My Go-to Side: Roasted Sweet Potatoes

One of my go-to side dishes is roasted sweet potatoes. It's just such an easy side to throw together and always tastes delicious. I change up the spices and other veggies I add to the sweet potatoes but they are always the shining star of the dish. Last week I had a sudden change in dinner plans when I realized the chicken didn't smell just right {yuck!!} so I pulled out the tri-tip and some sweet potatoes. I love to roast the potatoes with bell peppers and onions but I wanted to save those for the kabobs I was going to make later in the week. I decided to dice the potatoes and roast them with olive oil, maple syrup, rosemary, salt, and pepper. It was so simple but also so yummy!

Here is the quick and easy recipe:

4 small sweet potatoes

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil

1- 1 1/2 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 teaspoon of rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Then peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into a small dice. Toss the potatoes with the olive oil, maple syrup, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Spread onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. **It's important to lay the potatoes out flat so they don't overlap. This will help them cook more evenly. Place in oven for thirty minutes and stirring half way through. Turn up the temperature to 450 degrees for 5-10 more minutes. This will help the outside to be nice and crispy. I learned this trick from Lindsay at Seven Layer Charlotte. She has great healthy recipes and if you haven't read her blog you should check it out asap! I hope you enjoy this simple but yummy side dish.

Greek Chicken Kabobs

I love summer vacation for so many reasons but I especially love having the opportunity to cook more elaborate meals during the summer. I am the type of person that likes to try new recipes and I rarely cook the same thing more than twice. I think I just get bored. Anyways, since I had this last week before school starts I meal planned some new recipes from my Newlywed cookbook and from Against All Grain. One of the recipes that was a huge hit with Mark and our adopted son, Greg (hehe), were the Greek Kabobs.

I marinated the chicken for several hours in a Greek vinaigrette that I made. It was super easy... I combined lemon juice, red wine vinegar,  garlic cloves minced (then crushed into a paste), oregano, dijon mustard, sea salt, black pepper, and olive oil. I used the Against All Grain recipe for the dressing. This made the chicken incredibly tender and delicious! I skewered the cubed chicken, red onion, and bell peppers. Earlier in the day I diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion to make a salad. I used the extra vinaigrette as a dressing for the salad. I then made a Tzatziki sauce using this recipe. It was basically greek yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, cucumber, and salt & pepper. I omitted the dill because I didn't have any in the house. It was a great dipping sauce for the veggies and chicken. I also made a little brown rice for an extra side. 

I was so impressed with how this turned out! It will definitely be a dish I make again and that's saying a lot! Plus there's the added bonus that its healthy!