Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Twelve: Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I love sweet potatoes and try to always keep them in stock. I know have blogged about sweet potatoes before and I am sure I will again-I really love them!!!

Oven fries are great cooked with just some salt, pepper and oil but they are even better when spiced up and made with sweet potatoes. Rachel Ray has a great recipe for Cajun oven fries. My recipe ends up changing a bit every time, depending on what spices I have. This is how I made them today.

Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

• 4 sweet potatoes, washed well and dried
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sweet, hot or smoked paprika (I used the smoked today)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending how hot you want it-use less if you use hot paprika)
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425. Cut sweet potatoes into wedges. Combine oil, paprika, cumin and cayenne then toss with potatoes. Spread single layer on baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, turn them over and bake 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with your favorite dipping sauce.

variations: use another type of potato, add hot sauce to spice mixture (Rachel Ray does this), add a tablespoon or two of maple syrup for some sweetness.

Quick and Easy Pantry Cooking Day Five: Orange Marmalade Sweet Potatoes

There are certain vegetables such as sweet potatoes that I always keep in stock. I put them in soup, roast them with other veggies, bake them as oven fries or just eat them as a baked potato. I now have a new favorite way to prepare sweet potatoes, mashed with orange marmalade. Rachel Ray made them on her show, Thirty Minute Meals and I veganized her recipe. I have combined orange and sweet potato before, making mashed sweet potatoes with orange juice and maple syrup but the orange marmalade is just delicious and takes it to another level! The picture does not do them justice. Use a good quality orange marmalade.

Orange Marmalade Sweet Potatoes

6 small sweet potatoes or 3-4 large (mine happened to be very tiny so I used 6)

2-3 heaping tablespoons orange marmalade (add three if you like extra sweetness)

2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine

salt to taste

Roast potatoes in 400 degree oven for about an hour until tender. You could also microrave them or cut into chunks and boil them but I prefer the flavor of baked potatoes. Peel and roughly mash potatoes, add remaining ingredients and combine thoroughly.