Fabulous (Taro) Fries

I know it's been a while ... I'm still experimenting in the kitchen and have a bit more tweaking to do before I get to share some new favorites with you.

But in the meantime, I wanted to let you in on a little secret ....

Taro root fries are seriously addictive!

These have become a family fave to the Nth degree and are Wonder Boy's favorite fry ever. He even prefers these fries to those you would get at your favorite (ahem) fast food establishment. That's not to say that he's a fan of all Paleo-ish foods I put down before him, but this is a MAJOR SCORE in my book and I'm going to enjoy it!


As a bonus, taro root is seriously inexpensive (a $3 USD jumbo taro root will last our family about a 3 weeks, even with me preparing it at least twice a week) and these little shoestring fries are super simple to make! I have baked them and fried them and either way works well. For seasoning, my crew prefers just a bit of sea salt, garlic powder, and black pepper. You can slice them super thin and make chips or you can make thick slices like home fries. It really IS up to you this time!

This is the way I most commonly prepare and serve our favorite tuber:

Baked Taro Fries

Stuff You Need:

• 1/4 of a taro root, peeled, sliced thin, and cut into strips
• 3 - 4 Tbs grape seed oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp black powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Place your taro fries on a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Drizzle the grape seed oil over the fries and use your hands to make sure all fries are coated.
4. Once all of the fries are coated in the oil, spread them out in a single layer on your pan.
5. Next sprinkle the dry seasonings on the fries.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes (depending on the thickness of your fries) until they are a light golden brown color.
7. Cool them slightly and serve!

If you are in a rush for time, frying them in your grape seed oil is a quick option. On weeknights when we are often rushed, I will go this route. Either way, the taro comes out crunchy and full of flavor! ENJOY!

Snappy Apple Slaw

This little side dish is a true go-to recipe for me. When faced with a pot luck dinner, a special family gathering, or just a weeknight meal in need of a little pizazz, this is one of the first dishes I consider.

It's taken a while to get the proportions down just right, as this is an adapted recipe from our pre-Paleo days. And the original had a very healthy (ahem) serving of sugar in it. We decided to try shredded apple in the dressing to sweeten things up, added a touch of honey, changed the type of vinegar, and BINGO - we had the sweet and snappy treat we were craving.

To speed things up, I use a pre-packaged bag of slaw. But shredding the fresh stuff is a great option when you have the time!

Snappy Apple Slaw

Stuff You Need:

• 1 - 16 oz. bag pre-packaged slaw mix
• 3 Tbs sesame seeds, toasted
• ½ cup slivered almonds
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup grape seed oil (lite olive oil will work as well)
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp ground mustard
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 large apple, peeled and shredded

What To Do:

1. Combine slaw, toasted sesame seeds, and slivered almonds and set aside.
2. Warm honey in the microwave for 30 seconds.
3. Combine honey and the remainder of ingredients in a medium bowl to make the dressing.
4. Just prior to serving, pour the dressing over the slaw and toss well.

This recipe comes together pretty quickly. In fact, shredding the apple is probably the longest single step. When I make this for a pot luck or some other dinner where we are bringing a dish, I will carry the dressing in a separate bowl, which I warm for 10 - 15 seconds in the microwave (to make the honey pour more smoothly) just before mixing and serving.

We like to change up this recipe from time to time and add mandarin orange slices or switch out the slivered almonds for pecans. I think blueberries would also be fun to try and maybe switch out walnuts for the almonds. The possibilities are limitless!

I hope you will enjoy this snappy side dish as much as we do!

Bacon-Wrapped Yams

I do most of my involved cooking on the weekends. There just isn't enough time on a typical weeknight to spend more than a few minutes getting dinner on the table. So typically, I try out new recipes on the weekends and I will often cook up a number of main dish entrees so I'll have something I can put on the table quickly before judo or soccer practice. However, this often leaves me looking for a suitable side dish on any given week night.

When that happens, THIS is one of my favorites to pull out of the cupboard!


These DO take about 45 minutes all together before they can make it to the dinner table, but they are SO worth the effort. And if all I am doing is heating up the main entree, it's not such a hassle to put a bit of extra effort into this side dish.

Bacon-Wrapped Yams

Stuff You Need:

• 1-2 medium sized yams/sweet potatoes
• 3-5 strips of bacon

What To Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Peel and cut your yams into ½-inch thick french fries.
3. Cut your bacon into thirds, crosswise. And then cut again in half, lengthwise. You should get 6 bacon strips out of each piece of bacon.
4. Wrap each strip of bacon around one of your yam fries.
5. Place your bacon-wrapped yam fries on a wire rack over a foil-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes at 425F or until your yams are golden brown and your bacon is starting to crisp. There is no need to turn your fries mid-way if you use the wire rack since air can circulate all around them.
7. Remove from the oven and place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain off any remaining grease.

And that, folks, is all she wrote! I have a handy, dandy potato slicer which helps to make quick work of the yams. If you have one, a vegetable spiral slicer would also work really well to speed up the prep work on this dish. Even a mandolin slicer can help if you are in a rush.

But regardless of how you slice them up, this side dish comes together pretty quickly. It carries a wallup of flavor and is sure to please even the pickiest of eaters.

Bacon-Wrapped Sausage-Stuffed Dates

I've been promising to get this gem of a recipe shared here for about 2 weeks now. And my intention was to get it up here ASAP so that everyone within earshot blog-shot could enjoy it in all of it's savory, sweet goodness. But life sometimes gets in the way. And sometimes you come down with the flu. UG.

But I digress ... you are here for something special, so feast your eyes on THIS ...


I know, right?!

And to be honest, this picture just does not do it justice. In fact, I can see I am just going to have to make these again soon so that I can try to get a better shot for you.

I stumbled on this magnificent idea while browsing the amazing recipes over at Paleoaholic. Like so many of my favorites, these come together quickly and with very little fuss and they deliver such a powerful punch of flavor that they were an instant favorite of everyone that has tried them (& we've been sharing these at every opportunity).

Bacon-Wrapped Sausage-Stuffed Dates

Stuff You Need:

• 15 Medjool pitted dates
• sausage (I used a local spicy jalapeno sausage)
• 5 slices bacon, cut into thirds crosswise
• 15 toothpicks

What To Do:

1. Preheat the over to 400F.
2. Slice sausage lengthwise. Then slice off 15 - ¼ inch semi-circles of sausage.
3. Slice your dates in half and place a semi-circle of sausage in each.
4. Wrap each stuffed date with bacon and secure with a toothpick.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the bacon is nice and crispy. Flip them at about the 15 minute mark so that both sides will be equally crispy.

And that, folks, is all she wrote! You'll want the dates to cool at least a little before enjoying, but it's hard to wait because these will simply call to you from the oven. Your tongue will thank you for a little restraint though.

As usual, I've made a few adjustments to the original recipe. First off, the original calls for Spanish chorizo. I didn't have any the day I first planned to make these and then I loved them so much with the spicy jalapeno sausage that I just stuck with it. And second, the original recipe calls for the addition of a spicy tomato sauce. As you can tell from my picture, I did serve it that way at least once. But in all honesty, I didn't feel like it truly added anything to the dish, so I only served it that way the first time and we haven't missed it one bit.

I served these as a special treat on Super Bowl Sunday. We've shared them with friends at a pot luck dinner. And we've whipped them up just to kick up a weeknight meal. They are a wonderful treat that can turn any day into a special event.

And I hope you will enjoy them as much as we have!

Tasty Taters

This one almost sounds too silly to post, but as this is truly a go-to element of my cooking, I feel the need to share it with you today.

Sweet potatoes. Nothing fancy ... just ... sweet potatoes.

Simply put, we eat a LOT of sweet potatoes.

I've never been a fan of the traditional sweet potato casserole dish you might think of when Thanksgiving rolls around. But I absolutely LOVE sweet potatoes that are served crispy and crunchy and a touch salty.


I've been known to broil them, bake them, and sometimes even fry them. But I almost always top them with a healthy sprinkle of sea salt and pepper.

Currently, my favorite way to prepare these orange beauties is to slice them into shoe strings (a good mandolin slicer is key here) and then fry them up in coconut oil.

But if deep frying is not an approved activity in your kitchen, these are just as satisfying when you slice 'em up, coat with coconut oil (or your favorite vegetable oil - we sometimes use olive oil), season 'em up, lay 'em down on a cookie sheet, and broil until you reach your desired crunchiness - which for me is achieved just a few seconds before they burn to a crisp.

So ... no elaborate ingredients or instructions, slice, coat with oil, bake/broil/fry, season, and ENJOY!

I have been known to pair this with beef, chicken, and pork. I've served them on top of a burger patty (wrapped in lettuce). Heck, I've even crumbled them up and sprinkled them on top of deviled eggs.

With this sweet and savory side, you just can't go wrong wherever you add it to your plate!