Sweet Potato Cornbread with Hot Honey Lime butter

I’ve always looked forward to celebrating New Year’s Day with a giant feast of black eyed peas, greens, and cornbread. This holy trinity of southern food stems out of the African diaspora, like many southern favorites, and they are a symbol of luck, money, and prosperity in the forthcoming year.

I eat a lot of cornbread this time of year, not just on January 1, because it makes for the perfect comforting side to go with all the soups and chili I make in the cold months. I’ve been trying out new flavor combinations for a while, and I wanted to share a recipe for one of my favorites: sweet potato cornbread with hot honey lime butter. I love the flavor combination—it's a little sweet and spicy and sour. You may wany to make a double batch of the butter because if you're like me you'll slather it on every bite.

The black eyed peas recipe I make each year is inspired by a Greek stew. It isn’t the traditional southern way of eating the dish—there's no pork, and it's a little lighter. In my opinion, the biggest flavor boost comes from the fresh lemon juice and herbs stirred in at the end. I also love the salty-sour pop from the addition of feta cheese.

Sweet Potato Cornbread with Hot Honey Lime butter

Yield: Makes 16 servings

Time: 30 minutes prep, 35 minutes cook

Ingredients

For the cornbread

• 1 cup (152 grams) cornmeal
• 1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup (240 grams) sweet potato puree*
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) brown butter, cooled to room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (120 grams) sour cream
• 1/2 cup (120 milliliters) maple syrup
• 1/2 cup (107 grams) brown sugar**

For the hot honey lime butter

• 1/2 cup (113 grams) Challenge salted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons hot honey***
• Zest from 1 lime

Directions

For the cornbread

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper and spray coat with nonstick spray.
• Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
• In large bowl, stir together sweet potato puree, brown butter, eggs, sour cream, maple syrup, and brown sugar.
• Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Pour batter into baking dish.
• Place in oven and bake to 35 to 40 minutes, or until center of cornbread feels firm and slightly springy.

For the hot honey lime butter

• Stir together butter, hot honey, and lime zest until smooth.

Notes:

*Make sweet potato puree by roasting sweet potato at 450 for 90 minutes or peeling, chopping, and boiling potato until tender. Put cooked sweet potato in food processor until smooth.

**Melt butter in thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Continue to heat butter until foam on top subsides and brown specks form at bottom of skillet. Remove the skillet from the burner and pour the butter into a bowl to prevent it from continuing to cook. Allow the butter to cool to room temperature before incorporating it into the rest of the wet ingredients.

***I purchased hot honey, but if you can’t find any, you can make your own.

Black eyed peas and greens with dill

Yield: Six 1-cup servings

Time: 30 minutes prep, 45 minutes cook

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 large bunch Swiss chard (or collard greens), stems removed and diced, leaves cut in ribbons
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup stock (or water)
• 1 pound black eyed peas, cooked
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Optional: Feta cheese

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in Dutch oven. Add onion and Swiss chard stems and saute on medium heat until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic and saute another minute.
3. Add tomatoes (with juice), red wine vinegar, stock, and black eyed peas. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover Dutch oven.
4. Continue to simmer until black eyed peas are soft but not mushy, about 45 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and dill. 
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with feta cheese if desired.

Lime and Coconut Avocado Tart

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

One of the best things about avocados is they take on whatever flavors your pair with them, and they add a lot of creaminess to the dish while doing so.

So when I had the idea to make a lime and coconut tart with avocados, my husband was a little skeptical, but after trying it, he said it tasted like a very creamy key lime pie.

A couple of notes about this recipe.

1. The proportions in this recipe work best for one 9-inch springform pan. You’ll notice in the pictures I used a long tart pan, but that’s just because I wanted to try something new. If you make the recipe as is, it’s enough for about 1.5 long tart pans.
2. You can use frozen avocados, but make sure you unthaw them first. I used 3 avocados which weighed about 275 grams. It’s best to go by weight as opposed to number of avocados.
3. I haven’t had issues with the tart turning brown due to the avocados oxidizing, but make sure to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Fortunately, the lime juice also helps to stop it from turning brown.
4. Make sure you use coconut cream and not coconut milk. Coconut milk is a lot thiner than the cream and can prevent your filling from setting.
5. You can make this recipe by gluten-free by using gluten-free graham crackers.

I used Challenge cream cheese and butter for this recipe. Challenge products are my favorite because they use fresh milk and cream from local dairies, and they're put in the dairy case in just 24 hours, as opposed to 5-7 days, which is the case for most other brands.

Lime and Coconut Avocado Tart

Ingredients for the crust

• 1/2 cup (50 grams) coconut flakes
• 1 cup (100 grams) graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted Challenge butter, melted

Ingredients for the filling

• 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
• Zest of 2 limes ( about 4 teaspoons)
• 12 ounces Challenge cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3 avocados (about 275 grams), peeled and pitted
• Juice of 2 limes (about 4 Tablespoons)
• 6 ounces coconut cream

Directions for the crust

1. Spray 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Toast coconut in frying pan (don’t add oil!) on low heat, stirring frequently until it starts to turn golden brown, or about 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Add graham crackers, toasted coconut flakes, and sugar to food processor. Pulse to fine crumbs. 
5. Drizzle in butter and pulse until crumbs are coated and moist. 
6. Press crumb mixture into bottom of pan. 
7. Refrigerate while you make filling.

Directions for the filling

1. Place sugar and lime zest in food processor and pulse.
2. Add cream cheese and process until smooth.
3. Add avocados and lime juice and process until smooth.
4. Add coconut cream and process until smooth.
5. Pour filling over crust and smooth top.
6. Spray piece of plastic wrap with nonstick cooking spray and gently place it on top of filling.
7. Refrigerate until set, or about 6 hours.
8. Remove plastic wrap and garnish with more toasted coconut, limes, and whipped cream if desired.

Recipe adapted from Food Network Kitchen

Encourage your family to eat more spinach with enchilada recipe

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Spinach is a superfood with a wide range of health benefits, including lowering blood pressure, bone health, and boosting memory.

But many people aren’t eating enough of it. The Richard Fairbanks Foundation study that was released earlier this month shows that only 8.6% of adults in Indiana consume the recommended number of greens.

I think a lot of time people don’t eat spinach because they either don’t know what to do with it or they think they don’t like it.

But really, spinach can be added to almost any dish without compromising flavor. That’s why I added it to enchiladas.

Picky eaters who don’t think they like spinach will hardly notice it because it’s “buried” inside the enchiladas with other ingredients!

Lime Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas
Ingredients

• 1 pound cooked chicken, shredded (I use rotisserie chicken)
• 1 (4.5 ounce) can diced green chiles
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice (about ½ lime)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chile powder
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, mince
• 6 cups baby spinach
• 2 (10 ounce) cans green enchilada sauce
• 1 cup pepper jack cheese
• 8 large tortillas
• 1 (8 ounce) package Challenge cream cheese
• Cilantro and avocado to garnish

Directions

1. Combine cooked chicken, green chiles, lime juice, cumin, and chile powder in airtight container or gallon-size Ziploc bag. Allow to marinate in refrigerator for at least an hour but preferably several hours.
2. Saute onion and garlic in large skillet for several minutes on low until onion becomes soft.
3. Add spinach leaves and saute until wilted, about 2 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and combine with chicken mixture.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Spread 1 can green enchilada sauce on bottom of 9x13 pan.
7. Fill 1 tortilla with 1 Tablespoon pepper jack cheese and 1/3 cup chicken mixture. Roll up tortilla and place into pan, seam side down.
8. Continue until pan is full. You should be able to fit about 8 enchiladas in pan.
9. Heat cream cheese and 1 can green enchilada sauce in skillet on low and mix until cream cheese is melted. Pour on top of enchiladas and sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
10. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the sauce starts bubbling up from the bottom.
11. Garnish with cilantro and avocado and serve.

No-Bake Margarita Pie

This is a sponsored post by Challenge Butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Some of you may know this about me already, but I don't drink alcohol. My parents don't drink, and I've never cared for the taste of it. Not to mention alcohol has a lot of empty calories. I've always said I would rather eat my calories than drink them, which I'm sure is not shocking after reading this blog.

You may be wondering why I would write about this in a post for a recipe titled "Margarita Pie." I thought it was appropriate to bring up because I want to make it clear that this recipe is enjoyable for both drinkers and nondrinkers. It can also be modified to include alcohol if that's something you enjoy.

I'm also including this "disclaimer" because I know my high school-age cousins and her friends read my blog (or at least they tell me they do), so it's important to me that none of my recipes exclude them.

Now, while we're on the topic of margaritas, can I just say how proud I am of the fact that I came up with this slogan for this pie (or maybe it's a saying, not a slogan): "Drink your margarita, and eat it too! I don't know if it's ever been said before. I'm not Googling it to find out. I just know that I came up with it using my own brain cells, so I'm claiming ownership.



No-Bake Margarita Pie
Ingredients

• 8 ounces Challenge cream cheese
• 7-ounces sweetened condensed milk (this is half of normal-sized can, which is why it looks like such an odd number)
• 8 ounces margarita mix*
• Optional: 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 cup tequila
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces whipped topping, thawed
• Zest of three limes
• 1 prepared graham cracker crust

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, about 2 or 3 minutes
2. Add condensed milk and cream until smooth; do the same with the margarita mix, optional tequila and salt
3. Spoon in the whipped topping and lime zest and beat to combine
4. Add mixture to graham cracker pie crust and smooth top
5. Place in freezer for 4 to 6 hours or overnight
6. Garnish with additional whipped topping and more lime zest if desired

*Notes: If you choose to add the optional tequila, I recommend reducing the amount of margarita mix to 6 ounces.