Tag Archives: ginger

Spiced Beet, Apple and Sweet Potato Patties with Avocado Tandoori Sauce

Well, St. Patty’s Day has come and gone, but the Recipe ReDuxers are still in spirit with this month’s theme:

“A Play on Patties : While St. Patty’s Day will be over by the time The Recipe ReDux rolls around this month, we’re celebrating the ‘patty’ all month long. We’ve seen images of stacked patties go crazy on food photo sharing sites like HealthyAperture.com; so stack ‘em up! Think healthy tuna burgers, potato patties, or veggie stacks.”

Patties, fritters, cakes, burgers…

Call them what you wish, but the bottom line is they’re delicious. Even when they’re not fried.

They are also really easy to pull together — I like to take whatever I have in my fridge/pantry, add an egg or two to bind it all together, and bake or pan-fry to finish it off.

This recipe was no exception.

beets_apples_sweetpotatoes

So what exactly is in that bowl? Well it started with shredded beets and green apples, and gradually evolved to also include sweet potatoes, fresh minced ginger and cinnamon. That’s it!

Top it with a creamy avocado tandoori sauce (literally, just mashed avocado and tandoori) — and voila! One seriously delicious patty! This recipe is also chock-full of nutrients: potassium, vitamin C, fiber and “good” fasts from the avocado, to name a few. Plus, the spices pack a major antioxidant punch.

Clean eating at its finest!

avocado tandoori

And while the finished product isn’t the most beautiful, I promise you, it was ridiculously, insanely yummy. I will definitely be eating a patty topped with a fried egg tomorrow for breakfast. I’m giddy just thinking about how tasty it will be!

beet_cake_avocado_tandoori

Recipe: Beet, Apple and Sweet Potato Patties with Avocado Tandoori Sauce

I started with just one egg, but two will help bind it slightly better. Be sure to squeeze the liquid out when forming the patties. And if you happen to drink the extra beet-apple-ginger-cinnamon sweet nectar liquid, you will be one happy camper.

Ingredients:

For patties:

  • 2 medium beets, peeled
  • 2 large organic green apples (unpeeled)

apples_beets

  • 1 small knob fresh ginger (about the size of two thumbs)
  • 1 sweet potato, preferably organic
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon (or less if you’re not a cinnamon fiend like me)
  • 2 eggs

For avocado tandoori sauce:

  • 1 large ripe avocado, peeled and mashed
  • 3/4 tsp tandoori seasoning

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Poke holes in the sweet potato. Microwave for 4-6 minutes, until very soft.

Using a box grater or food processor, shred beets, apples and ginger. Add all of it to a bowl. (Note: the beets will have dyed your hands a lovely shade of pink by now)

Beet Hands!

Beet Hands!

Pull peel off of the cooked sweet potato (should be very easy — otherwise cook it a little longer) and add sweet potato flesh to the bowl with the apple, beets and ginger. Add cinnamon and eggs. Combine ingredients well.

Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Using your hands, form the beet mixture into patties. Be sure to squeeze any extra liquid out of the patties before placing on the baking sheet.

Seriously -- don't these look like beef burgers?!

Seriously — don’t these look like beef burgers?!

Bake for about 45 minutes, until top and sides are crisp.

While the patties are baking, make the avocado sauce. Mash avocado in a small bowl and add tandoori spice. Stir until well combined.

Let patties cool and serve with a dollop of the avocado sauce.

Beet_burger

See what other delicious patties Recipe ReDuxers came up with by clicking on the link below!

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Drinks: Ginger Beer Refresher {Recipe ReDux}

Super-refreshing, spicy and sweet all at once, ginger is definitely a favorite of mine. Despite this, I had mostly confined ginger to food applications. No more. After drinking my first Moscow Mule — and admittedly many more since then — I have been telling myself ‘I have to buy some ginger beer.’

So when I found out this month’s Recipe ReDux theme: “Beverages are Hot!”, I instantly knew the time was right to drink the proverbial koolaid. And while I’m all for an alcoholic cocktail, today I went with a non-alcoholic version (it was, after all, only 8 a.m. when I made this).

*In case you didn’t know, ginger beer does not generally contain alcohol. It tastes similar to ginger ale, but is brewed with real ginger and often times citrus fruits as well. To me, it tasted like a slightly spicy, though mostly sweet, ginger soda.

gingerbeer_mandarin_mint_refresher

But what to mix with ginger beer? There were so many delicious flavor combination ideas: mandarin, blueberry, strawberries, berries of any kind, mint, lemon, lime, mango…and the list went on and on.

ginger_beer

Somehow, I made a decision — no small feat for the indecisive type (clearly me): mandarin and fresh mint!

And thus the Ginger Beer Refresher was born!

Recipe: Ginger Beer Refresher

Yield: 1 cocktail

I made this virgin but it would be amazing mixed with vodka or rum. Let’s be honest, I’m going to make this again tonight before I go out. Would also be delicious if you swapped the mandarin for blueberries.

ginger_beer_cocktail

Ingredients:

  • 1 bottle (12 ounces) ginger beer (I used Reed’s, which was on the sweeter side)
  • 1 mandarin orange, such as a halo, segmented
  • 4-5 fresh mint leaves, torn
  • Ice cubes as needed

ingredients

Directions:

Place mandarin segments and mint in a glass and pour in ginger beer. Using a spoon, straw, or muddler, poke at the mint and mandarin to infuse the drink with more flavor.

ingredients2

pouring_gingerbeer

Enjoy!

ginger_beer_refresher

Super-easy, no?

Check out more amazing drink recipes from Recipe ReDux-ers by following the link below!

Spotted at the Green City Farmer’s Market: Carrots

Branch out of the carrot and dip rut!

After finding some great carrots at the Green City Market, I wanted to experiment with this Vitamins A- and C-packed veggie. You really can’t go wrong with carrots: bake/roast, grill, saute, steam, raw: they are all delicious. While carrots have a natural sweetness, they are low in calories and sugar/carbs (30 calories, 7 grams of carbs and 5 grams of sugar per large carrot or ~1/2 cup). Below, you’ll see two of the winning creations: Sage Carrot Chips and Carrot-Ginger Salad (with scallop “sushi”). Enjoy!

SAGE CARROT CHIPS

After falling in love with kale chips, I wondered what else I could turn into a chip and carrot chips seemed to be a great idea. So, I scrubbed the carrots, cut them on the bias (diagonally) and tossed with olive oil, sage (from a friend’s garden), garlic powder and black pepper. I baked at 375 for 15-20 minutes. Depending on how crispy you like them, you can bake for more or less time. The result was delicious!! Note: the carrots do shrink up quite a bit after baking (see before and after pictures below).

Before baking. This was about 4 medium-sized carrots worth.

Carrot chips after baking. See how much smaller they got?

Makes about 1 cup carrot chips

Ingredients

4-5 carrots: organic carrots recommended

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp crushed dried sage

1 tsp garlic powder

Black pepper to taste

Directions

Rinse carrots and peel if desired (I used organic carrots and scrubbed them well, so I left them unpeeled). Slice carrots diagonally across, so that you get large “coins.” In a medium bowl, toss carrots with remaining ingredients, transfer to a baking sheet and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes, or until desired crispness.

Great compliment to grilled chicken, pork or as a side for your sandwich.

CARROT-GINGER SALAD

I have been on a major ginger kick…for the last six months. So, I decided it was time to buy ginger root and use the fresh stuff. Ginger is an excellent compliment to carrots (just think of sushi). I wanted to combine the two into a salad and also play around with the shape of the carrots. Thus, carrot strings were born! Looks dramatic on your plate, but super easy to make! If you don’t have fresh ginger, I have found a great stand-in: jarred ginger. Just like you find minced, jarred garlic, there are jars of minced ginger (I use the brand Christopher Ranch).

Makes about 3 cups salad

Ingredients

4 medium-large carrots

1 cup shelled edamame (didn’t have it, so I used Trader Joe’s frozen Soycutash blend)

1 cup rice wine vinegar (no sugar or salt added)

2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp peeled, grated ginger (or used minced jarred ginger)

Directions

Cut off the ends of the carrots. Using a vegetable peeler, create carrot “stings” by continuously peeling the carrots until you reach the core. You can use the leftover end bits to munch on or throw them into a veggie stir-fry. Mix carrot strings with remaining ingredients, mix and let refrigerate at least one hour (the longer the better).

To go along with the carrot-ginger salad, I made seaweed-wrapped scallop “sushi” using thawed frozen scallops from Trader Joe’s. I took TJ’s roasted seaweed snack, soaked it in a bit of water (just a dunk in water should do) so that it was soft and then wrapped it around the scallops (it stuck on its own). I sprinkled each side of the scallops with black pepper and broiled for ~3 minutes on each side. I served them over a bed of tri-color quinoa (also from TJ’s) with the carrot-ginger salad on the side. Literally took me 15 minutes total for the salad and scallops and was truly delicious and packed with flavor!

Scallops wrapped in seaweed atop a bed of tricolor quinoa with a carrot-ginger salad.