Cajun Sweet Potato Noodles

Last weekend I realized - I have TWO weeks of summer left... TWO weeks to try new recipes, and recipes that might be a little more time consuming! So I planned out 3 new veggie noodle dishes for this week... they ALL turned out delicious.

After I prepped for this, I realized it would be super easy to prep veggie noodles (sweet potato, zucchini, etc.) on Sundays. They keep well, so you could just have them on hand for the week. Check out inspiralized.com - it's a whole site devoted to spiralizing... how-to, meal planning, storage, recipes!

THESE WERE SO TASTY. The ENTIRE recipe is about 500 calories... I ate it all by myself since Will was at a work dinner! I'm glad I got it all to myself!

Sweet Potato Noodles:
2-3 medium-sized sweet potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
½ tsp sea salt

Veggie Noodles:
1 large red bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced
8 oz mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 large red onion, peeled and the ends sliced off
1 large zucchini, about 12 ounces, ends sliced off
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tomatoes, about 12 oz, chopped
Chopped fresh cilantro, about ½ of a small bunch



Preheat the oven to 450ºF.

Start by spiralizing the sweet potatoes, and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Spiralize the red onion and zucchini and set them aside. Clean the spiralizer right away for easy cleanup!

Toss the sweet potato noodles with the olive oil, Cajun seasoning, and sea salt.  Place the sweet potato noodles in the oven to roast, until softened, about 8 minutes.

While the sweet potato noodles are roasting, sauté the prepared bell pepper, mushrooms, onion, zucchini, and garlic in the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil until the veggies are just tender.

Remove sweet potatoes from the oven and add them to the pan with the sautéed veggies. Add chopped fresh tomatoes, and fresh cilantro. Cook just long enough to heat through and serve immediately!

Original recipe found here.

Turkey Sausage Peppers & Sweet Potato Hash

Clearly I'm obsessed with making stir-fry/skillets/stove-top meal since I've been out on summer break - 6 days now. :) I'm sure it's because typically these take a longer time to prep - all the veggie chopping and whatnot. But even so, I could always prep it on Sunday! Once it's prepped, it took less than 20 min to put together. So yummy.

The original recipe used kielbasa.. I used turkey sausage. I also added mushrooms, and instead of regular potatoes, I used sweet potatoes. I finally found a way Will will eat sweet potatoes - roasted, brown, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. So I roasted the sweet potatoes in the oven instead of cooking them in a separate skillet like the recipe called for.

Low carb and deliciousness all in one dish... mmmm!

1 (14 ounce) pkg turkey sausage, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, diced
6 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
3 small or 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
olive oil spray
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put foil on a baking sheet and spray with olive oil. Put the diced sweet potatoes in a bowl, and drizzle a little olive oil over them. Sprinkle some salt/pepper and toss. Spread the potatoes on the foil. Bake for about 15 minutes, toss, and then bake them about 10 more minutes. Remove from oven & set aside.

In a cast iron skillet sprayed with olive oil, brown the sliced turkey sausage for around 5 minutes over medium high heat. Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside. Spray pan, and add the peppers and onions to the skillet and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for 4 minutes, or until softened, stirring occasionally. Add sliced mushrooms and stir for another minute or so. Last, add the cooked sweet potatoes and turkey sausage to the skillet with the onions/peppers/mushrooms and mix everything together. Serve nice and hot!

Original recipe found here.

Spiralized Sweet Potato Mac & Cheese

Now I've spiralized a sweet potato! The cheese sauce for this is almost just like the sauce in my Spaghetti Squash Mac & Cheese. So delicious and creamy! When you spiralize the sweet potato, your supposed to cut halfway through it with a knife. That will give you larger half moon shapes. Then you can cut it once more to make it more macaroni-like.

Fun fact about these: I spiralized the sweet potato over the weekend, then froze the "noodles" ... after researching spiralized food in advance and the best way to store it. Great texture!

There is a whole blog about spiralizing - Inspiralized. Super awesome, check it out!

I made this a second time, and used a different blade on my spiralizer. More spaghetti-like!

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, Blade B
4 tbsp light butter
2 tbsp flour
2/3 c skim milk
1/2 c grated sharp cheddar cheese (2%)
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

Take your spiralized sweet potato noodles and cut with a scissor, if they are not in half-moon shape. Set aside.

In a large skillet, coat with cooking spray and add in the sweet potato noodles. Cook, tossing frequently, until cooked, for 5-7 minutes. When done, set aside.

In a large saucepan, add in the butter and let melt. Once melted, add in the flour and whisk together until flour absorbs butter and becomes thick. Then, add in the milk and whisk together constantly until mixture thickens.

Once the mixture thickens, add in the sweet potato noodles and stir to combine. Once combined, add in the cheese and stir again to combine. If it is too thick, add in more milk. Once the cheeses have melted into the noodles and consistency is to your preference, divide into bowls and enjoy!

Original recipe found here.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I never liked sweet potatoes. Even with all the marshmallows on top during Thanksgiving... I just couldn't do it. I recently found out that these days I LIKE sweet potatoes. Will's mom made some roasted sweet potatoes a couple months back that were delicious, then I tried sweet potato fries and they were amazing! So now my mom has a bounty of sweet potatoes from her garden. I made these baked sweet potato fries and they were SO delicious. Super tasty. I like to say my tastebuds have matured. ;) I should try fish again to see if I like that now too!

Another time I made these thinner:

2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 3 large ones)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp spice of your choice (I had no idea what to use so I just used some Cajun seasoning - one of the suggested spices...)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut up. I did flat sticks kind of, but you could also do rounds or wedges. Put sweet potatoes in a large bowl, and add the olive oil, sugar, salt, and spices. Toss and mix well.

Line a baking sheet with foil and place wire rack on top of it. Spray with olive oil. Lay potatoes on the rack and bake for a total of 25-30 min. After 15 min I flipped them over and continued cooking. I didn't need anything with them, they were so good!

Original recipe found here.