Old Man Dolin

October 17th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time

Dinner tonight was about ease and speed.  Mama’s got a 6:30 yoga class she wants to get to, gang!  Chop chop!

Or should I say “slice slice!”?

With fast cookin’ potatoes on my mind, a couple of orange spuds and I went head to head with the mandolin.

Sweet Potatoes Cut with Mandolin

A mandolin is a fancy schmancy slicer contraption that is supposed to make vegetable slicing easier. The last time I used this thing, the mandolin and I had words.  But tonight?  I grabbed this bull by the horns until it bucked me off.

Oneida Mandolin

(Yikes. What kind of contraption is this?  What kind of blog is this?)

Basically, you jam the thing on the thing and you slide it up and down on the thing and sliced things come out the bottom.

Got that?

And, in theory, the increased surface area and decreased density of your freshly sliced vegetables should allow for shorter cooking times.  I’m pleased (and also a little surprised) to report that I got the hang of the ol’ mandolin fairly quickly this go-round.

Alison vs. The Mandolin?

Me: 73

Mandolin Sweet Potato Fries

Mandolin: 8

Sweet Potato Scraps

I win!

Fries coated in a sauce of canola, apple cider vinegar, Tabasco, salt and a generous (!!) dash of chili powder.

Chili Sauce Pour on Fries

(Sweet Potato Spoiler Alert: These guys turned out EXTREMELY spicy!)

Baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. That’s also about how long it took me to realize these orange root sticks were taking their sweet (potato) time, so I cranked it up 425 for the last 10 – 15 minutes.

Easy and Speedy Dinner Part Deux involved some largely chopped peppers, garlic and onion sauteed in coconut oil.

Peppers and Onions Peppers and Onions Sauteing

Jalapeno Sabra smeared into a (large! too large!) whole wheat tortilla, loaded with half the veggies and then a sprinkle of hemp seeds for that added shot of plant-based protein:

Hummus Smeared on Whole Wheat Tortilla Hummus Wrap Loaded

(Spoiler Number 2: now this may come as a shock, but jalapenos are also spicy.)

It’s not the prettiest meal ever, but it’s ready.  And I already gave away the ending – but it was a lot spicier than I originally expected it to be too.

Fast Dinner

And it was fast, but not fast enough for yoga. Those dang sweet potatoes fries duped me last time too! They just don’t cook as quickly as I expect.  Blasted expectations!!  They’ll get you every time.

At least I beat that damn mandolin.  (That was unexpected!)


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