Bites of My Life

As mentioned in last week's bites post I got a new job!!! It will be a job that is much more "me" per se. Think food, restaurants and social media. With the starting of my new job, means the end of my other job. My first big girl job to be exact.

Though this job had it's peaks and pits, I learned so much. There is something to be said about your first job out of college. (Christina from The Blissful Balance coincidentally put all my thoughts into words in to her post today). Your first job doesn't have to be your last and it doesn't have to turn into a career. I learned what I like and don't like in a job. I'm a millennial generation Y where I think I have a right to do whatever I set my mind to. I took action to find something more, and I'm hopeful this new job adventure is going to be just that. 

Next on tap...oldest sis, Claire is in the middle of a job switch too and will be home in OK this whole week. I can't wait for a week of sister family food time!

-Regular nachos upgraded with sweet potato chips as the base! Check out last week's recipe for Sweet Potachos.
-My favorite after dinner snack, rice cake with AB, gogi berries and granola.
-Peanut butter blossoms also got an upgrade with the swap of almond butter in place of PB. Tucking this recipe away into my "go-tos."
-Was surprised with loving goodbyes on my last day at my first big girl job. 
-#GabeTheBabe had his first puppaccino experience on Friday, safe to say he loved it. 
-Smoothie bowl game strong these past couple warm days.
-Saturday morning mimosas.
-Just some crawdaddies posing for a pic before they turned into our lunch!
-Can check "go to a crawfish boil" off my spring TDL.

Annie

Sweet Potachos

I ate the whole pan. I thought I would just throw that out there at the beginning to give you a pre-cursor for how amaze these are. I'll also let you know that I thought these would be a huge fail, but they blew my expectations out of the water. Step aside tortilla chips, sweet potatoes just upped you.

Veggie chips can be a little tricky so I did my research to give you the best tips! Cutting your sweet potatoes super thin is key to get them to crisp up and hold all of your toppings. A mandoline makes it so easy, but if you don't have one just do your best to cut them as thin as possible. I'm slightly obsessed with my new mandoline (I got this one from Kuhn Rikon), and it is the main reason I came up with this dish.   I've been looking for any kind of veggie I can slice up thin. I'm weird. 

Tips:
-slice super thin
-bake on foil lined baking sheets
-coat the foil with oil, toss the sweet potatoes in oil too
-wait to salt until they are done baking
-let them finishing crisping with the oven door propped open and the oven turned off
-if some burn a little, that's even better (in my opinion)!!

Sweet Potato Nachos
serves 1-2 depending on how hungry you are

Ingredients:
1 medium sized sweet potato, thinly sliced
olive oil
sea salt
1/2 cup Mexican blend cheese
1/2 avocado, diced
1/2 cup leftover carnitas meat ;)
red onion, cilantro, plain greek yogurt, salsa

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line 2-3 baking sheets with foil. Pour about 1-2 Tbsp. of olive oil on to each foil lined sheet. Use your hands to spread it around and cover the whole surface.

Using a mandoline or a really sharp knife, thinly slice your sweet potato. Place in a bowl and toss with another tablespoon of oil. Place each piece of sweet potato on a cookie sheet. Make sure they don't overlap or touch. Place all of the cookie sheets in the oven on separate shelves. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating which pan is on top after 8 minutes. Cook the last 7 minutes. Pull the sheets out and flip over all of your sweet potato chips. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt then place back in the oven. Turn off the oven and crack open the door. Let the chips dry out for about 20 minutes. 

Once your chips are crispy, pull them out and load onto a small baking sheet. I used my toaster oven because it is small and perfect for one batch of nachos. Layer the chips in an even layer, then sprinkle on half of the cheese. Top with the carnitas meat and then the rest of the cheese. Broil for about 5-10 minutes until your cheese is melting. Pull out and top with diced red onion, cilantro, avocado, salsa and plain greek yogurt as a sour cream replacement. 

Snap pictures of these to your friends and make them really jealous. 

My roommate took one bite, and said "ya, you need to make those a lot." I have another sweet potato in my pantry just waiting to be mandolined and made into sweet potatchos. 

Annie