakes of garlic powder, and lemon to the bowl or bag, shake/mix it up
4. Spread it all on the baking sheet and, when the oven's preheated, put it in and set the timer for 25-35 minutes, do a fork test for "doneness" at 25 minutes

5. After putting that in the oven, mince the onion while oil heats over medium in a large skillet or frying pan (mince the garlic too at this point if you don't get pre-minced like me), grate the ginger using a grater with small holes, not the kind you use for cheese
6. Cook the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, DON'T let it burn.
7. Add the garam masala, curry powder, and turmeric to the onions and garlic, mix to turn it into a "paste" of sorts. Add the ginger, mix it all up again. Don't let it burn.

8. Finally, shake the can of coconut milk, open it and pour it in the pan. Cook for a minute or two, then blend if you feel like it. I do, I feel like it combines all the flavours really well.

9. Pour the sauce back in the pan if you blended it. Add salt and pepper. I like it a little salty but not everyone does!

10. Let that simmer away. When the veggies are done, let them cool off for a minute or two so you don't burn yourself, then add it to the sauce.

11. Mix it up, let it simmer and soak into the veggies a little. Altogether, the simmering should go on for 10 minutes to thicken up.

12. Add it to rice and enjoy! Because I forgot to put rice on, I just did a little bit of minute rice while letting the sauce soak into the veggie mix.

So that's it! When I have some, I loveeeee sprinkling some of those crunchy fried onions over top. Careful, it's hot. It serves 3-4 adults, I'd assume it would serve 2 adults and 2-3 kids.

NOTE: I don't add chili because I can't have spicy things, but please feel free to!

Cracker chicken

Huge shout-out to a friend for showing this recipe to me. Insanely delicious and easy, and really simple to multiply for more than one serving.

6-10 ritz crackers (3-5 per chicken thigh, we used low-sodium because it's what I had)
Garlic powder
1 tbps mayonnaise
salt and pepper
possibly chili powder if you're feelin' it.
2 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs

1. Heat oven to 350f
2. Crush the ritz in a bowl, add your salt and pepper (to taste) and your spices
3. Pat down chicken with paper towel, rub the mayo all over the thighs
4. Roll them in the crumb mix and place on foil-lined baking sheet
5. Bake for 35 minutes

It's actually a funny story, she was planning to make one dinner and I was planning another. I went to her house and it was like 5000 degrees and my phone was dying so we grabbed her chicken, went to my house, and decided to make both and it was like... the best meal I've had in a while.

Roasted chicken dinner

I can't even pretend I wasn't proud of my chicken dinner. It's not hard to roast a chicken, I guess, but I was still proud of myself nonetheless.

Sorry it's such an ugly picture, I was starving
then thought to take a picture at the
very last minute to brag to my mom about
how well I'm doing on my own

For the chicken:
1 Whole chicken, about 5 lbs
3-4 tbsp margarine or butter
1 tbsp olive or canola oil
1 tbsp lemon juice, fresh or not, both are good
2 cloves of garlic, minced, or half a tbsp of pre-minced garlic in a jar
1 tsp Dried rosemary, crumbled as best you can with your fingers OR 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, quickly chopped
1 tsp Dry thyme OR 2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp Dry sage
1-2 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Pepper
1-2 tbsp white wine, if you can spare it, mixed with 1/4 cup water

For the potatoes and carrots:
2-3 Yellow potatoes, peeled, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
3 whole carrots, peeled, cut into 1 cm slices
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
a sprinkle of rosemary


1. Heat oven to 425
2. Mix up everything for the chicken in a bowl except the white wine/water and the actual chicken. Make sure all of it is combined.
3. Place chicken in a roasting pan or a deep baking tray (I use a 16X11 tray). Cover the chicken in the butter mix, even a little bit on the bottom but of course most of it on the tops and sides, using your hands or a brush.
4. Put all of the potato and carrot ingredients in a bag, shake it up until everything is coated evenly.
5. Carefully pour all of the veggies around the chicken, try not to let any of them land on top or rub off too much of the butter on the sides. Pour the water and wine mix into a corner of the pan and gently tilt it to spread it evenly
6. Cook, uncovered, in the oven for 45 minutes
7. Pull it out of the oven, flip some of the veggies so they don't dry out too much. Baste the chicken or, do what I had to do, tilt the pan and spoon the juices over the chicken.
8. Cook in the oven for another 20-25 minutes

Let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes after pulling it out of the oven, It's gunna be hella hot and you WILL burn your fingers if you don't let it rest.

Creamy White Wine Mushroom Sauce

So this is pretty grand sauce, and I pretty much made it up by myself (little help from google, of course). It would go well with chicken, maybe some bacon crumble, maybe some sauteed spinach, maybe some green beans, whatever you like with your white wine. I made it with bowtie pasta and that was more than enough.

The lighter chunks are some leftover chicken from the night before

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup milk, I used 1%
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp butter, more if needed
- 5-6 white mushrooms, chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup white wine (not a sweet one)
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese - best fresh or that pre-crumbled stuff, not the pre-grated stuff, the pre-grated adds a weird sweet taste that almost makes it taste like the milk has gone bad
- About 2-4 tsp of salt, about 1 tsp pepper

1. Melt 2 tbsp of the butter in a non-stick pan or skillet over medium heat, add some of the salt, oregano, garlic, pepper. Once the butter is melted and bubbling, add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes, until they're soft and they've shrunk.
2. Melt the last tbsp of butter maybe a little more if it seems like there's not much in the pan, add the flour when the butter's melted and mix the butter and flour together until it's like a paste.
3. While stirring, slowly add the first 1/2 cup of milk. Make sure everything is combined, the milk may thicken up quickly and that's okay.
4. Add another 3/4 cups of the milk, make sure everything is combined. Set aside the last 1/4 cup of milk for later.
5, While stirring, slooowwwllyy add the white wine. Let it cook and thicken up for a little bit.
6. Sprinkle the cheese over top and stir in. Let the whole thing cook for a few minutes, Maybe about ten. If you're waiting for chicken to finish cooking, or pasta to finish boiling, etc... now is when you add that last 1/4 of milk bit by bit to keep it liquid-y.

Addicting honey soy chicken thighs

I've eaten this chicken twice in the past week, sorry not sorry. My roommate walked in with her girlfriend while this was cooking and they started whining that I wasn't making it for them. It's delicious and beyond simple. I personally find it best with 24 hrs+ of marinating, but you don't have to marinate it for it to be good. Definitely make sure you make two for everyone you're feeding that isn't a child, they'll definitely want it, and even if they can't finish both they'll keep it for lunch the next day (or snack 5 hours later if you're my boyfriend).

Usually I eat two thighs and some other stuff for dinner, but a single
thigh and some veggies make a lovely lunch.

All of these are rough measurements. Remember, cooking is art and baking is science. Feel free to let your artistic flag fly! Adjust measurements accordingly if you add/take away thighs.

- 4 large skin on, bone-in chicken thighs
- 2.5 tbsp honey
- 2.5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2-3 minced cloves of garlic, or what you think would be an equal amount out of those pre-minced garlic jars.
- dash of black pepper
- 1 tbsp oil of your choice

1. Mix everything (except chicken) in a bowl. Put chicken thighs in a ziplock (freezer bag, you need it to be thick) and pour mixture over it. Seal the bag and "sloosh" it around a bit, trying to get every bit of the chicken thighs covered. Lay it flat in the fridge until you're ready cook it, flipping the bag every few hours to try to give it the most even possible flavour.
2. Set your oven to 425. For the record, this does work in toaster ovens too.
3. Once the oven is ready, place chicken thighs in a ceramic or glass casserole type of dish. Obviously, make sure it's oven safe. Nobody likes exploding dishes. Add as much of the marinade as you want, I wouldn't suggest going past halfway up the thighs though.
4. Bake thighs skin-side up for 25 minutes, Flip, bake for another 10, flip, bake for another 10.
5. Serve with whatever veggies you want, and maybe a bit of rice. Rice soaks up the marinade nicely if you like that kind of thing. Careful, it's hot.