FLOWER POT KITCHEN: BIG GIRLS DIET SWEET POTATO CHIPS AND DIPS

17 Jul 2014

BIG GIRLS DIET SWEET POTATO CHIPS AND DIPS

WAHOO...THESE ARE JUST THE MOST PERFECT SWEET POTATO CHIPS SO YOU CAN DIP!!!

Fabulous dip and scoop chips, really quick and simple to make, almost no mess! Now I can have chips and dips back in my life again, these healthy gorgeous fresh gluten and grain free low calorie guilt free chips also mean I don't feel I have to limit my amount, well within reason and because of this I find I eat as many as I want which as there no major pressure I know I eat less than I would if I had that curfew!!! Gotta love the physiological effect!!!

With a gorgeous zesty raw chopped tomato, coriander and pepper salsa or a creamy avocado dip or zesty lime and coriander full fat yogurt dip these are going to be your new best friend, they not only eat like a gorgeous treat but satisfy that sofa craving need to pick and dip, something I do not do very often but when one of those I WANT... moments pops up or a girly night out but in, this is a brilliant option, ticks all the boxes and does not leave me feeling sluggish and pants the next morning as if I did go totally off piste and have some carb loaded junk food...

Prep time 10 mins / Cooking time 60 minutes / Use cooking time for salsa prep and extra dips

My geeky science bit...

The sweet potato is simple starches, a complex carbohydrate loaded with fiber and beta-carotene, a pro vitamin A carotenoid. Small amounts of B5, B6, manganese and potassium, lots of calcium, magnesium, when baked higher vitamin C, phosphorous and sodium. Sweet potatoes rank one of the highest in nutritional value. Ground flax seed is high in dietary fiber, lignons, omega 3, fatty acids, lowers cholesterol, flax seed may stunt the growth of some cancers, helps stabilise blood sugars, high in antioxidants.

ZESTY SALSA

1 lime juice and zest is one full days dose of vitamin C. Spring onions are a great antioxidant. Tomatoes reduce liver inflammation. Peppers full of betacarotene, vitamin C, (red A), strong antioxidant, protects heart and immune system, organ and blood cleansing. Chilli in large quantities has vitamin C, carotene, vitamins B, B6, potassium, magnesium, iron. Coriander, heart and circulatory protective coumarins and effective antiseptic linalcol.

INGREDIENTS

(makes around 40 tortilla chips)

1 sweet potato peeled chopped

1 cup of ground flax seed

1 spring onion

1 red chilli

1 lime zested and juice

1 tsp sea salt

lrg pinch ground black pepper

1 pinch garamasala

1 lrg pinch chilli powder

1 tsp crushed chillies

Place all the ingredients in your blender and whizz for a couple of minutes until you have a dough paste, line your work top with some grease proof paper around three foot long, dust half with some ground flax seed, scoop out your sweet potato dough and place on the first third of the baking paper, fold the paper in half over the dough and roll out the dough nice and thin, remove the top sheet of baking baking paper, using a pizza cutter wheel or knife cut the dough into triangle chips, transfer the baking paper with the tortillas on to a baking tray and bake in the oven 150 degrees for around 60 minutes, maybe a hint longer for the centre chips, you want them to be crisp and firm to touch, leave to cool if you can and then dive in.

ZESTY LIME AND TOMATO CORIANDER SALSA

1 spring onion fine chopped

1 pepper chopped

12 cherry tomatoes diced

1 tbsp coriander chopped

1 red chilli finely diced

1/2 lime zested and juiced

1 pinch salt and black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and season to taste with the salt and pepper, enjoy with your sweet potato flax seed tortilla chips, watch out these are so mooorish...

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.