Sweet Potato Breakfast "Bowl"

Today I am sharing how I made these delicious breakfast "bowls" by starting with sweet potatoes.

The first time I made these, I used organic hannah sweet potatoes, and this second time I used locally grown sweet potatoes (which both were very good).

Prepare fresh spinach, by cleaning it, and then slicing it.  Set aside.  I used two bundles of fresh spinach.  Set aside

Prepare homemade cilantro-lime sauce.

In a food processer, mix 2 full cups of cleaned organic (or home grown) cilantro and:

-1/2 cup organic plain Greek yogurt (I have yet to use homemade for this), plus more to thicken to your taste

-juice from one lime (not the bottled kind)

-1 small can of organic salsa verde (or homemade), or about 14 Tbsp.  (cut the recipe in half to reduce the amount, but we really like the sauce on this breakfast dish)

-2 cloves of garlic, minced

-about 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper

Process until smooth, and like I mentioned above, add extra yogurt to make your sauce as thick as you like. 

(I pack this separate to pack a breakfast to go)

Clean and dice some garden green onions (I also pack these separate for a breakfast to go).  Set aside.

1.  Wash, peel and dice enough sweet potatoes for your family.  I cut up about 3-4, depending on size.  Roast them in a stove top pan, using oil, salt and pepper and 1/2 tsp. of homemade garlic powder.  I have not used freshly minced yet, but will be trying that next time.  Set aside.  I use this as our first layer in the "bowls" I created.

2. Rinse and drain 1 can of organic black beans, and add that to a stove top pan, along with 1  1/2 cups organic frozen corn (I do not thaw mine).  I heated this up with some cumin (give it a taste test to your liking), until heated throughout.  Set aside (second layer of the breakfast).

3. Dice one onion, and add the same amount of diced bell peppers (I used frozen bell pepper from the garden).  Heat until both are cooked. I added salt and pepper.  Keep in the pan.  Add your prepared spinach, and cook down.  Set aside (third layer in this breakfast).

4. Cook two eggs.  Layer as I did, and top with homemade cilantro-lime sauce.  I prepared bacon the second time I made this and added a few slices to the top.  

To serve, layer ingredients and enjoy.  I prepare everything ahead of time, then I reheat each morning, layer and cook two eggs per breakfast.  Top the eggs with the sauce and diced green onions.  Add bacon if you want that too.  Delicious and healthy.

I know this all sounds like a lot of work, but it was very good and worth the work.  I got the idea from a dish that Bob Evans now has on their menu.  I have not tried their version, but I looked it up online and re-created it with my own ingredients here at the homestead (based on what they say is in their "bowl").

Sweet Potato Breakfast "Bowl"  © Mar 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Time for sweet corn and blueberries

Monday was not about the garden, it was about dropping another $200 for Youngest - school uniforms, photos etc.  It will still save us in the long run, but man.  School is not cheap.  That doesn't include her shoes, supplies and other necessary clothing.  They told us we'd spend only 1 hour there, but ended up spending 2 hours, and it was a 30 minute drive there and back.  We didn't get home until almost 2 pm.

Rain was in the forecast again, but the weather man has been wrong this year.  So wrong.  We need more, so I was hoping they were right for a change.  We didn't get any, and it's in today's forecast too (slight chance).

I had food to freeze, and a lot of it.  Despite rain and dry/hot weather, the cucumbers, zucchini and other stuff needed dealt with.

Three bags (slightly short of 3 bushels) brought home.  We'll need a tractor to plant this much sweet corn in the future.

The fun started.  

Youngest and I shucked the first bag while Hubby went to work on a call out. Tuesday I got a double batch of corn frozen, but we have two more bags to shuck yet.  Here is my recipe to freeze corn - freezing corn.

I finally found not one, but two sources for MI blueberries.  The last time we were able to obtain them, the 10 lb. boxes were $31.00.  The price this year, despite a bad blueberry year was $27/10 lb. box.

Twenty pounds of deliciousness.  I'm so happy to find a source and so happy to restock, but like I said, things are all happening at once.  It's a good deal too.  They were selling them $7/qt.

The minute I started working on the corn, Tiger was meowing like crazy.  To get him to stop, I gifted him a cleaned corn cob, and he loved it.  Soon after, he was napping peacefully.  He's such a cutie.

The chickens got to clean off some corn cobs too, so everyone was happy.  We even had some corn on the cob with our dinner last night.  

Today is going to be super busy, packed with work, so I'm praying I can get it done.  I'll have to clean up and then make dinner too.  But first, the garden.

Shopping Day ~ Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Saturday was a big shopping day.  We hit four stores to restock dog food, salt for the softener tank, organic meats, and so forth.  We had to make one stop for a new printer too.  We had the trunk filled, our stomachs were empty and screaming for dinner.

Thankfully, before we left, I filled the crock pot.  It's my healthier version of Pasta e Fagoli.  I make this with whatever I have, and it always tastes good.  Some years I use tomato sauce and paste, with extra broth, but this time I used some tomato basil soup and paste.  The combination was delicious.  I just had to boil the penne noodles and add them when I got home.

Bad Weather ~ Baking with Booze

Weather was nasty. School was canceled.  It's was a perfect excuse to bake a cake for dinner.  We woke up to ice, sleet, slush, then pouring down rain on a layer of half melted ice....then in the evening 55 mph winds.  We may have lost a pillow to the back porch swing (should have run out and collected them, but forgot about them).  It's too dark and early to tell.  When the sun is up, I'll go take a looksee.
 

I dug out my old, hand-me-down cake pan, and baked a maple-rum pound cake with maple-rum glaze.  It was a new recipe that had been floating around the kitchen.  I believe I tore it out of a King Flour magazine.

The results?

Glorious Rain! ~ Homemade Graham Crackers

Thank you all for your happy thoughts and prayers for rain to arrive.  It arrived yesterday afternoon.   It poured for a very short time, but it came down hard. I was so relieved.  I think the downpour lasted only 15 minutes, but it was better than nothing at all.  Today, I will be checking for any new squash, and broccoli to pick.  And tomatoes. 

 

While it rained, I baked some homemade grahams.

Well.....

Here is what I've been doing.

 Freezing corn. 

Random Tidbits

We shucked all of the sweet corn, so that once-a-year job is done.   Tiger was standing by for the first bag (right in the photo).  He loves to chew on the husks.

Corn Cob Syrup ~ More Tomatoes

I did not go looking for this recipe.  I found it in a library book - Pearls of Wisdom, Tops, Shortcuts, and Recipes from a Country Home, by Deborah S. Tukua, who adapted their recipe from Countryside Magazine.  The actual color is more of a amber brown than the color it shows in the photo.

Corn Relish ~ Random Tidbits

Hubby promised to do one job yesterday, so I opted for canning something quicker than tomato sauce related.  I used most of the leftover corn (off the cob) and picked some green and red peppers - corn relish.

I've never canned corn relish before, but I think it will be versatile - omelets, fish, chicken, sausage, burgers.  

Tomato Explosion ~ Goat's Drying up

Okay, so I played around all day in my home, decluttering, creating new piles to file at my computer, and just getting some overdue cleaning done, when I realized I forgot to pick the tomatoes.

With rain in the forecast (which as of this morning we still have not gotten), and well overdue, I decided to seek help from a kiddo.  My 15 year-old and I gathered tomatoes. 

Puttin' Up Corn

I've been busy here at the homestead.  Laundry was put out again yesterday and today.  The weather is still very nice.

Yesterday I took a quick road trip to buy sweet corn (we only planted black popcorn this year).  When I arrived, the nice gentleman tells me, "if you buy two burlap bag fulls, you get one free."

Well, of course I was okay with that.   A burlap bag is not quite, but close enough, to a bushel.

Take a Walk With Me ~ Before it Snows

Welcome to our farm. . .sharing a bit of it's beauty today.

Fall, leaves, fall

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night's decay
Ushers in a drearier day.

Emily Jane Brontë