Sweet potato walnut bread

The sweet potato bread is an excellent base for breakfast, as it is full of nutrients and goes perfectly in a variety of combinations: butter/cream cheese/peanut butter + banana slices / strawberries / raw jam of chia and berries.


Store it in a plastic bag to keep it fresh and fluffy for about a week.

Ingredients:
- 300g sweet potato puree (1 medium sweet potato, boiled with the skin on, peeled and pureed);
- 600g white wheat flour + 100g extra, if needed;
- 1/2 package dry yeast (about 1tsp);
- 1 tsp cinammon;
- 50g chopped or ground walnuts;
- 100 ml milk (you can use vegetal milk if you want to go vegan);
- 100 ml oil or melted butter;
- a pinch of salt (if there are no restrictions) and a pinch of pepper.

Method:
In a bowl, mix the sifted flour, dry yeast and cinnamon. Add the nuts, salt and pepper and the sweet potato puree. Pour in the milk and mix well, until you get a sticky dough. Knead by hand for a few minutes (add a bit more flour if the dough is too sticky but don't exaggerate). Add gradually the oil /melted butter and continue to knead until completely mixed in. At this time the dough should be non-sticky and elastic. Î
Place the dough in a bowl, cover it with a clean towel and let it rise in a warm place for 1h (it should double its volume). Remove from the bowl, place it on the table (sprinkled with flour) and knead some more for 2-3 minutes.
Place the dough in a rectangular bread tin, lined with baking paper and let it rise again in a warm place for one more hour.
Bake in the preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius, for about 35-45 minutes, until it gets a golden crust. To check if the bread is completely baked, stick a wooden skewer in the middle, then remove. It should come out clean.
Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy!

Sweet potato brownie / muffins / cake

The sweet potato brownie cake has already become a tradition for my older daughter's birthday (coming soon). This time I decided to try it before the actual party, just in case the recipe needed any adjustments (it didn't).

I played a bit with the silicone molds, so I made some muffins, some hearts and a mini layered cake :) The fruit yogurt decoration was very successful (and also the yogurt left in the blender - perfect replacement for an ice-cream).

For these muffins / brownies / cake you will need: 

- 2 medium/large sweet potatoes, boiled and pureed;

- 1 cup flour;

- 1 tsp baking powder;

- 1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts (or ground walnuts if you make it for babies);

- 3 eggs;

- 2-3 Tbsp carob powder;

- 2 tsp ground cinnamon;

- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg;

- 1/2 tsp ginger powder.

To decorate: Greek yogurt / heavy cream / Mascarpone cheese + forest fruit

Mix separately, in two bowls, the wet ingredients (sweet potatoes and egg) and the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, walnuts, carob, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger). Combine the contents of the two bowls and stir well. If the batter is too thick, add a drop of milk (max 50ml). It has to be thicker than the normal muffin batter.  

Pour it in the molds and bake in the preheated oven (180 degrees Celsius) for cca. 40 min (even less if using muffin molds), until it passes the toothpick test.

I decorated the hearts with yogurt mixed with forest fruits and the mini-cake with simple cream. 

Enjoy!

Stuffed sweet potatoes

The sweet potato has gained a lot of popularity in our family, in the last year, as it is a very versatile food. We equally like oven baked sweet potato wedges, with garlic and rosemary and sweet potato pancakes or brownies. Because I wanted to try something different this time, I made some stuffed sweet potatoes, very savory and tasty.

Ingredients:
-1 large sweet potato;
- 300g ground beef;
- 1/2 courgette, diced;
- 2 spring onions (or one small onion), finely chopped;
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed;
- 3 cherry tomatoes, chopped + 2 cherry tomatoes, sliced (to put on top of the stuffed potatoes);
- 1/2 bell pepper, diced;
- one small carrot, morcov mic, ras;
- optional: any other vegetables, mushrooms, apio, etc.
-  one tsp ground cumin;
- a few slices of yellow cheese or mozarella (to top);
* this recipe does not contain salt; if you don't have any restrictions, season with salt and pepper, by taste.

Method:
Half the sweet potato lengthwise, put the pieces in a pot with water and let it boil, over low fire.
Meanwhile, in a large non sticky pan add the vegetables (onion, courgette, tomatoes, pepper, carrot, garlic, etc.) and fry them a little bit, in their own juices, stirring continuously. After a few minutes, add 100 ml of water (you can also add a few Tbsp of oil) and let simmer over low fire until the vegetables soften. Add the ground beef and keep stirring so it doesn't stick together. Turn the meat on all sides, until completely cooked (it will change its color). Add the cumin, salt and pepper (if using). Remove from heat.
When the sweet potato is boiled, remove it from the water and scoop out most of the flesh, leaving just a small part next to the skin. Add the flesh to the meat and vegetable mixture and use this to fill each of the potato halves. Top with the cheese and tomato slices and bake in the oven for 10 minutes (at about 180 degrees C), until the cheese melts. Serve hot and enjoy!

Carrot and sweet potato soup with hazelnuts

Ingredients:
- 6 big carrots;
- one parsley root;
- one celery stalk;
- 1/2 big sweet potato (or one small one);
- one medium onion;
- one garlic clove;
- optionally, you can add the following spices (if you cook for kids, use less ginger as it gives a spicy touch, otherwise I advise on using all spices): 1 cm ginger (either whole - if you want to remove it in the end - or grated if you want to blend it in the soup), 2 fresh lime leaves, zest of 1/2 lemon (organic), a pinch of cumin, a few fresh coriander leaves (before blending the soup you will remove the coriander and lime leaves and you can also remove the piece of ginger if you don't want the soup to be too spicy);
- one handful raw hazelnuts (or peanuts).

Method:
In a big pot place one liter of water and bring to a boil. Add the carrots and sweet potato, peeled and cut in thick slices, the parsley root (peeled, whole or cut in half) and the celery stalk (whole or cut in half), onion and garlic (peeled, whole). Reduce the fire, put the lid on and simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add the spices and let simmer for 5 more minutes and then let the soup cool (lid on the pot).
When the liquid has cooled enough to be blended, remove the celery stalk, parsley root, garlic, lime and coriander leaves and (if you want) ginger. Pour the soup and the remaining vegetables in the food processor and blend until you get a smooth paste (you can also use a hand blender).
Serve with sour cream and chopped hazelnuts (for a crispy texture) or with ground hazelnuts (for children it is recommended to serve the hazelnuts ground, to avoid choking). If you want to go vegan, skip the cream or replace it with a vegan version.

Enjoy!