Roasted Honey & Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes

This is a perfect fall recipe, well actually its just a perfect recipe for anytime of the year! But with fall being around the corner if you need a little help getting in the spirit try these.

I adapted it from Buns in my Oven blog 

INGREDIENTS:

4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
4 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

*All seasonings can be adjusted according to taste, this is what I went with and the family LOVED them!!

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the honey, olive oil, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Add the sweet potatoes and toss to coat.
Dump potatoes onto a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.

Crockpot Southwestern Style Chalupas

Last Thursday we had a little cold spell so I kinda started to get excited about crockpots, soups, and all things Fall.

I had been waiting to try a recipe I found called "Southwestern Style Chalupas"

I ended up totally revamping the recipe, starting with the serving size. I really didn't' feel like I wanted to be eating this for a week straight so I downsized the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 (2lbs) pork loin

1 can  black/pinto beans ( I used black eyed peas)

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chili peppers

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin seed

2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons garlic salt

pepper

1c. water

1 (16 ounce) package corn chips

DIRECTIONS:

1.            In a slow cooker, combine pork, chili peppers, chili powder, cumin seed, oregano, garlic salt, pepper, and water. Cover, and simmer on Low for 4 hours.

2.            Shred meat, removing any bones and fat, add beans Cover, and continue cooking for 2 to 4 more hours. Add more water if necessary.

3.            Place corn chips on serving plates. Spoon pork mixture over chips, and serve with desired toppings.

Iowa State Fair 2014

As Kansas is about to kick off their state fair tomorrow it reminded me I should post about my trip to the Iowa State Fair. I am behind (as usual with blogging).

Disclaimer * we went on the last Saturday of the fair,(+) which is held in the largest city in Iowa= packed, crazy, not easy to see anything, etc*

With the way things went that day, we didn't get to the fair until about 5pm, another crazy choice. Parking, well that's a "fun" challenge. After parking on a random side street we walked the 5 block(surprisingly close) to the entry. Hungry, I thought the first thing I wanted to do was get something fried or unique to Iowa's Fair.

How about a Double Bacon Corn Dog!

Next stop of course had to be the livestock barns.

The Avenue of Breeds was AWESOME! End of story, just plain awesome. 

I like unique/heritage breeds to this was right up my Avenue, ok sorry about the lame joke. 

 The draft horses warming up and moving from barns to show arenas was something that made everyone stop and watch. Brought me back to the days when my family had Belgiums

We watched an llama futurity show, checked out the Boulevard of Dairy Breeds,stopped by the largest boar pen, (he weighed in at 1,400lbs),  visited a few western clothing booths, and spent at least an hour in the 4-H exhibits building. So impressed by what young people are making, creative & talented!

The buildings at the fair grounds are very impressive, and even more so to think they were built just for the fair! 

The Ag Building, originally build in 1904

You can check out this picture and others showing the amazing architectural buildings of the fair at Blue Ribbon Foundation.

Of course we had to check out the Butter Sculpture in the Agriculture Building

As we were getting ready to walk out the gate there was the Exotic Petting Zoo. Pretty happy we stopped :)