Baby Gourmet - Autumn Eats

Fall is quite the delicious season in its celebration of root vegetables, warm spices, and big bowls of hearty goodness. If you haven't done so already, there couldn't be a better time than now to introduce your baby to flavor, and no one said it has to be complicated...

Autumn Spiced Sweet Potatoes
(yield: about 2 cups)

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup water
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tbsp butter

Place the sweet potatoes and water into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and add spices. Simmer, covered, until sweet potatoes are completely cooked through and tender, about 16-18 minutes. Add milk and butter, and mash to desired consistency (you can puree mixture in a food processor to achieve a completely smooth texture).

Guilty Pleasures

I love chocolate, and I love Merlot, and I know they work well together. But never in my wildest dreams, did I imagine that they could live in the same bottle. I guess I live in a cave, because apparently chocolate Merlot sauce is all the craze nowadays.

While visiting Napa Valley, my mom was nice enough to pick me up a bottle of Provenance Vineyard's Merlot Chocolate Sauce (made by Anette's Chocolate Factory). Ever since, I've been brainstorming recipes or just things that I could bathe in the stuff. Let's see, just a few that immediately come to mind - berries, ice cream, cheese, foie gras, steak, YUM!

Since I am yet to try other candidates in this category, I'm not necessarily preaching this particular one, but it is pretty good. Grabbing the essential aspects of both the chocolate and the wine, this sauce achieves a nice balance. My only complaint is that the chocolate does taste a little hershey syrupy to me. A darker and more bitter chocolate flavor would have probably worked better here. But all around, it's still good stuff!