Everything Amber Skye: Sweet Tater "Chips" and BBQ Casserole

So I seem to have a theme going when it comes to my recipe posts, always using something up before it goes bad. I love to have fresh veggies on hand but never seem to use them before they go bad! Must be all the awesome sales the grocery store has on their vegetables, I go a little wild.

So that being said I had to hurry up and use some asparagus and corn before it went bad, gave it about another day. I had also set some ground beef out for dinner but wasn't feeling the quick go to hamburger helper.

What perfect timing, my next issue of Parenting came in and had some quick recipe ideas to spice up mac and cheese. My wheels started turning. They had one that added roasted butternut squash which lead to the Sweet Tater "Chips." There was also one called Cowboy's Choice with bacon, onions, and scallions, which lead to my BBQ Casserole.

For the sweet tater "Chips" I didn't do much spice since I love the natural flavor of sweet potatoes. I call them chips with parenthesis since they aren't the normal crunchy you think of when you hear the word chips. If you want more flavor you can just double up on the amounts below. I used size two in the mandolin slicer. If you slice the chips thin in spots they will burn a bit so try to slice as even as possible.

The BBQ casserole has all the joys of a backyard BBQ! The burger, BBQ, veggies, and pasta. You could even make this with out baking it as a pasta salad, just mix in bread crumbs! The husband couldn't even taste the Red Hot but I could and cut it back in the recipe below, if you want a bit more heat I would double it.

Sweet potato "Chips"(serves two)
2 sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon garlic

preheat oven to 400
Slice sweet potatoes on a mandolin, watch your fingers!
Toss in bowl with olive oil, oregano, garlic.
Lay flat on baking sheet, might have to do two batches
Bake for 10 min

BBQ Casserole (serves at least 6)
small bunch of asparagus
5 mini sweet peppers (if your local store does not have a small red pepper would be fine)
1 box noodle (I used garden delight Rotini)
1 pound ground beef
3 cloves garlic, sliced/minced
1/2 cup favorite BBQ (I used Sticky Fingers Sweet Carolina)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/8 cup red hot (we only had the buffalo wing sauce on hand)
1/4 cup ranch
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon worchestshire
generous grind of steakhouse seasoning

Cut asparagus in small bite size pieces, throw into boiling water for two minutes. Take out of boiling water and blanch in a bowl of ice water. Toss into large bowl and set aside.
Boil noodles until cooked. Drain and rinse with cold water, put in same bowl as asparagus.
Brown ground beef, sliced/minced garlic, seasoning, and mini sweet pepper. Drain grease and put in bowl with other ingredients.
Mix BBQ sauce, ketchup, red hot, ranch, and worchestshire in a small bowl. Add sauce mixture to big bowl.
Put salad into casserole dish, top with bread crumb. Bake for 15 minutes covered, uncover and bake for 5 minutes more.