Sweet Potato Fries [cajun style]

With the new year comes many resolutions. I made a few but one of mine that I'm going to stick with for sure is trying to cook healthier meals for my family.

I have been reading a lot about grain free, paleo, primal diets. I used to be bread/potato/pasta free and mostly dairy free for a long time to help with eczema, so it doesn't seem too bizarre to cook that way again.

I love Primal Palate and their cookbook Make It Paleo. I have several meals planned from MIP this week. Last night we had pulled pork (open faced sandwiches on whole grain bread for Andy & the kids and on a  salad for me). As a side I made Primal Palate's cajun sweet potato fries.

I don't like sweet potatoes, at all. So, when I was getting groceries in Aldi and the only option was to buy a bag of them, I decided we would skip the fries in favor of steamed broccoli or something else. Later I was in the health food store and they had purple japanese sweet potatoes, so I picked up 2 small ones. I mean, they were purple, and what better way to get my kids to try them? WRONG-- the peel is purple but the potatoes themselves are regular-potato-colored inside. Oh well. The kids probably wouldn't have eaten the purple fries anyway!!

Since I used two sweet potatoes and the recipe only called for one, I doubled the spices for the cajun mix. However, I halved the cayenne pepper because, well, kids. I'm so glad I did because WHEW these suckers were spicy, and I LOVE L O V E spicy food!

Making them was super easy. I was really hesitant as I prepared them because... sweet potatoes are gross.

They actually turned out super delicious. Hooray! The only thing is I will omit the cayenne pepper next time (the kids said, even with 1/2 tsp for 2 sweet potatoes, they were still too hot), and cut the paprika in half. Apparently, I'm not a huge fan. Perhaps overcoming my picky eating problems should be something I work on in 2016, too!

I made this honey-pepper dipping sauce to go with the fries. There's a pizza joint downtown that I LOVE- so I tried to copycat their dipping sauce. Super easy and super delicious. Honey, crushed red pepper, and sea salt to taste. I am DYING to make a grain free pizza to dip in this!! SO good. It was a bit too much pepper with the fries though.. they were already very spicy.

Since I'm going for a "grain free" esque style of eating, I don't want to give myself a "paleo" label. I love cheese so much!! I had this delicious salad and used some honey goat cheese crumbles for toppings. I also love beer. I'm not ashamed to say it! And while I'm cutting out breads, pastas, rices, etc., if my husband takes me out to our favorite pasta place for a date, or for sushi, I won't skip out! I am trying to teach myself that all things in moderation are ok. I don't have to abstain 100% and I don't have to go full speed ahead over stuffing myself either. The food isn't going anywhere. 

PS the pork was left over pork tenderloin we had for dinner a few nights ago with friends. Andy brined 4 tenderloins for 24 hours in light brown sugar, sea salt, and water. It was SO GOOD. Next time we're going to try coconut sugar in place of brown sugar.