Do you have certain dishes that you make so regularly, you just assume everyone else eats them all the time too? That’s how I ended up in Lydia & Andrew’s kitchen last summer teaching them how to make Sweet Pototo Wedges.  Lydia claimed that she couldn’t make them. Um, huh?  Scrub, slice, toss, bake! That’s it!

But when we  got into the kitchen together, we realized what the problem actually was. It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to make them, or couldn’t make them –  it was that her knives couldn’t handle it.  The biggest one weebled and wobbled as I tried to slice the sweet potatoes.  Our solution was to send Andrew to the basement to find the new knife set they got as a wedding gift, and once we cracked it open, we were in business.

There are infinite seasonings you can use to season your sweet potato wedges; this one I saw on the ‘Eat Shrink & Be Merry’ show. This amount will probably coat 4 or 5 potatoes. I’ve actually made a big batch of seasoning and put it in a shaker, that’s how often I make these.  Sweet potatoes are also great for the Elimination Challenge, and I ate these wedges and turkey burgers on the weekend.

Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

1/4 garlic powder

1/4 onion powder

3 tbsp olive oil

4-5 medium sweet potatoes

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Scrub sweet potatoes gently, pat dry, slice into wedges (you can peel if you want to) and place in a large bowl.
  3. Combine all spices, stir into olive oil and pour over sweet potatoes.
  4. Toss sweet potatoes until evenly coated.
  5. Spread wedges evenly on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 8 minutes, turn over, and bake an additional 7-10 minutes. Exact cooking time depends on the thickness of your wedges.

Turkey Burgers

No real recipe for these turkey burgers, I just made them Elimination friendly by using whatever acceptable ingredients I had around:

– 1 pound of ground turkey, some sauteed garlic and onion, grated carrot, chopped cilantro and 2 tbsp of ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp of water (this acts as a binder to replace an egg). I didn’t know when I made these that I could have mustard, I would have mixed some in otherwise.

– Shape into 4 patties and bake for 30 mins or so, or stick into the freezer to save for a quick dinner during the workweek.