Shrimp & Sweet Potato Cakes (Think Crab Cakes)

With sweet potatoes at home I wanted to find another way to use them besides sweet potato fries (I am afraid I will be very disappointed should I attempt them as they will probably taste nothing like the Trader Joe's ones). Last night I did a little searching and found the idea of shrimp & sweet potato cakes. I altered several different recipes I found, catering them to both our taste in food and what I had on hand. 

The result of this food experiment, was a delicious little cake that is very reminiscent of a crab cake, but also differently flavored. We topped them on spinach and baby cucumbers that were lightly seasoned with white balsamic vinegar. 

If not obvious already...I LOVE balsamic. 

These little guys would be great on there own as well though...or dipped in a garlic butter sauce. Mmmm butter. We went a little healthier than that option with our salad though.

So here's how to do it:

Shrimp & Sweet Potato Cakes

Ingredients:

shrimp (about 8 ounces)

2 sweet potatoes

1 clove garlic

cilantro (leaves from 5-10 stems - or to taste)

3 green onions

1tsp coriander seeds, black pepper (to taste), 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp cumin 

1/2 c. cracker or bread crumbs

Method:

Thaw shrimp if frozen, remove tails and coarsely chop.

Pierce sweet potatoes and microwave for 5 minutes or until soft. Remove skins and mash in bowl.

 Saute minced garlic until fragrant with cilantro, then mash in with potatoes. 

 Crush coriander seeds and saute until fragrant with pepper and cumin. Add spices to sugar and salt and mix with crumbs.

Combine spices/crumbs, green onions, and shrimp with potato mixture.

 Preheat oven to 375°

 Form mixture into patties (I made 8 approx 2" patties)

Lightly coat patties in flour. 

 Heat 3 tbsp oil in pan and brown each patty for about 2 minutes per side.

 Add additional oil if needed. Patties will be golden on each side.

 

 Place on cookie sheet. If desired sprinkle with course salt. Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly before serving. Num!

Again we paired it with a spinach salad and balsamic, but they would be great alone too :)

Saturday's Adventure and Sunday Dinner

** Another post NOT completely devoted to food **

(Shocking, I know!)

Yesterday we were again blessed with beautiful weather. The warm air and sun made it feel like summer.... until you looked around at the trees. We went on another long walk by the river where there were gorgeous, fragrant roses blooming (above picture). 

It has been wonderful having this warm weather in October and we are trying to take advantage of it before we are slammed with cold.

I really had the itch to go swimming, which is pretty much not possible around here...and probably not extremely appropriate for October either. 

With that said I could not resist sticking my feet in the water as we walked along the river:

 

My dear husband was much smarter than I was and decided to stay back, as he did not have the urge to tromp through mud to stick his foot in river water as I did...

I was quite pleased with my toe-dipping experience at first....until I discovered how thick and sticky the mud on my feet was. When I got back to the path I realized there was no amount of shuffling in the grass that was going to get this mud off...

However, with these dirty toes we continued our adventure. We knew there was a recreation area just across the river and I figured I could wash the mud off my feet in the bathroom there. So, I trudged on. When we arrived, I was saddened to discover that the bathrooms/drinking fountains had been closed down for the year already. 

What to do??

Well, the recreation area continued across the street so we followed a path there...and after quite a while decided to climb a hill to see how far we were from things. At the top of the hill we saw another set of restrooms. 

Hurray!!!

We got there, and they were - of course - LOCKED. 

However, to my EXTREME delight, there was a functioning drinking fountain. Being the respectful person that I am, I did NOT stick my feet anywhere near the actual fountain. I instead scooped handfuls of water and scrubbed. As I was nearly finished an older couple road by on bikes and gave me a very dirty look. At this point though, I didn't really care. I had clean feet again :)

Here is a picture of my wonderful husband (who puts up with all of my shenanigans) on top of that fateful hill where the rescue for my sad, mud-caked toes was found:

He is so cute (and probably thinking, "what on earth is she going to do next?").

After a few crazy hours out we had a lovely movie night with some chili powder-garlic-tobasco popcorn. Yum!

Today was not so eventful, but still a wonderful day. 

For dinner I made us a Shrimp Shepherds Pie, and it was pretty delicious:

The lovely layer of mashed potatoes sits atop a creamy inside and is all finished off with some cheddar cheese. Sometime I will have to make the real shepherds pie....but this kind is pretty darn good :)

All we do is eat! ....ok, not really, but it is time for some salad!

I am sure to anyone who may read this that it probably seems as though all we do here is eat. This is not true, but it does feel like it some days.

Today was one of those days. 

Tummy grumbles were coming from across the room under a pile of medical school lectures and I was thinking, oh my, I guess it is that time again...but the thought of eating something heavy seemed overwhelming. 

Which meant...it was time for some salad! I could have just put some spinach in a bowl and called it lunch, but of course I did not. I am sure once I find a job that consumes more of my time, meals will not be quite as elaborate as I make them now...but that is not now. So, for lunch...spinach salad with shrimp and baby peppers tossed in a homemade lemon cilantro vinaigrette and lovingly placed in a whole wheat tortilla bowl.

A meal that met my requirement of vegetables, while still squeezing that shrimp in there to give him some meat :)

First I took our whole wheat tortillas and brushed a thin layer of olive oil, and shaped them in small glass oven safe bowls. I baked them at 325 °F for about 20 minutes. When they came out of the oven they were nice and crispy and perfectly shaped bowls for a small salad:

While those were baking, I made the vinaigrette (apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, cilantro, garlic, green onions, parsley, olive oil, and about a tsp of sour cream).

I sliced baby peppers, which just add such a beautiful punch of color to any meal:

 I sautéd our shrimp with green onions for a little extra flavor:

 Lastly, I tossed the spinach and peppers with the vinaigrette, placed it all in the tortilla bowls, and poof: a healthy lunch was ready. 

Now on to the rest of the day!

......before I start scheming dinner that is.....