Foodie Friday: Slurp, Crunch and Chew

Slurp:

Japanese Sweet Potato Soup

We had this soup with some oven roasted chicken and roasted eggplant for dinner on Sunday. The Japanese Sweet potatoes give it a roasted chestnut flavor that is oh so yummy.

A recipe of sorts as I'm taking a guess at what Stephen tossed together in the pot:


Rich and Creamy Japanese Sweet Potato Soup

ghee or butter to cook the leeks and veggies
4 Japanese sweet potatoes - peeled and rough chopped
3 leek whites - cleaned and roughly chopped - great tips on how to clean leeks here
2 carrots roughly chopped
a teaspoon or so of chicken better than bullion  - This stuff is salty so a little goes a long way.  I noticed at my local market that they do have a lower sodium version that I want to give a try. I also noticed it contains sugar so maybe I need to make more chicken stock.
6 cups water or stock to cover the potatoes and leeks
salt and pepper to taste
A little bit of milk or cream about 1 cup

Saute the leeks in some ghee or butter, then add the sweet potatoes and carrots.  Then cover with water and bullion or stock.  Let cook until soft.  Run though a food mill or use a hand blender.  Add some cream or milk at the end.

Crunch:

Sweet Potato Chips

I followed the directions I found here which has you cook them at 400 deg for a short period of time.  I sliced mine up in my food processor which worked fine.  I forgot to salt mine and wish I had.  They were good but I think salted a head time they would have been better.  They didn't get as crunchy as I would have liked.  Oddly the got a bit crunchier after I took them out of the oven. Next time I'm trying a lower temperature for longer and see how that works.

Chew:

Monday's dinner: Dad's Pork Chops topped with some kale chips, roasted okra, feta-basil-garlic-tomato salad

This was my first time cooking up pork chops in a long, long time.  I was a vegetarian for several years.  Even though I've been an omnivore again for quite some time,  I avoid cooking cooking meat and let my husband Stephen be the adventurous one.  Since I do most of the cooking during the week and our current diet require more meat protien I need to just do it.  So I did.  The chops turned out good and would have been even better if I had cooked them a little less.  It was a tasty meal anyways.

Feta-garlic-basil-tomato salad
One pint cherry tomatoes chopped
purple basil as much or as little as you want
2 cloves garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste
a drizzle or so of olive oil
top with feta when you serve

Bon Appetite!