Purple Sweet Potatoes?

So, who has heard of Purple Sweet Potatoes? I'm guessing not many of you. I went to a Chrismas show in our state back in November. There are vendors, vendors and more vendors. They do have a NC speciality food store. They offered samples of many of the products. One of them being Stokes Purple Sweet Potato Butter.




Image from www.landofthesaura.org

My Aunt had taken my 4 year old daugther through and she had actually sampled it and liked it. I couldn't belive it. She is the pickiest eater and very rarely will try new things. I thought maybe she decided to try it because it was purple and they were sampling on ice cream sticks. I sampled it myself and my daughter wanted another sample. So, I decided to buy some. She absolutely loves this stuff! I thought well at least she is getting some veggies in her. The girl will not eat any veggies (even potatoes, unless it's french fries). She has ate it almost everyday since we got it and needless to say we are on empty. On the jar it list the website www.landofthesaura.org, so I looked it up thinking I would just be able to order some online. No, luck there. It does mention 2 online sites that sell it but one shows online ordering coming soon and I couldn't get the other site to come up. Luckily for me though it is also sold in Whole Foods
as well. So, I'm thinking tomorrow I will call my local store to see if they have it. If so, off to Whole Foods we go. :)

Christmas Candies

I made a few Christmas candies to give away to friends and family this year.

I found the idea for the Peppermint covered Oreo's in Taste of Home's Simple and Delicious magazine.

You simple drizzle the Oreo's with white candy melts (found in my local Lowe's grocery store). Then put some candy canes in a quart size bag and use that meat mallet to break them up. Make sure you add the peppermint to the candy melts while it is still soft. Otherwise the peppermints will not stick to the candy very well.

I found the idea for the Santa's Party Mix over at Cookies and Cups.

Aren't the little Bugle Santa hats cute? I didn't have any white sprinkles. That would have looked better on the bottom, but the clear had to do.

If you would like instructions on how to make this, check out Cookies and Cups.

Note: I had never used candy melts before making these two candies. The red candy melts used on the Santa hats could not be found at my grocery store or Wal-mart. I just took a trip to Jo-Ann's and they had them there. Any craft stores would probably have them.

Chicken and Rice with Shanghai Stir Fry Sauce

Super easy but a delicious meal.

Tastefully Simple makes meals so easy!

Simple cut up some chicken breast into thin strips. Use between 1/2-1 lb depending on how many you are cooking for.

Throw the chicken in a pan with some Olive oil.

Add a little Seasoned Salt to the chicken.

Cook until done then add 1/4 cup of Shanghai Stir-Fry Sauce to the pan with the chicken.

Top prepared rice with the chicken. You can do so may different things with this. I often like to add broccoli and scallions to it.

Another note: I like to cook my rice in chicken broth if I'm using plain white rice. It gives it some flavor.

Homemade Salsa

Oh blog world how I've missed you. It's been way to long! I just haven't had a chance to post or read others blogs. I've been missing all the creativity. I hope it won't be as long until my next post. I did want to share a salsa recipe that I got from a friend. I did tweek it a little but it is pretty much the same thing as she gave me.

Homemade Salsa

Ingredients:

2 - 14.5 oz cans of stewed tomatoes

1/2 tsp salt (I used 1/2 Tbsp on accident and it wasn't too salty)

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Garlic Garlic (you can used minced Garlic if you don't have Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

3-6 jalapeno peppers (I used the sliced ones in a jar and just used the amount I thought to be equivalent to 3-4. I also took the seeds out so it wouldn't be as spicy. Mine ended up being Mild-Medium heat)

Add all these to a food processor and blend until desired consistency.

Can be refrigerated for several weeks.

This makes quiet a bit but it is so good! I made it on Christmas day and it is already about gone.