Friday night in New York City: temperature in the 50’s, raining, and it feels like fall. I love it. All I can think about is sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and pumpkin. For some reason my friend coming for dinner can only think about guacamole. Hmm…really? We decide to make an appetizer night of it. On the menu:

  • Sweet Potato Fries with 2 dipping sauces
  • Guacamole with Tortilla Chips
  • Hummus with assortment of veggies

Does this sound fancy or complicated? Its not. Not even a little bit. But it is delicious and extremely healthy. The spread takes 20 minutes to put together and the hilarious part is it cost less than $2. I’m not kidding! The sweet potatoes were purchased for $1.30, everything else was in the fridge and needed to be used up.

Sweet Potato Fries

1.Preheat oven to 425 and stick a baking sheet with parchment paper in so it gets hot while you are preparing the potatoes.

2. Wash potatoes and cut them into large sized sticks (leave skins on, its gets tasty when crunchy and holds many nutrients- double bonus) sweet potatoes

2. In a big bowl mix cut potatoes with assortment of spices and oil. Whatever you have on hand will work, I used:

  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • Sprinkle of cayenne
  • 1 tsp roasted red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1 tbsp olive oil

3. Take out baking sheet and spread out sweet potatoes. Bake for about 10 minutes, flip fries, and bake for another 10 minutes. That’s it!

Dipping Sauces for Sweet Potato Fries

Dip 1: Cool Yogurt dip to balance the hot and sweetness of the fries – by Dana Treats

1. Stir together the following ingredient:

  • 2/3 cup non-fat plain organic yogurt
  • 1 tbsp crushed walnuts
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • juice from 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Dip 2: Ketchup

As you can see from the picture below we also made guacamole and served with chips and some freshly cut veggies with Sabra Hummus. To drink a bottle of dry white wine from South Africa – 50% sauvignon blanc, 50% chenin blanc (2007 Groote Post, The Old Man’s Blend). The wine was refreshing and crisp, the lemon and lime aroma of the wine was a perfect addition to the lime of the guacamole and the sweet potatoes fries that were also drizzled with a lime. Compliments to my favorite wine store owner for the recommendation!

apps night with claudia