SWEET POTATO SPAGHETTI

Good Morning to you,

I was wondering,

are you in the habit of making New Year's resolutions?

I used to be.

Religiously, every New Year's Eve I would make a list of three or four resolutions, which at the time of writing, I really meant to keep.

They were never earth shattering resolutions, they tended to be,

I must exercise more.

I must eat more healthily.

I must cut down on my much loved  chocolate.

I must make more time for myself.

..... as I said, not very earth shattering New Year's resolutions,

but this year, I have decided, I am not going to make any New Year's resolutions.  No, not even one. 

Absolutely not, instead I have decided on something completely different.  

Well actually, thinking about it, I suppose this could be classed as a New Year's resolution, but I prefer to think of it as more of a, 'wake up and smell the coffee' moment.

So what is it.

I have decided,  that from now on, I am not going to allow negativity to seep it's way into my life anymore.

Interestingly, I read this quote, and I have to tell you it resonated with me.

'If you are part of the wrong group,

nothing you do is right'

I cannot attribute this quote to anyone, because I discovered it in an old notebook of mine, which believe it or not is 15 years old. I have so many notebooks, which include shopping lists, Christmas present lists, notes on plants I want to buy, plants I need to move, music I hear on the radio..... random information, but all the notes are part of my daily life, but back to the quote. I obviously liked the quote enough to write it down at the time, but I had forgotten about it.  So here I am, in the year 2015 having decided this will be the year that I heed this advice.

Now I am not saying that I am surrounded by negative people, because I am not, I have some really lovely friends, but as you know,  all it takes, is one person to be the fly in the ointment.

Just one person to make you feel that whatever you do is never right.

So, I have 'girded my loins' and had a talk with myself.... and after much soul searching, I have decided to gently cut the person out of my life..... it will not  be easy to do, as I never want to hurt the person concerned.... crazy isn't it, I have to cope with the negativity, but I do not want to hurt the person who is causing the negativity.  

But do you know something, after fighting with the decision for so long, having made the decision, I feel so much better within myself.

I'm not sure that the person I am talking about will feel the same once she realises, but hey ho, this is for my sanity.

How about you, do you struggle with negativity? 

How about New Year's resolutions?  

Do you manage to keep the resolutions you make?

What I do love about a new year, is the idea, that we have a fresh canvas which we can paint any way which way we like.

... and this new year, brought me something new. Do you remember, last week I showed you a strange contraption  and I asked you if you knew what it was?  Well just incase you did not know, it is a Spiralizer.  It was a Christmas gift and I love it.  

With my new Spiralizer this is what  we are going to make today.

sweet potato spaghetti..... it is delicious.  We enjoyed the sweet potato spaghetti with salmon which I marinated in soy sauce, ginger and chilli.

So it's on with the pinnie and the music I am listening to today is another Christmas present.... I am very lucky indeed.

I have played this album over and over again and I absolutely love it.  If you love Barbara Streisand you will just adore this album.  I had never heard of Blake Shelton, but his voice is fabulous.  If I were really pushed to choose a favourite track, then I think it would have to be Barbara's duet with Blake..... but it only slightly nudged itself to be top of the pops, because I really love this whole album.

So with Barbara and Blake singing 'I'd Want It To Be You', it is time  to organise my ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

TO MAKE

SWEET POTATO SPAGHETTI

700g sweet potato

1/2 tablespoon of sesame seeds

1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce

1 tablespoon of olive oil

You will also need,

a Spiralizer

with a Chipper attachment

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

HOW 

TO MAKE

SWEET POTATO SPAGHETTI

Peel the sweet potato

and

cut it in half.

Attach one half

of the sweet potato

to the spiralizer

and

turn the handle

and

ta-daa,

you have sweet potato

which looks like spaghetti.

Place the second half

of the sweet potato

on to the Spiralizer

and

repeat the process.

At this point, you are going to feel that this

is much too much sweet potato spaghetti,

but trust me it isn't.

Oh and you will be left with

little pieces of sweet potato.

I just pop them into a zip lock

bag and use them when I am making

soup.

Brush a large baking tray

with

olive oil

and

place the 

sweet potato spaghetti

onto the baking tray

and

pop the tray into the oven for 10 minutes.

Whilst the sweet potato spaghetti

is in the oven,

make the dressing.

Add the toasted sesame oil,

the

dark soy sauce,

the fish sauce

and the

sweet chilli sauce

into a small bowl

and

mix the ingredients together.

After 10 minutes,

remove the sweet potato spaghetti

from the oven

and toss.

You will notice a few strands

have become a little

brown, but don't worry

this does not spoil the dish.

Return to the oven for a further

5 minutes or until the sweet potato spaghetti

is cooked.

When cooked,

place the sweet potato spaghetti

into a dish.

Here you can see how the sweet potato spaghetti

has reduced, so what seemed like

far too much sweet potato in it's raw state,

turns out to be enough for 2 when it

has been cooked.

Sprinkle over the sesame seeds

and

drizzle over the dressing.

Toss all the ingredients together.

Believe me when I say,

 if you are a lover of

sweet potato,

you will add this recipe to

your repertoire

and

 make it 

over and over again.

We enjoyed the

sweet potato spaghetti

with some Scottish Lochmuir salmon fillets.

Honestly,

I cannot stress enough

how much

we loved this recipe.

Now I have to tell you, the sweet potatoes which are available here at the moment are huge, so I found it difficult to Spiralize.  So I decided to cut the sweet potato in half. You might find that your sweet potatoes are smaller, so there will be no need to cut them in half.

As far as the dressing goes, please do not be put off by the smell of the fish sauce, it isn't the nicest of smells, but added to a dressing it works perfectly.  I add 2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce, to the dressing, but perhaps your preference is 1.  I would say, play around with the dressing and taste as you make it, then you will find the right flavour to suit you.  

Also you could toast the sesame seeds, but I find as I include toasted sesame oil, this imparts a lovely sesame flavour, but again, if you wish to you could toast the sesame seeds.

Now then, as for the price of a Spiralizer, I did not want to look up the price as it was a gift, but the Lakeland booklet popped through my letterbox yesterday and inside I saw a Spiralizer for £29.99p. Now as you know, gadgets do not impress me, and if I were to be honest, if I had seen a Spiralizer at an Ideal Home Exhibition, I would have passed it by and just thought of it as another gadget which if bought, would be popped into the cupboard, never to see the light of day again, but I cannot stress enough how impressed I am with this Spiralizer.  I feel for George and I, this is a unique way for us to enjoy vegetables. My Spiralizer sits on the shelf, so that I can pick it up and use it as and when needed, and I have to tell you, it has been needed quite a few times since I received it as a Christmas gift.

This week I am going to use another attachment to see how I can use a spiralized cucumber..... this is so much fun..... I am loving it.

So take care of yourself and I will see you next Thursday.