Aug 5, 2010

Crispy Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries with Maple Greek Yogurt Dipping Sauce

While I was in Massachusetts, Annelies from Attune Foods offered to send me some Uncle Sam Cereal to review. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to try a new high fiber cereal. Uncle Sam Cereal is great for many reasons:

  • Each 3/4 cup serving contains 10g of fiber - that's 40% of your daily intake!
  • It contains flax seeds which are full of Omega-3's - your heart loves these.
  • It is 100% natural with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
  • There is < 1g of sugar in this cereal - no sugar crash after breakfast.
  • It is available in Original and with Mixed Berries


Uncle Sam cereal is very crunchy and would be awesome with fresh fruit or as a topping on Greek yogurt. I pondered what I could make with this cereal that would make it sweeter...did I say sweet? Yes, I did. Here's what I came up with:

Crispy Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries with Maple Greek Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:
2 cups Uncle Sam Cereal, Original
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1 container of your favorite Greek yogurt, plain
1 tbsp maple syrup

Directions - Normal Person Style:
1. Preheat oven to 400*.
2. Slice sweet potatoes into fries or wedges.
3. Mix Uncle Sam Cereal with cinnamon.
4. Warm honey in the microwave for 10 seconds.
5. Dip sweet potato pieces in honey, then dredge in the cereal until lightly coated.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until potatoes have cooked through. While potatoes are baking, make dressing.
7. Add maple syrup to Greek yogurt and stir. Refrigerate until potatoes have finished. Use as a dipping sauce!

Directions - Xtina Style:
1. Preheat the oven for 350*. Ten minutes later, realize this is wrong. Turn it up.
2. Slice sweet potatoes into fries. Introduce them to Mr. & Mrs. Fish.
3. Let Mr. & Mrs. Fish have some alone time with red wine.
Measure out cereal and add cinnamon.
Shake for a few seconds until the bowl goes flying out of your hand and cereal covers your counter tops. 
Rescue your West Elm credit card. You will be needing this soon. 
Try it again. And since it took you 9 months to clean up, Mr. & Mrs. Fish have produced a microwave-safe fish bowl baby. Pour in honey and microwave until warm.
Toss sweet potato fries in honey and then cereal.
While baking, make Maple Greek yogurt dipping sauce:
Step back and assess your kitchen. Consider committing yourself into a mental institution because no rational human being should ever make messes like you do. (Well, maybe just you and Jessie.)
Clean, clean, and clean until your fries are crispy and the Mufasa in your stomach is roaring to eat.
Enjoy over the Maple Greek yogurt in yet another nautical-themed kitchen toy.
Realize that you've made a Katie and Katie inspired yogurt mess!

All kidding aside, these fries were fun. The cereal gives them a nice crunch while the cinnamon adds just a hint of flavor. The dipping sauce is so simple but adds protein and sweetness! Thanks again Annelies!! :)

Change of Topic:
How do you guys stay organized? In case you couldn't tell from any of my previous posts, I am a fiery hot mess. My idea of "reminders" is writing something down on a sticky note and throwing it into my purse. All this does is make my purse look trashy. 
Any ideas on how I can remember to get stuff done and keep my purse clean at the same time? At least I know messiness runs in the family...

50 comments:

  1. you blew my mind into pieces with these sweet potatoes! i love how crispy they are now!! and mixing them with some yogurt is so incredible!! haha perfectly paired with the crab bowl- too cute!! <3

    cereal and honey can surely do no harm :)

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  2. I just tried Uncle Sam's cereal too and you're right - definitely not sweet, but way to get creative with it!

    Your purse looks like mine. I "try" to keep my notes on my phone with a "notes app", but this doesn't always work out. Instead, I'll sometimes fold up the notes and put them in my wallet. Then I forget about them...haha, obviously, I'm no help :)

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  3. I've always had a difficult time making my sweet potato fries crispy! I think cereal-coating may be the answer to the problem. Thanks for the idea! :)

    I love the random nautical theme in this post! Those fishies are too cute!

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  4. I've never tried this cereal, but have heard lots of good things! Love your idea of making it the "breading" on your fries. Fab. And totally cute crab bowl/mug. I have a notebook that I write all my to dos and reminder by day in. I also keep my food list in there. I carry it with me pretty much 24/7. It is the only way I stay organized

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  5. Hahahah yesssssssssssss!!! I'm proud of you. Embrace the mess. Food looks awesome. I loveee sweet taters and I also love your directions because I don't usually follow the normal person directions well...

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  6. Looks great! I love your fishy dishes.

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  7. Hahaha I love the mr. and mrs. fish comments... and the baby fish :)

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  8. Couldn't you use that nifty Blackberry of yours to alert you of necessary reminders? I would think you already did that since you love that Blackberry so much. I use my outlook for reminders when at work...And the calendar in my phone for personal reminders.

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  9. I'll write a to-do note and seriously list "find other to-do note" on it... I have a bad list habit..

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  10. The fries look amazing! I love anything sweet potato!!!

    As for the organizing, I am just as bad! I go through phases where I clean up and organize (whatever area), have all great intentions of keeping it that way, and then as fast as you can turn around everything is out of place again.

    And the Blackberry thing doesn't work for me either. I tried again and again to implement this wonderful tool but it ends up the same way. I end up with notes that say, "don't forget to put 'this' in your calendar".

    I think I am learning to embrace it...

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  11. you are much more creative with your Uncle Sam than I was. I've been eating my box as straight up cereal!

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  12. Love the sound of those fries--cereal is such a versatile food!!

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  13. Hey girl!

    I loved your comments on my blog! HAHA! You're right--that is crazy how similar we are HA! You can also add "unorganized purse carrier" to the list of why we're alike!

    You've got me SOLD on Uncle Sam's cereal. You're a great food review. I'm loving the fiber count and how low in sugar it is, as well as the Omega-3. Wha whaaaat!

    Oh, and I'm head-over-heels in luuuurve with your cheetah bowls. If only I could convince my sweet hubby to let me swap out our dishware. I'd use them everyday! So cute! :)

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  14. Look at your cookie monster! What a unique recipe to try, I am going to have to take your word for it, but sounds like a flavorful combo.

    I keep a to-do list on my phone and update it. That way I can delete, add on, etc. I too had a dozen post-its all over the place.

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  15. hee hee, hey Fiery Hot Mess ! the inside of your handbag looks like mine !!

    :)

    love the fish + fish baby bowl - this whole post is making me laugh :)

    and those fries look SO GOOD ! I WILL be making these - thanks for sharing and making me laugh this morning - TWICE now! ;)

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  16. Ho. Li. Cow. Those look fabulous! Nom nom nom. Totally going to try them. I even have sweet potatoes at home! SWEET!

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  17. Those fries look amazing! I am a sweet potato fry addict hehe. I also enjoyed the fish love story - very cute :)

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  18. This looks really tasty! I am going to have to try this one!

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  19. This recipe looks bomb! I've never tried sweet taters with cinnamon or maple syrup! I think I must be crazy for not trying it yet!

    Maybe to keep organized you could buy a mini notebook to keep in your purse?

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  20. Oh lala! This looks fantastic! I keep a to-do list on my phone but I also use stickies. A good way to keep them organized is sticking them inside my wallet on my checkbook.

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  21. i was wondering where you were going with the "leave mr. and mrs. fish alone with a bottle of red wine" hahahaha.

    um, have we discussed lately how type-a i am? because being type-a means you have great organizational skills. new e-mail topic! haha.

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  22. oh my GOSH i freaking love you. okay so this creation tops ALL creation!!! this sounds AMAZING!! crust on the sweet tater fries? can you please get ANY more perfecto? AWEEEEESOME. you=my hero

    i need to come to chuck town and meet you, alexa, and izzy!! ASAP

    your email was hilarious, gosh i freaking LOVE you. gona try to post those up tonight! YOU ROCK

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  23. Sweet potato fries are always a win. I haven't tried them breaded with fiber cereal though. You might be onto something...

    As for organization, once you figure something out please feel free to pass that tip my way. Danka.

    :)

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  24. Everytime I look at a blog I see Uncle Sams Cereal, where is MINE?!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol! I have to say you used it for the yummiest recipe I have seen so far with it, and they should send you a lifetime supply of the cereal! : )

    Thanks for the shoutout! Anytime you need a hot yogurt mess, just call me! : )

    ** Wow, I never knew you were in the same situation as me, I was shocked when I read your comment, I KNOW what pain you must feel everyday too, I mean Im happy as ever and continue to live my life everyday, but there is not a day I dont think about how hurtful it is and why is my mom doing this to me, but u cant control other people only yourself, Im glad to know we are in a similar situation, actually its too crazy how similar, my real dad never had anything to do with me, my stepdad practically raised me, he married my mom when I was 5, he is not talking to me either, just because my moms not, I even have 2 sisters not talking to me over this, its insane!

    Hey just keep living girl, thats what I do, we have too much happiness to bring to the world and to people for something like this to tear us down! love u! thank you from the bottom of my heart for your comment and telling me about your situation! We are here for eachother always!

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  25. I really enjoy that crab cup. It kinda made my day.

    Those fries look pretty tasty. I love love love sweet potatoes... and baked is even better. Mmmm.

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  26. Wow, you're so creative! I love sweet potatoes and I looove cereal, so this would be a winning combo for me! Great idea :)

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  27. Ok, the post title itself had me drooling. Those fries look deeelicious! I am also loving that last photo!

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  28. Such a cool idea to use the cereal in that way! I love the combo of sweet potatoes and cinnamon, so I'm sure that's a winner!

    I stay (semi) organized by keeping some smaller wristlets inside my bag. One for money, one for gum/chapstick, one for camera, etc.

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  29. I actually have a box of Uncle Sam's in my house right now. Can't wait to make this! :)

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  30. That looks delicious. I can never keep my purse orginized either.

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  31. You are so funny - those fries look great! Loved the fishes hooking up. hehe And the saving of the west elm credit card - I have one too and it's not something you want to lose!! If you like your post-it writing just get a small 3x5" notebook and post 'em all in there!

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  32. You are the devil woman with those fries!!!

    Ummmm, no tips here since I am a hot mess as well. I do the same thing with post its then it goes to the bottom of my purse, gets all the lint on the sticky part and then I crumble and throw away. Good thing, I always have my organizer in my purse since I never use it.

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  33. It's funny you should post about organization, because this is something I struggle with in a weird way because I am super organized in some ways, and not in others. I am a master list-keeper. I keep basically two lists: one is a daily to-do list and I bought a nerdy assignment notebook that I use to keep track. I combine work and personal stuff, and it's mostly restricted to "this is what I have to do today" kind of stuff.

    Then, like other people stated here, I use my BB for to-do lists. The only thing I dislike is that the reminders disappear if you don't attend to them. So if I want to send weekly reminders to myself, I usually end up setting a calendar item so my phone alerts me if I miss the sound.

    But the purse? Ugh, so here's my situation. I have like 10 purses. And 3 diaper bags. None of which ever have everything I need. I am constantly saying "oh I had that, but it's in my other purse." Or ending up in a restaurant with a diaper from 2 sizes ago, and having to use Starbucks napkins as wipes.

    I'm waiting for comments to solve the problem! I'll keep looking here.

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  34. Yum! Those look delicious! Awesome idea to use cereal as a crust - you smart little cookie you!

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  35. that fish dish is adorable. love it. and i love the sound of those fries!

    haha! look at those sticky notes. you weren't kidding. how about get a daily planner? then you can just keep the planner in your purse, and write reminders and notes in there? and if you must, you can still use stickies-but you can stick them in the planner. rather than have them scattered all about.

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  36. YUM! These sweet potato fries sound delicious. Who would have thought to put cereal on it. I'm going to have to try these out.

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  37. OOO how unique! Can't wait to try these!!

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  38. mmmmm i loveeee sweet potatoes, especially in fry form. Very creative!

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  39. First off, I NEED those fries! YUM! Second thing...I am such a mess. My husband does not know what to do with all the stacks and crap I have around. Note to self...get organized!

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  40. :O that looks so yum.
    going to try it :D
    great blog!
    loving the posts
    stop by some time xx

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  41. I have never seen sweet p fries like that. YUM!

    That kid is adorable!

    Cannot wait to catch up on the blog!

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  42. I wish I knew the secret to a clean purse! Mine always is a disaster. These sweet potato fries look delicious...an awesome dipping sauce is key to them I bet!

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  43. This recipe is an amazing idea.

    My purse is always a mess. Is there another way?
    :)

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  44. SO glad I found your blog, it's easy to read and fun! :-)
    I am looking forward to reading more.
    -Erika

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  45. I have those same leopard mixing bowls. I love them!

    I'm a list person. I just keep a list with me at all times and cross things off when I finish something. I really should get out of the stone ages and just get a blackberry!

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  46. Umm hello greatest recipe ever! I have some extra Maple Mesa Sunrise that might have to be put to good use... Glad someone else is a bit messy in the kitchen. Are you just as messy of an eater? Because then we might be soul mates.

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  47. first of all..cutest baby ever!!

    second, this recipe looks *so* awesome

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  48. We recently cleaned out our office and I found sticky notes with to-do lists from who know how long ago. Clearly they did not do their job. I have a hard copy calendar for work appoitnments and my iphone calendar for personal stuff. I keep to dos on the calendar, too, with an alarm to remind me to get it done. It seems to help and I don't have all the stickies laying around.

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  49. I just laughed so hard in my cube! Mufasa roaring tummies, Mr. and Mrs. fish producing a mircowave safe baby bowl, giggles galore.

    As for organizing reminders and notes to yourself: I constantly write reminders in my cell phone calendar so it will go off when I'm leaving work and remind me to return my book at the library or stop at CVS. Hope that helps!

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