Use it all up!

Morning bloggy friends! I can’t believe it’s already the weekend! By this time tomorrow, I’ll be flying to Kansas!

Lately, I’ve been trying to use up all the perishable food in my house! Since this business trip was planned in a hurry, I have more fresh food in my house than I can use! Some of my food should stay pretty well over the next 6 days (I’m hoping my winter squash will be okay!), but my leafy greens, fruits and veggies are another story… and I hate wasting food!

I’ve been trying to use up all my sweet potatoes at dinner:

I am in LOVE with roasted sweet potatoes, ever since I started roasting them in coconut oil! For some reason, they taste SO much better this way, and there’s no blackened, charred-taste that occurs when I use olive oil. (Most oils mutate in high heat, actually creating carcinogens! Yipes! Coconut oil doesn’t mutate, making it an ideal choice for cooking.) You guys need to give this a try!

Coconut Oil Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Serves 2

2-3 sweet potatoes, cut into 1″ chunks (you can leave the skin on if they’re organic)
2 tablespoons coconut oil, in a liquid state (melt over stove if needed)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and toss until the potatoes are well coated. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet, and roast for 10 minutes. Flip all the potatoes with a fork or a spatula, then return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden brown– crispy on the outside, fork-tender on the inside. Season with additional salt and pepper, if desired, and serve immediately.

©Healthy Hoggin’

I truly can’t taste the coconut oil in the potatoes, but it makes your home smell HEAVENLY while they’re roasting!

After dinner, I moved on to tackling the disaster that is my dishwasher. All of the sudden my dishes are all coated in a white film AFTER being washed!

Yes, that spatula USED to be black. Now it covered in gross, white powder! I have NO idea what I’ve done to create this white-filmy-MONSTER, but I’m at my wit’s end! My dishwasher used to work fine, and I haven’t changed detergents. I was looking up remedies online, and there were a few suggestions that this could be a result of using too much detergent in each load. A fix was supposed to running your dishwasher empty with a mug full of white vinegar in the bottom rack.

No dice. Still tons of white film on my dishes. I’ve also added white vinegar to my “rinse agent” reserve. Nope, didn’t work either. UGH! What do I do? I’m about to throw in the towel, and pretend like I don’t have a dishwasher anymore! It’s so frustrating to see your dishes come out looking DIRTIER than when you put them in! I’m thinking maybe I should try running the dishwasher a couple more times, to give it a more thorough cleaning? If you guys have any suggestions, I’m all ears!!

For a frustration-free distraction, I decided to try out some of the new powders I got in the mail yesterday:

I’ve been meaning to try Maca for a while now, but when I saw it at Whole Foods, it was a little pricey for my pocket book. Fortunately, I found it cheaper online. I also found this affordable, high-quality cocoa powder (sold in a 2-pack) in my online search, so I added that to my cart, too. What can I say, when the husband’s away, the wife will….   shop.

I used my new cocoa powder to make some detox pudding — using up all the ripe avocados that I have sitting in my house. It would be a shame to see these babies go to waste:

I made the pudding (recipe here)– tried really hard not to taste it, since it’s a sweet– and scooped it into a well-sealed tupperware. I decided to freeze it, so I’m really curious how it will be as ice cream! I’m hoping it gets nice and malt-like.

I’ve got a busy day ahead of me! My house-sitter is coming by this afternoon to get acquainted with everything, then I’ve got bunches of packing to do! I always make a “to-do list” before a big trip. It calms my anxiety about forgetting something! I feel like my list is even longer this time, with my husband gone! (Gulp.)

I will get everything done. I will get everything done.

Gotta run for now! Hope you all enjoy your Saturday!!