Sweet Potato Rounds with Goat Cheese

Hubby and I hosted a birthday dinner party for a friend this fall.  I love an excuse to use my Grandma's wheat dishes and to try new recipes.  We served some fall favorites such as pork loin and stuffing and made some  new fall favorites.

To start the evening we enjoyed a beer tasting. I made new recipes for the appetizers. I made Maple Bacon Crack, it's popular on Pinterest.  And I made Sweet Potato Rounds with Goat Cheese.  It was the star of the show!

Sweet Potato Rounds with Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet potatoes large- I used three red sweet potatoes.
• 5 oz goat cheese
• 1/3 c candied walnuts or pecans- I didn't candy the pecans and I used chopped pecans
• 1/3 c cranberries dried
• 2 tbsp balsamic reduction *I used Nonna Pia's but Safeway Select has a good one too.
• 1 tsp sea salt + more to taste
• 1/2 tsp paprika sweet- I used regular paprika and I shook it a lot into the bag.
• 2 tbsp olive oil + more as needed
• 1 tbsp blood orange olive oil- Drizzle in Lynden carries this olive oil.  They ship.
• 3 tbsp wild honey- I used regular honey.
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 15 leaves basil small, for garnish-Can be skipped.

   Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F.

1. In a small bowl combine the olive oil, sea salt and paprika. *I used a gallon zip bag.
2. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 1 inch thick rounds.*I cut them less than one inch and the second time I made them I cut them to 1/2". I did this ahead of time and stored them in the fridge with the oil, salt and paprika in the bag.  When camping I roasted them before and then put them on my griddle in the trailer to reheat.
3. Take each sweet potato round and coat it in the olive oil mixture all over. Place them on a large baking tray without touching each other. *I put them on parchment paper for easy clean up.
4. Bake the sweet potato rounds for 8 to 10 minutes on each side until golden. *I baked them until they were done and caramelized.
5. Transfer to a serving tray and top with the goat cheese, candied pecans, and cranberries. Spoon a little bit of wild honey on top of each potato round and sprinkle with the lemon zest. *I used Safeway brand goat cheese. I used pecans because walnuts are not my favorite.  I used pieces of pecans but you could use whole and mine were not candied. I tapped the goat cheese, cranberries and pecans down a bit. Just to keep things together. I used the honey in a little bear. I'm not Martha so I didn't have time to run out and harvest some wild honey.
6. Just before serving finish with a light drizzle of orange infused olive oil, the balsamic glaze and garnish with the fresh basil leaves. *I forgot the basil leaves and no one noticed. When I took this recipe camping I didn't even pack my basil plant. One more thing might have tipped me over.
7. FYI- Since I used three potatoes I used more of the other ingredients and I cut them about a half inch so I ended up with more appetizers. I drizzled the honey, the balsamic glaze and the blood orange olive oil without measuring. I zest the lemon over the potatoes right before serving. 

 I took this appetizer to my last camping trip.  It was easy to roast the potatoes and take them along ready to be topped.

Happy Fall Y'all!