Baked Onions & Sweet Potato Fries

I love all foods that smell bad....lol...onions, garlic, cauliflower, broccoli.  If it's stinky, you can bet it's on our menu, A LOT!  Really...onion smell wonderful to me.  Mmmmm....I love to smell a mixture of onions and garlic cooking.

These baked onions are so easy....like you peel them and wrap them in foil easy.  I bet you could prepare these in less than 1 minute, plus baking time!  They go great with everything!  Toss them right on top of a grilled ribeye, or on a bed of wilted spinach with some baked fish!  Cheap, easy, yummy...perfect!

And then there's the fries!  They make a great side but also a great appetizer!  They are fabulous served with a little honey mustard dip sauce or even a garlic herbed cheese!  And with cinnamon, honey butter....Holy Cow!  Very little prep, nothing fancy needed!  Serve these 2 veggies up with some roasted brussels sprouts and you have yourself a 30 minute, zero prep, oven masterpiece!




Baked Onions and Sweet Potato Fries

What you need...
2 sweet potatoes
1 sweet onion
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt
pepper
foil

Preheat oven to 400F.  Peel sweet potatoes and slice them into small planks for fries.  Add them to a container with a lid.  Drizzle with olive oil, 1/3 tsp salt, a heavy dash of pepper.  Add the lid and shake to coat.  *I usually prepare them to this point and put in to the fridge until ready!  Add an oven safe cooling rack to a pan or use a broiler pan, place the fries spaced out on the pan.  They can be close together but don't let them touch or they will steam each other and not get crunchy!  Bake at 400F for 40 minutes.

Slice the top and bottom off of the onion, just enough to remove the root, so that it sits flat.  Peel the outer layer off the onion.  Use a spoon to scoop out about 1" deep in the center of the onion (see pics).  Using a knife, slice from the center out, about every 1.5" around the onion (see pics), GENTLY pull onion apart from the center creating the bloom.  Place it onto a sheet of foil.  Pour about 1 tsp olive oil into the center and add balsamic vinegar.  Pull the corners of the foil up and twist to secure.  Bake onion with fries for 40 minutes!  Slice the foil open over a bowl and serve!

Cinnamon Honey Butter
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Mix well and serve!