Baked Potatoes with Apples

Ease:  4/5     Kid-friendliness: 4/5     Taste: 3.5/5     Time: 3.5/5

This dish makes a great side and would be a great accompaniment to pork roast or pork tenderloin. Since both my kids like sweet potatoes, this is an easy option. To save on prep time, you could use a bag and a half of McCain's frozen sweet potatoes.

What you'll need:

• 1 Tbsp butter or margarine
• 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 Tbsp apple juice
• 575 - 700g (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs) sweet potatoes, thickly sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease a baking dish. Scatter the onion and apples, and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the apple juice. 

Lay the sweet potato slices over the onion and apples. Cover with foil or a lid. Bake for ~20-25 minutes (until sweet potatoes are soft). Uncover and dot with butter or margarine. Continue baking uncovered, for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are lightly browned. 

Sausage and Chickpea Casserole

Ease: 3.5/5     Kid-friendliness: 4/5     Taste: 3/5     Time: 3/5

Since we were just out camping over the long weekend, I had some left over smokies and wanted to make something a little more sophisticated than KD with chopped up smokies (although, that dish does have it's time and place...). I ended up with this. It's very filling. My nearly ten-month old LOVED the chickpeas.

What you'll need:

• 4 sausages (I used our left over Mitchell's mesquite garlic smoked sausage)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper (which I've learned are also called, capsicums!), seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can chickpeas (14 oz) (which I've learned are also called, garbanzo beans!), rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 C bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp margarine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slit each sausage diagonally several times on both sides. In a frying pan over medium heat, cook the sausages, turning once, until browned on the outside and heated through (~10 minutes)

In another large frying pan over medium high heat, heat the oil. Stir in the chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper, and sugar.  Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until the chick peas are heated through (~ 5 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cut the sausages into bite-size pieces. Spray a 3-qt casserole dish and distribute the sausages in the pan. Spoon the chick pea sauce over the sausages. Spread the bread crumbs on top and drizzle with melted butter. 

Bake until bubbly and the crumb topping is golden brown (~ 20 minutes). Let cool slightly and serve!