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Friday, 11 May 2012

Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy Don’t Throw Away Those Sweet Potato Peels

Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy Don’t Throw Away Those Sweet Potato Peels

Link to Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy

Don’t Throw Away Those Sweet Potato Peels

Posted: 10 May 2012 07:15 PM PDT

FoodWasteFriday
One of my biggest pet peeves is throwing away food. I could kick myself every time I dump food down the drain or in the trash: it’s just a complete and total waste! And I hate waste. Which is why I am so thrilled to link up to  The Frugal Girl on her weekly feature where she posts a picture of all the food she had to throw away for the week, and invites other bloggers to do the same. The idea is to feel some accountability – who wants to admit they threw away all that money to the whole world? – to help you avoid throwing away food in the future.


So in the picture above, you see what I threw away this week:

  1. a child’s serving of chicken
  2. cucumber-tomato salad
  3. (not pictured) 3-4 soft potatoes

The chicken is leftovers from going out to eat with our extended family to celebrate some birthdays. I tried 3 different times to get both kids to eat their leftovers, but they categorically refused. By then, it was time to throw them away. Sadness.

I made myself the cucumber-tomato salad, ate half of it, then forgot about the other half. Oops.

And the potatoes went bad surprisingly quickly! I’m going to half to cook up the rest of the bag for dinner tonight before they go bad, too.

You’re probably wondering about the sweet potato peels, aren’t you? I have not recently thrown away any sweet potato peels. In fact, I’ve discovered recently that sweet potato peels actually make an amazingly delicious little snack that’s good for you, too. Considering it’s made from something most people would grind in the garbage disposal, I’d say that’s a pretty good deal!

Now if you Google “sweet potato peels”, you’ll find a bunch of tutorials that instruct you to bake the sweet potato whole, scoop out the flesh, and then roast the peels. That’s great if you actually need sweet potato puree, but not so great if you’re wanting to peel and cut the sweet potatoes for some other purpose (like sweet potato fries, for example). In that case, you’re starting with raw peels, a totally different thing altogether.

I couldn’t find a single recipe online that started with raw sweet potato peels, so I invented my own. And Oh. My. Goodness. They were soooooooo good. Even better (in my humble opinion) than the variety that starts with baked potato peels. Instead of baking the peels, I boiled them a little bit first so they weren’t completely raw when I put them in the oven. The olive oil just soaked into the tender peels and created a crisp but tender salty little treat that was rather addictive.


Sweet Potato Skins

Ingredients

  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

  1. Use a paring knife to peel the sweet potatoes in strips lengthwise, making sure to leave a decent amount of flesh on the skin. Use the actual sweet potato for another purpose.
  2. Place the peels in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer just until the skins are tender.
  3. Drain the skins, pat them dry, and place them on a cookie sheet. Brush liberally with olive oil.
  4. Mix together the seasonings in a small bowl and sprinkle them on the peels.
  5. Bake at 425F for 10-12 minutes or until peels are browned and crispy.


Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the finished product, but trust me. These are good!

Boiling the peels adds an extra step, so these aren’t the QUICKest snack in my repertoire. But they’re still done in half an hour or less.

Very EASY! No special skills required.

Oh yeah, these are CHEAP. Can’t get any cheaper than this!

And very HEALTHY, too. The fiber from the peels and all the antioxidants and other goodness from the sweet potato is just the icing on this cake.

Don’t forget to enter my Giveaway for a Topsy Turvy Tomato Tree!

Let's have a little chat! Please take my survey and tell me what you love to read about and what you'd like to see on my blog. I can't wait to read your thoughts and suggestions!

Topsy Turvy Giveaway

Posted: 10 May 2012 05:00 AM PDT

These upside-down tomato planters have intrigued me since I first heard about them, and I’ve been wanting to try them forever! So when I was sent one to review, I was ecstatic. (Yes, ecstatic!) Unfortunately, it was just a little bit too early to put them to use, so I had to curb my enthusiasm for a week or two until I could actually plant some tomatoes.

Finally, I was able to plant them, but now… Now I have to wait for them to grow and make cute little tomatoes. *Sigh* Patience is totally not my strong suit. 

But while I’m waiting, I’m going to give you a chance to win a tomato tree for yourself! These handy little planters will make your gardening life a lot easier.

The benefits to using a tomato tree planter instead of planting them in the ground like people have done since the dawn of time?

  • It takes up less space. If you don’t happen to have a lot of ground to work with, these are perfect for you! I happen to love it because I only have a small balcony to work with, so hanging the tomato plants creates a lot more floor space for me to use with other plants.
  • No need to stake your tomato plants.
  • No holes to dig or other grunt work involved.
  • Simple assembly that takes very little time.
  • No weeding!

It took my husband and myself less than 10 minutes to plant the tomatoes in these hanging planters. The process is simple: drill a hole for the hook, open the planter, insert the plant and secure it with a foam wedge, gently fill the planter with soil, place the lid on top, and hang it from the hook. Done!

topsy turvy tomatoes

Of course, just like any potted plant, some maintenance is required: it is absolutely essential to water them generously every day, especially in the hottest days of summer. I read an ingenious idea elsewhere online (but haven’t tried it myself yet) to create a self-watering planter by inserting a milk gallon jug cut in half above the soil in the planter. Poke some holes in the bottom of the gallon jug and pour water into it. The water will slowly drain into the soil, reducing the need for frequent watering.

My only concern with the planter was that when we were assembling it, one of the three steel cords it hangs from snapped. It happened so fast, I’m not sure what caused it, but I think it was because we were trying to place the lid on too forcefully.  I couldn’t find any instances of that happening to anyone else when reading numerous reviews online, so I think it was a freak occurrence. We were able to fix it successfully with duct tape (yay, marvelous duct tape!) and it’s hanging quite nicely on our balcony now.
But what do you have to lose? Nothing! Entering this giveaway is simple and costs you nothing, so you can give it a try yourself. This giveaway is open until next Tuesday at midnight, and I will send the winner an announcement via e-mail. This giveaway is only open to US residents. And please note: the tomato plant is not included, only the planter itself.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let's have a little chat! Please take my survey and tell me what you love to read about and what you'd like to see on my blog. I can't wait to read your thoughts and suggestions!
at 04:06

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