Chipotle and Lime Roasted Potatoes

I fixed these potatoes last night, and they rocked the house!

I found the recipe on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen blog, but it originated from another lady named Meredith who has a blog entitled "In Sock Monkey Slippers."

Before I get into the recipe, a confession:

I am generally too cheap and lazy to buy fresh lemons and limes. I buy a bottle of each at the store and keep them in my fridge to use "whenever." But my last veggie co-op delivery included about eight limes, and man, am I some kind of stupid for not regularly buying fresh lemons and limes. What a difference!

It's kind of like how I try to convince myself that green peppers "don't taste that different" than red or orange peppers because green peppers are 75 cents each and red peppers are $1.60 each. Each time I splurge and get the red pepper I remember: there is a difference.

When I was squeezing the limes for this dish and my hands and kitchen had such a pleasant, citrus-y smell, I vowed that I would get fresh lemons and limes more often in the coming months. I'll probably pick some up this week, since I'm going to be making these potatoes again pretty quick.

The pairing of the smoky chipotle chiles in adobo with the lime and the cilantro...wow. The dressing had some kick to it, so I pulled some of the plain roasted potatoes out to give to the kids since they don't "do" spicy.

One other question before I post the recipe. What's with zesting? This recipe calls for a full tablespoon of lime zest. First of all, it would take, like, 16 limes to get a full tablespoon of lime zest. And does it make that big of a difference? I zested one lime, got maybe .0008 of a teaspoon of shavings, and called it a day. Can anybody tell me what all that zest does for you? Maybe I just don't have the right tool for zesting? Currently I use the small hole side of my cheese grater.

Regardless, these potatoes are the bomb. Fix 'em for your upcoming Labor Day picnic!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Small New Potatoes
• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 1 whole Chipotle Pepper Packed In Adobo Sauce
• 2 teaspoons Adobo Sauce
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Grated Lime Zest
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice
• 2 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Chopped Cilantro 

Preparation Instructions
Note: Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce can be found canned in most major grocery stores (typically in the Mexican food section).

• 1. Preheat oven to 400°F. With a knife, slice the potatoes in half. Place the halved potatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the potatoes. Add salt and toss with your hands until the potatoes are thoroughly coated with oil and salt. Place in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring once, until golden and the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.
  
  2. While the potatoes are cooking: Remove one chipotle pepper from the can and mince it (chop into small pieces). Place it in a large bowl. Using the adobo sauce that the peppers are packaged in, add 2 teaspoons of sauce to the minced pepper in the bowl.
  
  3. Peel and mince the garlic clove. Add it to the bowl as well.
  
  4. Next, add the lime zest, lime juice and 2 teaspoons of olive oil.
  
  5. Whisk everything together until combined.
  
  6. Once the potatoes are done and still hot, pour them into the chipotle lime dressing. Add cilantro and gently stir to combine, making sure every potato is covered. Plate and serve.
  
   

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Workout of the Day

Insanity: Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Here we go! One Insanity workout per week for the next seven weeks. First one is checked off, and it wasn't too bad. I was scared, but the way to get over fear is to just do it. So we did! And you know what? It wasn't that bad.

 

 

 

Beet Chips

I don't buy chips much anymore, but if I do, they are usually Terra Chips.

Have you had these before? They are super good! There are different flavors, but I like the "Sweets & Beets," which are thinly sliced sweet potato and beet chips. Although Terra likes to boast that you get a full serving of veggies when you eat these chips...don't kid yourself. They're still chips. You still get a lot of sodium and oil along with that serving of veggies.

Anyhow, although we eat raw beets all the time, it didn't occur to me that I could make homemade beet chips until I picked up the latest issue of Sunflower Market's August 2012 newsletter. (Side note: my beloved Sunflower Market has now merged with Sprouts. The store seems largely the same, but I really hope they continue to produce their little magazine thing. It always has great recipes in it and good stories, too.)

On page 6 they show you how to make kale, beet, and sweet potato chips. There's not even a recipe, really; you just slice them nice and thin (or in the case of kale, tear the leaves up a bit, see post here), coat thinly with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, dried thyme and oregano. Bake them at 325 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. I flipped them partway through to encourage them to crisp up but not burn.

Here's what they looked like before they went in the oven:

And before I show you the "after" photo, I'll let George Costanza tell you about a little phenomenon called "shrinkage."

 "I don't know how you walk around with those things." Best. Line. Ever.

 I sliced all those beets, and here's what came out of the oven:

Sorry...for some reason this photo would not rotate.

Geez! I would have to slice about nine beets to get enough beet chips to feed a crowd. Shrinkage aside, though, these were really delicious! They tasted just like the Terra chips. Pleasantly salty and crispy with a sweet taste. I really liked them, and so did the kids.

I'm not sure I'll be making beet chips on a regular basis, but it's always fun to experiment to see if you can re-create something you usually buy at the store.

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Workout of the Day

P90X2 Core - Recovery week! I need it.

Something in the water

Our neighborhood has a Facebook page that the neighbors use to keep up with each other. Usually posts involve questions about which roofer to use or to report a coyote sighting, but the other day someone posted about a concern he had about our town's water.

He has a reverse osmosis system, which (according to Wikipedia) is "a membrane-technology filtration method that removes many types of large molecules and ions from solutions by applying pressure to the solution when it is on one side of a selective membrane."

Our neighbor said he has had a reverse osmosis system for several years, and for the first two years he changed the filters only once. They were slightly discolored, but nothing too alarming. But lately he has had to change filters every three months, and when he does so, the filter looks like this:

Wow. As a person who advocates drinking tap water and not much else, that picture is pretty alarming. What is that black stuff? Our body has a filter, too; is that what my liver looks like after filtering that water?

About three and a half minutes later we were on our way to Lowe's to be a reverse osmosis system for our sink.

It cost about $150 and took about an hour and a half to install. And the difference in the water is very noticeable. For one, it tastes nice and plain. And to me, it's...softer, or something. I swallow it easier. (For the record, my six-year-old son says that's "just me".)

If you need visual proof, check out the difference between the ice cubes made with unfiltered water by the ice maker, and the new "clean" ice cubes made in ice trays.

I like the crystal clear sparkly ice cube much better. According to the specs this system filters out sediment, chlorine taste and odor, lead, cysts, chemicals and total dissolved solids. It also reduces select contaminates such as arsenic, cysts, lead, radium and turbidity.

The other thing reverse osmosis systems filter out is fluoride, which initially caused me to pause. But just yesterday Darin Olien drew attention to this article stating that the EPA has changed its mind about the safety and validity of adding fluoride to municipal water supplies, saying that growing evidence suggests that excess fluoride can result in the breakdown of tooth enamel, pitting, and discoloration. "In addition, other studies have found excessive ingestion of fluoride capable of increasing the risk of brittle bones leading to fractures and debilitating bone abnormalities."

I didn't feel too bad about eliminating the fluoride after that. They get fluoride through their toothpaste and regular visits to the dentist.

From my perspective the bottom line is this: Brita filters only filter out the yucky taste, not metals or chemicals. Bottled water is basically filtered tap water that you pay for, and the plastic bottles are clogging our landfills. Reverse osmosis systems give you the next best thing to distilled water for about eight cents a gallon. I know from going through the Ultimate Reset that distilled water (the cleanest of clean water -- it's distilled to only the hydrogen and oxygen molecules) costs 88 cents a gallon.

More than 60% of our bodies are made of water, so why not make sure you're getting the best?

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Workout of the Day

Insanity Cardio Core and Balance

Tony Horton Kitchen

Tony Horton has a brand new venture called Tony Horton Kitchen, which offers "delicious, nutrient-rich meals delivered to your door" each week for about $245.

You guys know that I'm a huge fan of Tony, and I have no doubt that the food from his kitchen is delicious, particularly if Missy Costello of Karma Chow is involved (I can't tell if she is). But I'm a little conflicted about this.

On one hand, America obviously has a huge food problem. Most people see the inside of a restaurant more often than a grocery store, and when they're in the grocery store they hang out in Death Valley, a.k.a. the center aisles. On the off chance that a vegetable is purchased, many have no idea how to prepare it besides frying it beyond recognition.So in that vein, Tony Horton Kitchen is solving a problem.

But on the other hand, relying on prepared food (no matter how healthy) is not teaching you anything about how to identify and prepare your own food. Is self-reliance in the grocery store and kitchen not a popular goal anymore?

To many people cooking is something you watch on T.V., not something you actually perform on a regular basis. I worry that this generation of children will have no idea that the kitchen is supposed to be used for anything other than holding take-out containers and heating up leftovers from the doggy bag.

I know, I know. I'm a stereotypical stay-at-home-mom who likes to cook and has all kinds of time on her hands. I'm beyond blessed, I know. But I want my kids to know that the best food doesn't come in a box, and it's rarely delivered to your front door. In fact, it doesn't even come in a container. It doesn't have a label, and it's really colorful.

That's why I like the Ultimate Reset so much. It's one part cleanse and nine parts crash course in healthy cooking. It teaches you how to go in the grocery store, find healthy ingredients, and prepare them into some of the most delicious dishes you've ever whipped up. It makes you appreciate the time, effort, and care that cooking requires.

If cooking is going out of style, at least organizations like Tony's are providing a healthy option. I just sincerely hope that we haven't completely given up on using the kitchen ourselves.

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Workout of the Day
Insanity: Fast and Furious and Asylum: Relief

This was a rest day from P90X2's P.A.P. workouts, and I needed it! Those workouts are so brutal. I am glad we've only planned to do two weeks of phase three before moving on to the marathon training schedule.