Sweet potato, garlic and herb bread (dairy, soy free)

I found a recipe for potato bread, Italian style with garlic and herbs. This sat in my bookmarks for months till I had the time to try it out. I didn't really stick to the recipe but it became a huge hit. So  I started thinking what can I do to make it better. First I have kilos of homegrown sweet potatoes, so I decided to use them instead of the regular ones. For the herbs I use what I have at hand at the moment.

And this bread turned out really beautifully.

I used one orange sweet potato and a white one. Taste wise I don't think there would be any difference either way, but the orange one gives it a beautiful color.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potato
1 cup integral wheat flour
1 cup brown wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 yeast (live one) + 1cup oat milk, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon brown flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dry oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil for brushing on top

Instructions:
1. Cook the sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes, drain the water and mash them.
2. Put the yeast in a cup of warm water or oat milk. Add one teaspoon of sugar and one of flour and wait until it rises.
3. In a bowl where you mashed the potatoes (they don't have to be completely cooled off) add the flour, salt, olive oil, yeast and the herbs and knead the dough for 3-5 minutes.
4. Leave the dough to rise for about 30 minutes then put in an greased pan.
5. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 150-200 degrees Centigrade.

One final note, this bread goes whit everything salty. It is a bit to strong for jam or  chocolate spreads. What I would strongly recommend is making my homemade pate. 

Stuffed bell peppers (gluten, dairy, soy, sugar free; paleo)

Bell peppers stuffed with minced meat stuffing make a complete meal by itself but the meal can be well enhanced with potato/sweet potato mash.

In the original classic version of the stuffed bell peppers the minced meat is mixed with rice to make it more compact and add the carbohydrates. I also add carbohydrates but the good ones that our body can use, shredded sweet potato.

I have to point out that I use home grown bell peppers and minced pork meat from our home grown pigs. Growing your own vegetables as well as breeding your own animals or buying both of these locally from small farms is one of the most important things you can do to enhance the health of your family as well as the health of the society.

As you can notice from the picture fat is welcome in our family meals and the fat in this meal is from olive oil and the very meat that has been cooking and is really indispensable.

INGREDIENTS: 

• 12 medium to large bell peppers
• 1/2 kg minced pork
• 1 small shredded sweet potato
• 1 egg
• 2 dcl tomato puree
• 2 dcl chicken stock or water
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• turmeric

INSTRUCTIONS:

• In a large bowl combine together minced meat with the shredded sweet potato, one egg, salt, pepper and turmeric. Knead this well.
• Wash the bell peppers and remove the seeds. 
• In a large skillet: put the olive oil and add the minced garlic let simmer for couple of minutes and then add the tomato puree, salt and stock/water.
• Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture and gently put into the sauce in the skillet.
• Let simmer for 40-45 minutes.

Extra moist and fudgy sweet potato brownie

So the season has taken off. The season of the sweet potato. We LOVE it. And this year we decided to grow it ourselves. And this was made with the very first sweet potato we dug up. The recipe gave something more than just a moist brownie. The result was an extremely moist brownie that tastes like slightly baked chocolate pudding. I made it yesterday and it's gone.

I again used chocolate and I'm sticking to the one with the three ingredients (Alnatura). When I make it again I will try to use cocoa and honey plus dates mixture to replace the chocolate and make it totally paleo without any added sugar.

This time I peeled the sweet potato, diced it and cooked it in water shortly because it was a very large potato, but next time I plan to roast it whole to amplify it's sweetness even more.


INGREDIENTS:

• 150 gr dark chocolate (Alnatura)
• 1 large sweet potato (cca 1kg)
•  1/4 cup honey
•  3 eggs
•  1 tbsp vanilla
•  1/4 cup coconut flour
•  1 tbsp coconut oil
•  1 tsp baking powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil. I use a steel or glass bowl over a pot of boiling water.
• Cook the sweet potatoes (peeled, diced) until soft and then puree them in a blender until smooth.
• Add in the chocolate, honey, eggs, coconut flour and baking powder and blend until the mixture is smooth.
• Bake in a dish covered with baking paper for 50-60 minutes at 180-220 C.
• Let cool a bit, take out of the dish, remove the baking paper, slice and ENJOY!