Roast Sweet Potato, Garlic, and Turkey Fettucini

My friend Amy introduced me to Donna Hay--an Australian chef who has a beautiful magazine (and website) full of scrumptious looking recipes.  You can read more about her at http://www.donnahay.com/.

I found and tried the following recipe which I have modified for my dietary needs.  It was fantastic!  Roasting the garlic, sweet potato and turkey together really enhanced the flavors of each ingredient and made this a very delicious dish.  Again, the best part of this was the technique--this is a great recipe to modify to suit your tastes.

roast sweet potato, garlic and chicken (turkey) fettuccine


1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped  (I used 2--the more the better)

1 head garlic, cloves separated

1 chicken breast fillet, trimmed (I used turkey cutlets)

sea salt and cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 ozs fettuccine (or your pasta of choice)

1 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves (I used fresh basil the second time--wonderful)

olive oil, extra, to serve

red wine or balsamic vinegar, to serve  (I eliminated)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place the sweet potato, garlic, chicken, salt, pepper and olive oil in a baking dish and toss to combine. Roast for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and sweet potato is tender. Set aside to cool slightly. Peel the garlic and mash with the back of a fork. Shred the chicken.

Cook the pasta in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 10–12 minutes or until al dente. Drain and return to pan. Add the sweet potato, garlic, chicken and parsley and toss to combine. Drizzle with vinegar to serve. Serves 2.

Cathy's note:
The second time I made this, I roasted some zuchinni with the sweet potato as well and it was great.  I will probably add onions next time as well.  Have fun!

New and Improved

After a visit with my applied kinesiologist/chiropractor this past weekend, I am happy to announce that I can eat tomatoes!  At the expense of corn, coffee, and pretty much all sugar.

But just think...tomatoes!  It opens up a ton options for me including some Indian food, Italian food, and some Mexican dishes.  I'm pleased.  And to celebrate, I made myself some bolognese over rice pasta which was fantastic!  I will say though, I still think I need to moderate so am not going to eat tomatoes every day and am hoping I only have to be off corn for a few weeks and not months....

A Trip Across the Pond

Well, sorry I've been a little silent.  I desperately didn't want this blog to be something that died like a new years resolution to go to the gym every day or something like that.  Instead, I have a good excuse--I had to take a business trip. 

My normal routine for business trips is to hole up in my room and eat a lot of room service 'treats' as well as go off my diet because it's just not possible to eat healthy. This time, it was different.  Because I'm in the midst of this three month detox, I decided to remain fairly strict on my diet and look for allergy free options while traveling.  The biggest challenge--I was traveling to London. 

Before I left, I stopped at the Flying Apron (http://www.flyingapron.net/) for some treats which were helpful for the long flight.  On the airplane, I had requested a gluten free meal which consisted of some chicken, rice and peas of which I could eat the rice and peas. Good thing I had snacks.....

I won't bore you with all the details of my adventure but suffice it to say that I ate a lot of fruit having stopped first thing at a Marks and Spencer.  I also was able to find a Whole Foods Market (where I incidentally bought a snazzy Whole Foods London bag for myself and my dear friend Amy) which was a lifesaver in terms of finding yummy gluten free vegan treats which I could eat.  It was fun to discover things we don't have in the US like thin rice cakes with a layer of dark chocolate.  Inspiration for a treat I'll try to make here at home....

For those of you looking for restaurants in London friendly to those with allergies, I had good success with the following:

VitaOrganic (http://www.vitaorganic.co.uk/)
Mildred's (http://www.mildreds.co.uk/)

They weren't exactly cheap but then again, you get what you pay for (for the most part)...