I love Sweet Potatoes

A week ago, daughter and I spent the day with a friend making paper.  The details are found in my post titled: "Making Paper - a foil to the Ereader".  What I forgot to write about was the wonderful lunch we had during our break.  New Dundee is not a large place, but it does have at least two good places to eat.  Wanting to keep it quickish, we decided to visit the Dundee Diner on Queen Street.

Daughter selected the huge dish of poutine.  What, you don't know what poutine is.  It's a French Canadian dish that starts with a layer of fresh french fries, generously sprinkled with curd cheese and then smothered in a thick gravy.  This one had a secret bottom layer of a thick slice of bread topped by a giant, grilled hamburger patty.  Daughter made a valiant attempt, but only was able to finish about 2/3 of the dish.

I opted for the souvlaki in a pita dish with Greek salad, fries and rice.  I would have been fine with just the souvlaki, but I really did want to include salad in my lunch.

The Dundee Diner is definitely on my "re-visit" list.  They are have a cooler featuring the most amazing looking desserts.  We were far too stuffed to even consider sweets.  Next time, we are starting with dessert.

On Monday evening was potluck dinner at my local quilt guild.  One of the desserts was this wonderful tea bag cookie.  It was not a sweet sugar cookie as we all suspected.  I don't have the recipe for this one, as the baker would not own up to making them.  They were a huge hit.  A quick search of the Internet turned up many recipes.  I have included the link to a gluten and dairy free version that I found at PaleoSpirit.com.  I happen to have all the ingredients and think they will be perfect for the Bridal tea party that I am planning for my neighbour's eldest daughter.  I will be adding some sprinkles after dipping in chocolate.

I wanted to take a dish to the pot luck that was dairy free, but I also wanted to be considerate of a friend who must refrain from gluten.  A friend gave me several copies of 'healthy' recipes and one of them would be perfect. 

Vegan Sweet Potato Picnic Salad.

2 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into about 1 inch pieces

2 medium apples, diced into 1 inch pieces

2 ribs of celery, diced into 1/2 inch pieces

4 scallions, thinly sliced crosswise

1/3 cup golden raisin

1/4 cup chopped flat leaved parsley

3 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp mustard (I used course Dijon)

Pinch of curry powder

Pinch of smoked paprika (I used regular paprika)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Place sweet potatoes in a large pot and  cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender about 7 minutes.  Drain and allow to cool.

Add apples, celery, scallions, raisins and parsley. 

In a separate small bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, mustard and spices.  Pour over

sweet potatoes and toss gently.

* I didn't have any scallions nor parsley.  If I were making this for at home, I would have added half of a diced Vidella (sweet) onion.  I did sprinkle some bits of pecan on top when I had a dish the next day.  To mix the oil, vinegar, and spices, I put them in a cup with tight fitting lid and shake until well mixed. This tastes best when allowed to sit for a few hours before serving so the flavours can mingle.

Thanks to Anita for sharing the recipe, sorry but I don't know which publication it is from.

For lots more foodie fun, be sure to visit Beth Fish Reads for her Weekend Cooking post.  You are invited to add a link to your recent foodie post.