Dried Baked Sweet Potatoes

My friend Patricia introduced me to dried baked sweet potatoes or yams.  They tasted like chewy and soft sweet potato taffy or candy.  I enjoyed them so much I had to recreate them.  Patricia told me that it takes her several days to make them because she uses her oven to dry them out followed by leaving them on the counter for a few days.  I wanted to try it using my dehydrator and it worked after 11 hours in the dehydrator.  This is the perfect sweet healthy snack and it's also good to satisfy a sweet tooth.

Items needed:
1 bag of sweet potatoes or yams (I used a 5 lb bag of organic sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's)
Oven
Dehydrator

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line a roasting pan with foil.  The foil helps with easy clean up since the sweet potato will release sugars on to the pan.
3. Wash and scrub sweet potatoes and pierce a few times down the side with a fork.
4. Bake for 1 hour or until very soft.  The skin should come off easily.
5. Remove from oven and let cool.
6. Once cool, remove skin and slice about half inch thick lengthwise.  The sweet potatoes will shrink in the dehydrator so try not to slice too thin.
7. Lay slices in dehydrator.
8. Dehydrate for 10 -11 hours until the edges are chewy and middle is soft.  My dehydrator is old and does not have a temperature setting.  I believe mine is set to 115 degrees and it took 11 hours to get the texture I wanted.  You may need to monitor yours to due to difference in dehydrators.
9. Enjoy!

Tofu Omelet

My all-time favorite type of food is brunch food.  I love cooking waffles, pancakes, scrambles - basically anything related to brunch.  One thing I loved to eat before going vegan was eggs.  Now I cook tofu omelets and scrambles and it looks and tastes just like the real thing!  What I love about omelets and scrambles is that you can basically fill it with any veggies you have in your fridge.  The day I made this I happened to have oyster mushrooms from the farmer's market so I decided to use it for the filling.  The possibilities are endless for fillings such as bell peppers, green onions, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, etc.  Makes 2 large servings.

Filling

1 clove garlic minced
1/2 onion diced
1 cup mushrooms chopped (I used oyster mushrooms)
1 small tomato seeded and diced
2 handfuls of chopped kale (Stems removed.  I save the stems for juice or smoothies)
1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp of tamari (or soy sauce or liquid aminos)
1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
salt and pepper

1. Heat skillet to medium heat
2. Add thin layer of water* to pan and saute garlic and onion until translucent
3. Add mushrooms and saute for few more minutes until soft (continue to add more water if needed to prevent from sticking to pan)
4. Add chopped kale and saute for few more minutes until wilted
5. Add tomato and saute a minute longer
6. Season with nutritional yeast, tamari, smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste and continue to saute for another minute until flavors blend
7. Remove from heat and set aside

* I used water to saute with to decrease the fat but you may use cooking spray or oil if you prefer

Omelet

1 14oz package of tofu
1 tbsp non-dairy milk
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp tamari (or soy sauce or liquid aminos)
1/4 paprika
black salt (black salt is actually pink and is found at Indian grocery stores. It is the secret to make it taste like egg. If you don't have black salt, regular salt will do but it won't be the same)
Pepper

1. In food processor blend tofu, non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, cornstarch, onion powder, cumin, turmeric, tamari, and paprika until smooth.
2. Add black salt and pepper to taste and blend again.
3. In skillet melt 1-2 tablespoons oil or vegan butter over medium heat
4. Spread half of tofu mixture into center of skillet and spread out evenly.  Watch for bubbles and cracks and smooth cracks over with more tofu mixture.
5. Let the tofu mixture fry for 8 minutes or longer and lift edges up with spatula to see if golden and crispy on the bottom side
6. Once bottom of tofu mixture is golden and crispy spread half of your cooked vegetables on one side of the omelet in an even layer.
7. Next gently use your spatula to flip the empty side of the omelet over to the other side with the fillings.  I notice using 2 spatulas at this point makes it easier to flip the other side over without breaking.
8. Gently move to a plate.  You can place in warm oven (200 degrees) while you cook the second omelet.
9. Top with fresh ground pepper and serve!  I usually like to eat my omelet with roasted potatoes and ketchup.

From Instagram to Blog

Hi my name is Rosanne but I also go by Rosie.  On Instagram, I'm known as @rose_petalz.  I love cooking, baking and eating all things vegan and have been sharing my photos on Instagram through the past year.  I finally decided to start a blog so that I can share recipes in an easier format.  I'm new to the world of blogging so here goes.