Who doesn't love hummus?
Well, me, as a kid. I hated it. I could not believe all the adults were making such a big deal over something that tasted like garlic and lemon! I think I was envisioning something more along the lines of S'mores at the time. ...if you aren't imagining a graham cracker with a piece of chocolate and a melted marshmallow, hummus is quite lovely.

Sweet Potato Hummus

ingredients
1 medium cooked sweet potato
3 tablespoons olive oil.
2 cans cooked chickpeas rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons tahini.
3 cloves garlic, peeled.
juice of 1 lemon.
ground sea salt, to taste

Toss in a food processor and process until smooth.Serve with whatever your favorite dipping scooping food items are. I like fresh cucumber slices, corn chips, carrots, celery and tomatoes.

 

My new favorite version of quinoa salad!

Super easy too.

 

 

All you need is cooked quinoa,

 

 

chopped avocado,

 

 

yeah and a bowl. Ok, where was I?

 

 

Some diced tomatoes with green chilies,

 

 

juice of a fresh lemon,

 

 

chopped mangos,

 

 

some of the Red Gold petite diced tomatoes in garlic and olive oil that Red Gold sent me. They are a nice size of can when you’re making a small batch. These are really tasty!

 

 

Mix it all together and season with salt to taste.  Put in a bit of the tomatoes in garlic and olive oil juice taste it, see what you think then add a little more if it’s still seems a little dry.

 

 

Serve and enjoy.

 

 

Quinoa Salad with mango

ingredients

 

• 2 cups cooked red quinoa
• 1 avocado cubed
• 1/4 cup Red Gold petite diced tomatoes with green chilies drained
• 1/2 cup Red Gold petite diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil and some of it’s juice to taste
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup chopped mangos.
• pinch of salt

 

Mix together and serve.

 

Always trying different gluten free pizza crusts.

 

 

This one was made by Schar.

 

 

I opened the box and found that it’s sort of a thick crust.

 

 

Now, what to put on top to test this crust?

 

 

How about garlic.

 

 

And sweet potatoes. We have plenty of those.

 

 

I think that’s a great idea. But what else?

 

 

Alright, I’ve found a few things for pizza topping.

 

 

 

 

Start with a layer of cottage cheese,

 

 

Then sweet potatoes, parsley,

 

 

garlic,

 

 

Red Gold diced tomatoes with green chilies but not too many of them if you’re a wimp like me. 

 

 

Some sausage slices,

 

 

red onion slices,

 

 

broccoli,

 

 

a bit more cottage cheese,

 

 

and top with shredded cheese.

Bake at 450 until topping is cooked and cheese is melted, 15 minutes or more.

 

 

Let cool.

 

 

Here is a pull back shot of my set up. North facing window light on my right, and a home made reflector to bounce light back onto the pizza from the other side.

 

 

Up close you can see the light on the left coming from the reflector.

 

 

Anyway, that’s how I did it. And now I think I’ll stop to eat some pizza.

 

 

Oh this is good!

 

P.S. the orange stuff is the left over sweet potato slices baked as sweet potato chips in the oven while the pizza was baking.

 

Broccoli Sweet Potato Pizza

ingredients

• sweet potato sliced extra thin
• cottage cheese drained
• diced tomatoes with green chilies
• sausage sliced
• garlic sliced
• parsley minced
• broccoli florets
• red onion sliced

Pre heat the oven to 450.

arrange cottage cheese, sweet potato slices, parsley, garlic, diced tomatoes, sausage slices, red onions, broccoli florets, and cheese onto crust. Bake until topping is cooked and cheese is melted, 15 minutes or more.

 

Best cheesecake I’ve ever made! tastes like pumpkin pie on the bottom and cheese cake on the top.

 

 

I got out a recipe and tried to followed it.  But then started substituting things… So here are my non ginger snaps. I didn’t have any ginger cookies anymore, I ate them yesterday.

 

 

Oh and look, a big girl food processor!!

 

 

It’s quiet, doesn’t have that overworked whine to the motor that the mini one did when I loaded it right up.

 

 

I had cookie crumbs in a matter of seconds!

 

 

For the crust it’s just cookie crumbs

 

 

and oil. I used coconut oil.

 

 

Mix it together until it’s like sticky crumbs.

 

 

Then pack into the bottom and up the sides just a little of two spring form pans.

Bake at 350 until lightly brown.

 

 

I was a little too excited to use the food processor again that I forgot something.

 

 

Yeah, it’s better to put the blade in first. Before you put sweet potatoes in!

 

 

Process until smooth.

 

 

Looks good.

 

 

Next add cream cheese, sugar,

 

 

cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice ,

 

 

and eggs.

 

 

Process. Stop to scrape sides if it looks like this and process until smooth.

 

 

Meanwhile, the crust should be done.

 

 

Yup, it is.

 

 

Pour mixture into warm crusts.

 

 

Now quick make the cheese top layer.

In the food processor add sour cream,

 

 

orange zest,

 

 

vanilla, ginger,

 

 

vanilla,

 

 

sugar,

 

 

and cream cheese. Yes, more cream cheese, this is the cheese cake layer we have to have cream cheese in this.

 

 

Process until smooth.

 

 

Before you pour onto top of  sweet potato layer scoop back out 4 teaspoons from each pan to reserve for top swirls. Then pour cheese layer on.

 

 

Looks good.

 

 

Now spoon in sweet potato mixture in random places.

 

 

using tooth picks or something draw random patterns or if you know what you're doing yours might look like fall leaves.

 

 

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until the middle is firm

 

 

Let cool before serving.

 

 

Best pumpkin flavored cheese cake I’ve ever made!

 

Sweet Potato Cheesecake

adapted from eatingwell.com

Makes two 9” cakes/pies

Crust

• 26-28 small ginger snap cookies, or almond cookies like I used
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil

 

Sweet Potato filling

• 3 cups cooked sweet potato
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup  sugar
• !/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 8oz cream cheese
• 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 allspice

 

Cheese cake filling

• 1 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 8oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger

 

Process cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl, add oil and stir until well combined. Using a spoon, spread and pat the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of two 9-inch pie pans. Bake until just barely beginning to darken, about 10 minutes.

 

In the food processor, process sweet potato,  eggs, sugar, brown sugar, cream cheese and spices until combined. Pour sweet potato filling in the warm crust.  Reserving 4 tablespoons of filling. 

 

In the food processor, process sour cream, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, zest and ginger; puree until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides if needed.

Dollop tablespoonfuls of the reserved sweet potato mixture onto the filling, spacing them evenly. Using a tooth pick or two create a swirled pattern.

Bake the pies until firm to the touch and starting to puff around the edges, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.