Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled,

      (cut into 4-inch long and 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick fries)
2 tablespoons canola oil, or more as needed
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.


Put sweet potatoes in medium bowl and coat with oil. Use your hands to mix the oil evenly through the potatoes.


In a small bowl, combine paprika, cayenne, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add into the sweet potatoes and again, use your hands to coat evenly.


Bake fries for 20 minutes on the lower rack to let the potatoes soften. Flip fries over. Transfer the pan to the upper rack for 10 minutes until the potatoes are crispy. Be very cautious in this stage so that the potatoes don’t burn.

Grilled Stuffed Peppers

1 tablespoon butter
8 ounces baby Bella mushrooms, finely chopped
1 small yellow squash, finely chopped
1 small zucchini, finely chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup rotisserie chicken, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup corn
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 large red peppers, halved and seeded

In a large skillet, melt the butter and saute the mushroom, yellow squash, zucchini, jalapeno and garlic, saute 3-5 minutes longer or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Stir in the beans, 1 1/2 cups cheese, corn, cumin, salt and pepper.  Remove from the heat.  Spoon into pepper halves; sprinkle with remaining cheese. 

Grill peppers , covered over indirect medium heat for 20 minutes, rotating ever 5 minutes, or until tender.  Serve with sour cream.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin and Fried Green Beans

So tonight's supper was pretty quick and easy. Also really really tasty. I used a three ingredient recipe from my Real Simple magazine. The recipe is as follows.


Easy Grilled Pork Tenderloin

1 pound pork tenderloin
Paula Dean's House Blend (Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder)
1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar


Mix Worcestershire sauce with brown sugar.
Season tenderloin with spice blend.
Grill pork on Medium-High heat until it reaches 150 degrees. (about 20 minutes)
Last five minutes of grilling slather on the sauce mix.
Let stand at least five minutes.


This recipe was quick and simple, but not the most flavorful. Could have used another dimension to it, but overall not bad.

Fried Green Beans (serves 2)
1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup beer
Sunflower Oil (for frying)

Heat oil in pan. Mix flour, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper together in small bowl. Add beer and mix. In batches, dredge green beans in beer mixture. Fry battered Green beans for about 3 minutes a piece. Put on paper-towel lined baking sheet to drain.

Chili dipping sauce
2 Tbsp. mayo
1 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce
1 tsp. Siracha sauce

Mix three ingredients together. Salt to taste

These green beans are definitely addicting. Could have eaten a lot more. I think I will use the beer batter to fry more food (I'm thinking pickles!).