Comunidad Health Foods

It may be the end of May, over 80 degrees outside with a humidity percent well into the 70’s, and the kind of weather for cold potato salads and chips, but for the past month and a half I have had just one food on my mind: piping hot sweet potatoes. My brain must secretly reside on the other side of the equator where this kind of craving is more seasonally appropriate. So you’ll have to forgive me and my weird-o brain, because I need to talk to you about sweet potatoes, and I need to do it not once, but twice this week. I think by the end of the week you’ll understand, and perhaps I’ll scandalously get you to buy out-of-season for these recipes, too.

What I’m really dying to tell you about is the chipotle sweet potato overnight oats that I made, because that breakfast was just about the most fantastic combination of flavors to ever grace my humble little taste buds. But I can’t tell you about that right now, because that would be getting ahead of myself. You see, the overnight oats uses a chipotle sweet potato dip, so first things first, we have to talk about this dip.

The first time I made it, I followed the recipe darn close to a T. I used unsweetened and unflavored almond milk instead of vanilla coconut milk, because I’m really not into the whole coconut craze and the store was plum out of vanilla almond milk. I meant to add a little drop of vanilla extract, but as things tend to go in my kitchen, that just didn’t happen. I also used two small sweet potatoes (I’m talking just about the tiniest little yams – oh, that’s another thing, sweet potatoes apparently don’t exist where I’m from – I’ve ever seen) instead of 1 sweet potato. In the end, the dip was good. The chipotle powder was a little demure and the honey gave it a sweetness that I didn’t think it needed when you’re already dealing with a sweetpotatoyam. I also wasn’t satisfied with the “1 sweet potato” measurement in the original recipe. I don’t know about you, but at my grocery stores, sweet potatoes can range in size from modest potato length to absolute colossal monstrosities. I genuinely cannot tell you what an “average” sweet potato would look like. So, because I like you guys and want you to have consistent and out-of-this-world results, I forcedmyself to make this recipe again, only this time, I put the Floptimism spin on things.

Below is the recipe that I came up with, and I have to tell you, it’s truly wonderful. It’s sweet and creamy with a nice kick that will make you blink twice but won’t knock you flat off your feet. It’s easy and fast to make once you take care of cooking the sweet potato, which I baked while something else was in the oven about 2 days before I made the dip itself. This batch stretched for about 3 healthy servings for me, though you may be able to eek out a few more at a party. I’ve used it as a regular dip with apple slices and homemade cinnamon tortilla chips (brush a tortilla with oil, sprinkle with cinnamon, cut into wedges and toast until crisp; if you use a generous serving of oil they’re to die for but shh!); you could use it as a sandwich/wrap spread, mix it with yogurt or almond milk and top with oats or your favorite cereal, you name it. You could also swap out the milk for some yogurt for a thicker, potentially more condiment-like product. You guys, this is so much more than a dip. 

 

So now that you know how to make this dip, I expect each and every one of you to have a batch of it ready by Wednesday, when I’ll be back with the best overnight oats recipe ever – using a healthy dose of this dip as its base! Oh, and please also find time between now and then to enjoy a wonderful, sunny Memorial Day!

 

There are few foods that I actively dislike, but of the flavors that rub me the wrong way, a great deal of them involve “fake” flavors – chemicals added to candies and other processed foods to mimic a real, natural fruit or ingredient. Banana runts and laffy taffies do not taste like banana; cherry water ice turns out to be such a poor substitute for the fresh fruit that it deterred me from even trying a real cherry for the first 21 years of my life; and then there’s grape. I know there are people out there who like grape-flavored things – I know this because L is one of them. I, however, am definitely not one of them. The idea of a synthetically flavored grape treat completely turns me off, and I blame it mostly on the grape-flavored cough syrup I had to take as a kid. All grape-flavored foods (aside from fresh grapes, of course) remind me of that horrible, horrible medicine, and I’m immediately transported back to my childhood, having to choose between an obnoxious, persistent cough and the taste of that medicine.

Naturally, then, when I saw that tomorrow is National Grape Popsicle Day, I was none too enthused. If ever grape popsicles came in a variety pack as a kid, they were always, always, always left over in the end, shunned and untouched. Now, I’m even less inclined to choose that flavor than I was back then. Still, I enjoy being festive, and it just so happens that although I do not have a grape popsicle to share with you, I have something even better but still pretty similar: frozen grapes.

I know, I know – this isn’t really a recipe or even a new idea. People have been freezing grapes for a long time now. But what if I told you these were peanut butter covered frozen grapes?

Imagine your favorite childhood peanut butter and jelly sandwich – I’m sure it was grape, right? As we get older we tend to branch out to more exotic jams and even fresh fruits – strawberry preserves, sliced banana, triple berry jam. But at least for me, the traditional, quintessential PB&J involves globs of Welch’s grape jelly, gelatinous and not a speck of real fruit in sight. Now take that sugar and calorie bomb sandwich and strip it of its bread (a distracter from the real flavor combination beauty at work, anyway), replace that dark purple jelly with a real grape, and turn the temperature down several notches. What are you left with? A chilly, peanut-butter encased grape that’s perfect for the warmer weather and absolutely reminiscent of your inner-child’s favorite sandwich.

It’s still not really a recipe, but it is delicious and I thought it deserved more than a link to Flickr from my Twitter account. And it’s so easy to make that you, too, can have a frozen grape-flavored treat to snack on tomorrow, even if you, like me, shun those artificial grape products. 

  

Lately, I’ve been shying away from actual recipes and increasingly drawn to taking inventory of my kitchen and figuring out what combinations of foods could produce something edible. Before moving out on Saturday, I had been getting a lot of satisfaction out of taking the odds and ends ingredients and foods from my apartment that I was trying to use up, and turning them into something interesting. Some of my attempts were admittedly better than others, but one of my favorites was this peanut butter spread/dip. I tend to pair my peanut butter with sweeter foods – fruit, yogurt, and chocolate more than anything else – but every once in a while I like throwing my taste buds a curveball and tying in some more savory flavors to a peanut butter meal, which is exactly what I did for this spread. I made it two ways – first as an actual spread and the second time bulked up with some yogurt to make more of a dip, and both were equally delicious. The spread is perfect for sandwiches, pancakes, or vegetables; the dip is much creamier – vaguely reminiscent of a sour cream & onion dip – and would be fantastic with some fresh vegetables like broccoli or carrots. You may even want to toss it in some pasta with vegetables if you’re feeling particularly wacky. I’ve included both alternatives below, but only have a photograph of the dip. 

 

One Year Ago: Ridiculously Easy, Ridiculously Decadent Chocolate Peanut Fudge