- Out with the old way of eating sweet potatoes! In with the new!
First of all, I love sweet potatoes. They are healthy and Dr. Oz approved. They have beta-carotenes in them, which I have no idea what they are but I know they are good for you. In my ever-continuing quest of eating better, sweet potatoes have been an obvious choice. One of the first things I gave Bug when I started to feed him baby food was pureed sweet potatoes and as he’s grown I’ve changed how I’ve served them to him. The last few times I’ve sliced them and fried them in coconut oil which is delicious but TIME CONSUMING! When I saw sweet potato fries and noticed they were also GLUTEN-FREE I was sold. I don’t have much time and any inexpensive time saver is grand. The fact that I was selected to go on a shopping trip at Sam’s Club to both buy and blog about these was like an added bonus!
Sam's Club, Fayetteville AR
Shopping with my family is always a little… stressful. All of us went which usually means general chaos at some point on the trip. I started with a small list and ended up with a child-sized camping chair (only $10!) and some ratchet scraps ($20!) among other things. Why? Ben said we needed them. 
We are going on vacation to Colorado soon so I shopped for snacks for the road while Ben checked out the tire selection.
shopping at Sam's Club!
I found the Ore-Ida Sweet Potato Fries really quickly- (my one complaint being they needed to be in a re-sealable bag!) they were being displayed on a freezer end cap. I didn’t have to search for them which was nice because Bug was throwing his cereal out of his snack trap like we were Hansel and Gretel leaving a trail of where we’d been inside Sam’s Club which I’m sure they *really appreciate*. We quickly maneuvered through, grabbing trail mix, veggie straws and toilet paper before Bug’s screeches informed us we had reached the end of our shopping trip and needed to get to the food court and feed both him and Bear.
eating lunch at the front food court- right before we took the bun away. Gluten-Free FAIL...
When we left that *one* greeter was working at the door. IF YOU SHOP HERE YOU KNOW WHO I MEAN! Elderly lady, super loud and friendly, and has to be from Jersey. She smiled and waved. A trip to Sam’s Club is not complete with out hearing her!
************************
waiting to be baked!
When I accepted the challenge of creating a dip recipe, I originally dreamed of butter, brown sugary goodness , then realized that was kind of the typical thing to do. I then dreamed of cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin-ness all together in a warm, cozy, fall-esque type of dip then WALKED OUTSIDE INTO THE +100 DEGREE HEAT and immediately that was vetoed mentally. The last thing I wanted to do was have my oven blazing and then standing over my stove stirring something, no matter how great tasting, in this heat wave. I think it’s been over 100 degree the last month…
So, what tastes great cool, would be fresh tasting and GREEN in this red heat as well as be something without a ton of sugar and would be healthy- something I’d actually WANT my kids to eat regularly. I came up with fresh limes, local honey, Greek yogurt and … cilantro! Served COLD.
Local Honey, Greek Yogurt & Limes
Here it is- Honey Lime Yogurt Dip with Cilantro:
1 cup greek yogurt, 1 fresh lime, honey and several sprigs of fresh cilantro
I squeezed 1/2 a lime into the yogurt then zested some of the lime peel into the bowl. I minced about 5 cilantro leafs- I was careful not to add too much and overpower the flavor. Then I added honey to taste! I think a fairy obvious question would be possibility of curdling with the citrus and yogurt- so far mine is fine! I wouldn’t make this the night before however!
I like beautiful things. I like placing food on plates to look visually appealing so I had fun trying to make my dip look as appealing as possible. I’m sure you’ll agree I succeeded. Oh and yes, it tastes like a cool, summer evening…
Dip with Sweet Potato Fries- so PRETTY!
OH- and although Ben wouldn’t try the dip (he doesn’t like “weird” food!) he said the sweet potato fries were “OK”. I was happy to hear that positive of a response from my Meat ‘n’ Potatoes Man! Bear and Bug loved it- Bug had two servings at his high chair! I’m happy he likes them because he’s getting to a picky stage so anything healthy he eats is a WIN! Like so many busy nights, dinner was a random mix of cut-fruit, some veggies, chicken and rice and the sweet potato fries. The fries were the hit…
Bug and Bear enjoying their fries!
FOLLOW-UP: Since I wrote this post I was able to make another dinner showcasing the Sweet Potato Fries- I served them with steak, grilled cabbage and mixed veggies. The women and kids loved them- the men, not so much. One guy said it was “weird” and that “the color was strange”. Ben decided not to partake in any with his dinner either. MEN. 😉
**This project has been compensated as part of a #OreIdaFries shopping mission for Heinz with #CollectiveBias. Thoughts and opinions are 100% my OWN though!**