roasted vegetables and quinoa with sweet potato sauce

Dear friends, happy Wednesday! This may be more than half way, but the rest of the week is smooth sailing here for me.  I had my last exam before finals today so I have a little break now.  Perfect timing for wedding crunch time.  I think I have a list 8 miles long of things to do for the wedding.  PS - If any of you have good ideas for wedding makeup please let me know!  I'm open to suggestions.

This dinner was designed around a giant sweet potato begging to get used in my crisper, and some veggies that were on their last legs.  The sweet potato sauce reminds me of that scene in Hook where they have the fight with the pretend food.  The color is just unreal!

This dinner was satisfying without being too filling.  The mild heat in the sauce warmed my insides on this chilly April day.

I made the sauce first, then roasted the veggies and made a pot of quinoa on the stove while I studied.  Easy peasy!

Sweet Potato Sauce

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 t olive oil
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 1 c water
• 1 t minced garlic (1 clove)
• 1/2 t sea salt
• 1/4 t cumin
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 1 t honey
• 2 t parmesan cheese

-Peel and chop sweet potato
-Put in microwave safe bowl and drizzle with olive oil, cover with saran wrap, cook on high in microwave for 10 minutes (until taters are fork tender)
-Roughly mash taters by hand
-Put in blender or food processor with water and lemon juice, blend until pureed well
-Add rest of ingredients, blend until mixed well
-Adjust water amount if you want sauce thinner

For the roasted veggies I just chopped 1 red pepper, some broccoli, 1 onion, some mushrooms and asparagus.  I sprayed them with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, cracked pepper, garlic powder and paprika.  Then roasted them at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

check out that steam action!

Enjoy!!!!  And remember to use your imagination today :)