It’s Tuesday …. so, why not.  I made tacos for dinner.  I decided to take a little nap late this afternoon.  It was a very relaxing day, so it seemed appropriate.  When I was waking up, I had a vision of taking a sweet potato and peeling it and then shredding it on my box grater, sauteéing it with onion and garlic and died jalapeño and adding it to my taco meat.  This is how I come up with ideas for recipes.  Either on my walks, or in the middle of the night, or after a little recuperation nap.  I can’t tell you how many nights I dream about cooking and blogging.  All good dreams, of course, because I’m having so much fun coming up with new recipes.  Hopefully, my dreams of writing a cookbook will come true once I have what I feel are enough recipes to put a cookbook together.

I had such a great summer day today.  It started with my walk in the park.  Kylie had her readiness days for senior year at her high school.  When she left, I left for the park.  I had a great walk and as I was coming around my third loop, I thought I spotted Kylie’s car.  I recognized the Green Bay Pay Packer license plate holder. I pulled out my phone and called her and said “Hi Kylie, are you at the park?”  She said “Yes, Mom, I came to show you my new senior i.d.”  I thought that was the sweetest gesture ever!  She came to where I walk most every day to tell me about her readiness day and show me how her school i.d. picture turned out.  I loved that she did this, it totally made my day.  I told her “you know what, I’m done walking.  Let’s go to Starbucks for an iced tea and you can tell me all about your morning.”  After we got home, I watered my flowers in the front yard and the back and then deadheaded my geraniums.  It’s so peaceful to spend time in the flower garden. Then, this afternoon I had a chance to chat with my lovely friend, Jen on the phone.  I will tell you that anytime I get a chance to chat with Jen or see her, it puts a smile on my face.  She is such an awesome friend and mom and a wonderful wife, her kids and husband adore her and so do I.  Jen’s daughter is going to be a senior just like Kylie.  Ally is such a sweet girl and her younger brother, Andrew is so much fun to talk to.  Him and I would chat at the high school girl’s softball games.  I always love my conversations with Andrew.  Jen’s husband, Scott, is wonderful as well.  He plays on The Fast & Furious mens softball team with Dennis and these guys look forward to their Thursday night each and every week. Last week was the first game of the season and they won. They really wanted to win this one, I’m so happy for them that they did. I can see it will be another good season for the Fast & Furious. To top off my afternoon and great day, I chatted with my Mom.  We had a lot of great laughs on the phone today, we usually do.  She got a chance to chat with Kylie and had Kylie laughing.  She thinks her Grandma has a great sense of humor. She says “Grandma Edie is so funny, she makes me laugh. My mom asked me about heating my taco shells and I’m so glad she did because that is something I’ve never done with hard taco shells.  Thank you, Mom, for enlightening me.  That was definitely worth doing!!

Here’s how I made my tacos. I first peeled my sweet potato and then shredded it on the box grater.  I added it to two tablespoons of olive oil I had heated in my sauté pan.  Next, I added a half of a white onion, sliced into quarter rounds, kosher salt and ground pepper.  I then added two garlic cloves that I minced.  I removed my sweet potato mixture from the pan and set it aside in a bowl.  I then added another tablespoon of olive oil to my pan and cooked my ground turkey.  To the turkey, I added kosher salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, chili powder and oregano.  I cooked this together and then added my shredded sweet potato, onion and garlic back into the meat.

I topped my tacos with thinly sliced radishes, avocado, sliced San Marzano tomatoes, cilantro and shredded pepper jack cheese.

I loved this dinner!  I think this one will go into my cookbook when I write it.  It was a healthy dinner that felt light, yet was very satisfying. I think all the great flavors that went into this dish is what made it so satisfying.  I hate feeling full after a meal and this did not make me feel too full at all.  This meal had me leaving the dinner table very happy.

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato

• 1-1/2 pounds ground turkey breast

• 1/2 white onion, sliced into quarter rounds

• 2 diced jalapeño, seeds and membrane removed

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1-1/2 teaspoon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, plus 1 teaspoon

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 2 teaspoons oregano

Toppings for Tacos

• sliced radishes

• sliced avocado

• sliced San Marzano tomatoes

• iceberg lettuce

• cilantro

• pepper jack cheese

Directions

Peel the sweet potato. Grate on a box grater. Slice onion and mince garlic. Add shredded sweet potato, onions, garlic, and diced jalapeño to two tablespoons olive oil and sauteé. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper over sweet potato mixture and cook together until shredded sweet potatoes and onion start to soften.  Remove from pan.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil into pan you cooked potato mixture in.  Add ground turkey to oil and cook until crumbly and cooked through. Add 1-1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, along with cinnamon, chili powder, cumin and oregano.  Cook together for a couple minutes and add potato, onion, jalapeño and garlic back to the pan incorporating it in with the meat.  Cook together for a few minutes.  Heat your taco shells for about 35 seconds in the microwave (you can also heat them in the oven if you’d prefer).

Stuff taco shells as you like.  I started with lettuce on the bottom, then meat/sweet potato mixture, radishes, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro and pepper jack cheese. Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris