We had two dear friends leave the Earth Plane this past week, and they both hail from Puerto Rico. In their honor, I thought I could make one of the Puerto Rican dishes we know and love - sweet potato fries. Living Natural Lena has a recipe that’s simple, easy to make, and tastes amazing.

Even my son, who’s not yet a fan of sweet potatoes, raves about these fries. They are so sweet and delicious, you can eat them like candy :)

Thank you, Lylian and Miriam - we love you. Godspeed.

Sweet Potato Fries

4 medium sized sweet potatoes; peeled and sliced to 1/4 inch thick strips
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/ 205 degrees Celsius

Toss sweet potatoes with olive oil and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place the sweet potato pan in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes, until the fries are soft inside and crisping on the outside. Remove from oven and sprinkle fries with salt.

If you’ve been making mashed potatoes all month, (like we have,) it’s nice to have a follow-up recipe to use up all of those mashed potato left-overs (if there are any :).

I’m not sure where I acquired this recipe, but I have great gratitude for whoever wrote it down. This is the most healing soup you will ever encounter…(Take a seat, Chicken Noodle). The capsaicin in the chili power and curcumin in the turmeric are anti-viral and super anti-inflammatory.

You can make it as spicy as you like and it traditionally uses ghee rather than coconut oil, but I feel the monolaurin in the coconut oil is important in boosting the immune potency of this soup.

You may wonder why I have so many soup recipes… to me, soup is spleen food. When you’re recovering from an illness like EBV or a degenerative condition like hyperthyroidism, you need to feed your spleen to heal. Cooking the soup helps break down the nutrients so your body has less work to do, allowing your spleen to build blood for your body.

Makes about 8 cups.

Ingredients

1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon minced gingerroot
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup diced onion
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
3 cups mashed potatoes
4 cups spring water or veggie broth
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup spinach or chard leaves, chopped
1 -1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Dulse seaweed flakes to taste (red seaweeds help clean the body of heavy metals)
2 teaspoons Kosher and/or Sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onions or chives
parsley

Directions

Melt oil in large saucepan over medium heat.
Add ginger, garlic, onion and carrots and stir-fry over medium to medium-high. Heat for 5 minutes.
Add turmeric, chili powder and masala. Stir-fry 1/2 minute longer.
Add potato and mix. Cook and stir 3 minutes. (If you like a smooth soup, add water or broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly with wire whisk to prevent lumps from forming.)
Stir and add spinach.
Mix well and bring to boil. Add vinegar, dulse, salt and pepper.
Simmer 5 minutes. If soup is too thick, add water.
Add green onions or parsely and mix well.
Let rest before serving.