Sweet Potato Chick Pea Cakes

One thing I miss about living in Texas is the snow we got during winters in Maryland. It wasn’t a lot but it was a nice amount that got you a couple snow days a year where you could sit inside and enjoy it from afar. Enough that you had to own a snow shovel and actually use it every now and then. I left my snow shovel in the basement when we moved and haven’t owned one since.

Thursday the weathermen were predicting that the arctic front we were getting was going to combine with the current rain into a perfect Icepocalypse scenario. That’s my very own patented term I’ve created – Icepocalypse. It turned out that they were right this time. It was bad. We got about 3 inches of solid ice dropped on us. No, it’s not snow but it will do just fine.

The entire world around us is strangely quiet without cars on the road. I ventured out briefly yesterday morning in an attempt to go to the gym. I figured it was Day 2 and couldn’t be that bad, right? I got about 1/4 mile down the road and turned around. It was that bad. One of my friends put on his hockey skates and skated 3 miles to an outdoor roller hockey rink to play ice hockey… and he didn’t have any trouble doing this.

In TEXAS! That’s the part that blows my mind. I finally made it out (I probably shouldn’t have) to the gym in the afternoon. I felt very out of place because only a very few hardcore meatheads were there with dainty little me prancing around the squat rack. Heehee, isn’t that an image for you. But in my defense, it was leg day. I cannot miss leg day.

Afterwards I hit the wasteland of Walmart and there was not a banana, cucumber, potato, bread or bag of anything resembling a chip left on the shelves. Although I was impressed that people went for bananas and cucumbers, it made me wonder what crazy snacks they were throwing together with those ingredients. I guess it pays to eat healthy in more ways than one because almost everything on my list was in stock. Thank you junk food eaters for sparing my grocery list. 😉

The other day I decided to use up some leftover ingredients that I had on hand and threw together sweet potato chick pea cakes. I loved the flavor of these cakes. The jalapeno made them just a little bit spicy but not burn your tongue, and it combined perfectly with the last of the bacon marmalade. (BTW, holy crap I need more bacon marmalade!)

After being iced in, I’ve been eating the leftovers for breakfast topped with my famous cranberry sauce. This year’s version was made with merlot and chocolate vodka. The cakes were even pretty tasty cold, but I think I like them better warmed up with the cold cranberry sauce.

Sweet Potato Chick Pea Cakes 

• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
• 8 oz sweet potato, washed and diced
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 egg white
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 15 oz can chick peas, rinsed and drained

Spray a skillet with non-stick spray and heat over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and jalapeno and saute for 3 minutes until the onion is softened. Add the sweet potato and saute another 3 – 5 minutes until the sweet potato gets mushy. Stir often to prevent the mixture from burning. If you need to, lower the heat while cooking. Your goal is mushy not browned and crispy.

Remove from heat and add the potato mixture and remaining ingredients to a food processor. Pulse to mix the ingredients until the chick peas are coarsely chopped. The mixture doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth. I like mine slightly chunky for texture. Form into 12 equal sized patties. Line a cookie sheet with foil and preheat the broiler on your oven.

Broil the patties in the oven on the cookie sheet until browned on each side. Carefully flip halfway through cooking to broil each side. Mine took about 4 minutes per side but it will vary based on how far from the heat you put your patties. Remove from oven when the edges are browned and cool slightly before serving. Makes 4 servings of 3 patties each at approximately 204 calories – 10g protein, 38g carbs, and 1g fat.

Notes

• These are perfect to make if you already have mashed sweet potatoes or baked sweet potatoes on hand leftover. Just saute the onions, garlic and jalapeno and add everything to the food processor. You can skip the step of heating the sweet potato in the pan.
• You don’t have to be exact with your dicing size for the veggies and potato since you’re going to put it in the food processor. Just try to make sure that the potato pieces are small enough to cook quickly without burning. If they are in large slices, they won’t cook quickly enough.
• For more heat, leave the seeds in when you slice your jalapeno. For less heat, remove the seeds and just use the green part. Make sure to keep your hands away from your eyes or wear gloves. I actually slip the plastic produce baggie over my hand when I slice that bad boy. I learned my lesson the hard way one time. Never again!

Bacon marmalade and cranberries were great toppings. You could also use the cakes on a salad or dip them in salsa. You could even make them into smaller patties and serve them for an appetizer with frilly little toothpicks.

Here’s hoping we make it out today. Otherwise the Tom Hanks movie marathon The Kid and I have going will continue. Wow, he was in a lot of movies. 😉