Aug

Platinum Chef Challenge Round 4 Wrap-Up

Round 4 – Sweet Potatoes, Cilantro, Garlic, Yogurt, and Chocolate. Sound like a challenge? It certainly was! But of course, these ladies came up with some really tasty creations. Thanks everyone for participating!

MrsTrouper joins us for her first PCC with Spicy Sweet Potato and Chicken Burritos with Cilantro Lime Yogurt Sauce. I personally love this because it reminds me of one of my favorite meals, Sweet Potato and Black Bean burritos. Evidently, sweet potatoes are a natural partner for anything with spice! What a flavorful and healthy meal 🙂

Kate decided to mix up sweet and spicy and ended up with admittedly one of her best creations ever. It sounds perfect to me too – spicy chocolate-laced mole sauce comes together with sweet potatoes and carrots in a deliciously healthy soup, cooled by tangy yogurt. I am super-impressed by her ability to use all the ingredients in one dish!

Michelle was very excited by these ingredients, as it gave her the opportunity to prepare something by one of her cooking idols, Sara Foster. This roasted sweet potato salsa also uses cilantro and garlic, two other round 4 ingredients, and it looks totally delicious to me. She notes that it is great with eggs, which I can certainly believe, since it almost reminds me a sweet potato hash I enjoyed a few times back in my college town. To use of the remaining ingredients, chocolate and yogurt, she treats us to some heavenly chocolate cupcakes. You can never go wrong with cupcakes, and I think as many of us have discovered, yogurt lends a very moist texture to the final product.

Brooke took on this challenge with all her might – she had to, as she was facing her “arch-nemesis”, the sweet potato. Of course I find it a little hard to imagine not liking sweet potatoes (can’t get enough of the orange vegetables!) but I am thrilled that the challenge has inspired people to take on ingredients they don’t normally use. She claims that her Sweet Potato Fries with Cajun Yogurt Sauce were actually not so bad – though a little tweaking might be required for next time. Unfortunately, she had to leave town before using up the rest of the ingredients, but we hope she’s having a great vacation.

Erika of Bean’s Bistro ventured into her first Platinum Chef Challenge with a bang – she also managed to use all the ingredients in one dish. This wonderful concotion of yogurt-marinated lamb, mole sauce, and crispy fried sweet potato shoestrings makes me want to, for lack of a better term, eat my screen!

Meg of brought us two more delicious dishes. First, a summery sweet potato soup brimming with the flavors of ginger and cilantro. And for a sweet ending, rummy bananas with chocolate yogurt cream. I’m particularly partial to these bananas because they remind me of the dessert I had in Mexico – and as we know, everything in life is better with chocolate!

I decided to take this opportunity to cook with yogurt and make an Indian-style dish with curry powder, cilantro, ginger, and garlic. For dessert, chewy chocolate cookie ice cream sandwiches, with my favorite mint cookies-and-cream frozen yogurt. And then for a weekend breakfast treat, I again used chocolate and yogurt in a banana streusel coffee cake. Can you tell I loved these ingredients?