Friday Foodie

This is a two week Friday Foodie - one recipe from last week and one from this week!

Last week we had a touch of Fall in the air and that made me want Pumpkin muffins! I had my spice cake mix but could not find canned pumpkin anywhere. Did you know there has been a damaged pumpkin crop? Well there has! As I stood in the grocery store trying to figure out what to do, it hit me! Here's what I made:

Spice Muffins

Makes 18 muffins
1 Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can Sweet potatoes in light syrup


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease cupcake pans. Mix ingredients and pour in prepared pan. Bake according to mix instructions for cupcakes, using the full amount of time (approximately 25 minutes).

Remove from oven and enjoy while still warm!


Yes, I used sweet potatoes in muffins and they were SO good! They had a lighter consistency than the pumpkin muffins but they really hit the spot.

Nutritional info: 129 calories / 0.28 g fiber / 1 g fat / 2.6 WW points. (The pumpkin muffins are 2.4 WW points each.)


This week I tried a recipe from Parade Magazine in the Sunday paper. It sounded so good, but the calorie and fat count was really high. 410 calories with 30 grams of fat for a bowl of soup is out of my range! I looked over the ingredients to discover the only truly fattening item was coconut milk. Did you know 1 cup of coconut milk has 552 calories with 57 grams of fat? I didn't either!! I substituted low fat vanilla soymilk and 2 tablespoons of toasted coconut for the coconut milk and made a wonderful soup! And I cut 19 grams of fat PER SERVING!!!

Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup

Spicy Relish
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Pinch of red-pepper flakes
1/2 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into a small dice
Salt and fresh black pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Sweet Potato–Coconut Soup
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 small red onion, chopped
2-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
Pinch of red-pepper flakes
3 cups homemade chicken stock
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into a large dice
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (Substitute 1 1/2 cups light vanilla soymilk and 2 Tbsp. toasted coconut to reduce calories and fat)
1 Tbsp clover honey
Large pinch of ground cinnamon



1. For relish: (You should actually start this after you add your sweet potatoes to your pot of soup in step two) Heat oil and butter over medium heat. Add red-pepper flakes; heat for 10 seconds. Add the diced sweet potato, salt, and pepper. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until softened, 15 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, and cook until diced potatoes are golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; stir in the parsley.

2. For soup: Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and ginger; cook until soft, 5 minutes. Add red-pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds. Add stock and water; bring to a boil. Add sweet potatoes; bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are soft, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.

3. Transfer mixture to a blender and process until smooth. Return to saucepan; simmer over low heat. Whisk in coconut milk, honey, and cinnamon. Cook until thickened and warmed through. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls; top with a spoonful of the spicy relish.

Serves 4. Per serving Original recipe: 410 calories / 30 g fat /4 g fiber / 10 WW points. Per serving Revised recipe: 331 calories / 11 g fat / 8.9 g fiber / 5.8 WW points.

I don't know what the original "full fat" recipe tasted like, but this was really good! There were so many different flavors from sweet to spicy! And we used the points we saved to enjoy some wonderful yeast rolls!