The Dress-Up Dress Down

 

Groceries. You can't live with them and you can't live without them.

Well, more like you can't live with the price of them and you can't live without them.

Potato, Potahto.

Speaking of potato . . .

I learned a lesson in relinquishing control during the height of Covid. I ordered my groceries online for pick up. At first, I ordered most of my staples, but still needed to pick out the meats and fresh vegetables myself. Doing it this way meant still going into the stores, but for much less time.

Then things got worse, vaccinations were just being developed, people around here would not follow social distancing rules and didn't wear masks. I had to order all of my groceries. It was difficult for me, but when balanced with trying to stay alive, a no brainer.

Sometimes the vegetables were very close to what I would have picked out myself. Sometimes, not so much. A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about a sweet potato in my order that would feed a small country. Just after that, fully vaccinated, I went back to shopping just for my produce and meats, I'd gotten too used to the ease of ordering everything else.

Recently, though, I started ordering more and shopping for less. Yes, you guessed it, I ordered sweet potatoes. Two, one for me and one for College Boy. Oh, I got two sweet potatoes, I also got a lesson in perspective. That one I got a few years ago? That was small compared to the two I got this time. I think 50% of my bill was sweet potato. It's a wonder I could lift them. They were the size of pumpkins. I could carve them up, put a candle in them and stick them on the front porch. 

Figuring out what to do with one was a challenge. I cooked it, shared it with College Boy at dinner, but we didn't even put a dent in it. The leftovers provided lots of recipe development inspiration. I made Ginger Snap Sweet Potato Cake, Apple Pecan Sweet Potatoes, and Sweet Potato Blinis.

Sweet Potato Blinis

 

And I still had one left. 

So, working with that whole turn it into a jack-o-lantern vibe, and in honor of today being Halloween, I decided to share. In a Halloween meets politics meets produce. In a Mr. (Sweet) Potato Head kinda way. 

For instance:

I hear Ron DeSantis likes to talk a lot about drag performers and drag shows, seems sort of obsessed, actually. I bet he'd love to be gifted his very own queen.

Or perhaps Greg border-buoy-death-trap-in-the-Rio-Grande Abbott should get a look at what those of us with a moral compass see when we look at him.

And there are at least 19 defendants in Georgia who may be drastically lowering their clothing and barber shop budgets. I could give them a helpful glimpse into their future fashion style options.

Whether you're spending this Halloween partying, giving out candy, or dressing up your vegetables, I hope you're having fun.

Probably not as much fun as I'm having. That is, unless you order your groceries online too.

Sweet Potato Blinis         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
about 2 medium sweet potatoes

2 oz cream cheese

1 packet instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal

1/4 cup quick oats

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup mini marshmallows, halved

3 TBSP butter

maple syrup 

Directions:

*Cook the sweet potatoes in the oven or microwave until fork tender. Discard the skin and refrigerate the rest to cool.

*While the sweet potato is cooling, allow the cream cheese to soften in a medium sized bowl.

*Once the sweet potato has cooled and the cream cheese has softened, measure out 1 1/2 cups of sweet potato and add it to the bowl with the cream cheese. Beat until smooth, then beat in the oatmeal packet, quick oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt. Add the egg and beat again. Mix in the mini marshmallows. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

*Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

*Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, melt 1 TBSP butter over medium heat. Add some of the sweet potato mixture (about 1 heaping TBSP per blini) to the hot pan. Leave space between each blini. Form into about 2 - 2 1/2 inch circles.

*Cook for 2 minutes, then lower the heat to just above low and cook until the bottoms start to brown, about 8 - 10 minutes. Flip over, pressing them down gently, and cook the other side, about another 8 minutes. Repeat this process with additional cooking spray, butter, and sweet potato mixture.

*Place the blinis on the prepared baking sheet and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

*To serve, drizzle with maple syrup. Provide more maple syrup for dipping.