A Side of Sweet Potato Fries with Ketchup

I love ketchup.

It's truly my favorite condiment.  Fries, fried chicken, anything friend actually just doesn't taste as good without ketchup.

Of course, I knew right away that not only would I be giving up French Fries on the Nutrient Dense Challenge, but inadvertently also ketchup. While I'm definitely mourning the loss of those greasy, salty sticks of potato, I was nearly heartbroken about ketchup. 

But then I remembered how delicious sweet potato fries were!  And if I loved sweet potato fries, surely there would be a Paleo-friendly recipe for ketchup!

Thank goodness for Google.

I found this recipe for Simple Ketchup on PaleoDietLifestyle.com.

While it calls for using only 1 can of tomato paste, I knew My Man and myself better and quadrupled the recipe.  Now, we have a whole jar of ketchup awaiting consumption.

mmm...ketchup...

Since the Nutrient Dense Challenge and other Paleo resources promote sweet potatoes as a great source of complex carbohydrates, we also decided to give sweet potato fries a try.  While I was a bit hesitant since my complete fail at making sweet potato chips, I let My Man lead the charge on this one.

He decided to go for a Cajun Sweet Potato Fries recipe on Primal-Palate.com.  He also decided to quadruple the recipe, but realized that maybe he shouldn't have quadrupled the chili powder.  Still, they're pretty tasty.

4 Sweet Potatoes Worth of Fries

I have to admit that while there are some things that feel like I'm "depriving" myself of, there are some ridiculously tasty alternatives.  It takes a bit of work on our part, but everything so far has been delicious and healthy. 

In the end, I'm certainly not feeling deprived of anything.  I noticed in this first week that I don't feel as hungry or "snacky" as I usually do, especially when my meals consist of protein, lots of veggies, and a small amount of fat as the guides are all suggesting.  I'm paying more attention to what my body actually needs and not what it wants because I'm stressed or bored.  It feels quite good.

Some Successes and Some Burnt Sweet Potatoes

After spending most of last summer and the beginning of our dating relationship at different restaurant tables, My Man and I decided to do a lot more cooking and meal planning as we got settled into ourselves.

I'm lucky that he's so supportive of my efforts with this Nutrient Dense Challenge.  He even reminded me earlier today that I had already been moving to eat this way, but that I just didn't have the guidelines.  But it's great that he's been so helpful about shopping, meal planning, and even putting up with what I'm sure will be multiple cranky sessions.

Today, I decided to make some sweet potato chip treats for the both of us.  After doing a bit of searching around, I found several recipes that I wanted to try: a great all-around simple Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and Sea Salt style, a cinnamon style, and a chili lime style.  My only concern with all the different recipes was that none of them seemed to have the same oven temperature or time in the oven.  Well, I figured that if I wanted them to be more crispy, that I should leave it in the oven for the longer range. 

I was wrong.

Chili Lime, Cinnamon, EVOO and Sea Salt
A little delicious, a little burnt...

Some came out not crispy at all, some had great crisp but were a little more burnt tasting, and some were straight out burnt.

I'm honestly bummed about it.  But, at least I know that the seasoning choices I made were quite tasty.

With My Man's help, we made a delicious Cottage Pie.  This was the first time I've ever eaten so much cauliflower.  After this meal, I was pretty convinced that the cauliflower was mashed potato, and I'm certain I'll enjoy it as  rice substitute.  The recipe was a combination of the Shepherd's Pie recipes in the Well-Fed cookbook and Elana's Pantry.

Cottage Pie with It Starts With Food, Well-Fed Mashed Cauliflower
recipe, and bacon on the Griddler while Cauliflower cooks.

I don't think I've ever had Shepherd's Pie or Cottage Pie before in my life.  This recipe took much longer than we anticipated.  There are multiple steps that need to be prepped before putting it all together.  It definitely help to have two of us.

Day 2 on the Nutrient Dense Challenge has reminded me to be okay with making mistakes and that I don't have to do it alone.