great friends, great food and not-so-great games

I was fortunate enough to win tickets to a suite at the Braves game on Friday, thanks to my awesome team for the Wellness challenge at work. We took full advantage of the free food, drinks and great seats. Too bad the Braves lost.

Saturday, we watched the UGA game with our friends Chad and Kellie, and like last week, had a great spread of food. They made jalepano poppers, which were amazing once your mouth got used to the kick, as well as pigs in a blanket, a classic tailgate offering.

We brought parmesan sweet potato fries, smoked sausage and lime-spiked chicken for the grill, and pumpkin soufflé for dessert. I'm trying to savor the memory of great food and fellowship, and once again forget about the UGA game.

Next weekend, we're heading to Athens for the Tennessee game to celebrate James' 30th birthday. I'm really hoping for an upset. Looks like the expectations of the entire bulldog nation will be riding on AJ Green's shoulders.

Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients

• 3 sweet potatoes
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut sweet potatoes in 1/4-inch wide strips and place in large container with lid.

2. Add egg whites and olive oil to container, secure lid and shake so that egg whites coat fries.

3. Sprinkle salt, pepper and parmesan over fries, secure lid and shake again.

4. Place fries on baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for roughly 25 minutes.

You can choose to place fries on aluminum foil, as I did. But this makes it hard to use a spatula to scoop up the fries without tearing the foil. So I'd suggest placing them straight on the baking sheet.

Lime-Spiked Grilled Chicken

Ingredients

• 3 boneless chicken breasts
• 1 lime
• 1 light beer
• 1/2 tsp garlic pepper
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp raw honey

1.  Trim chicken breasts, halve and place in non-metallic container with lid. See that white stuff? Ugg. I'm super picky and make sure all of it is gone!

2. In small mixing bowl, whisk rest of ingredients until salt and honey dissolve.

3. Pour over chicken, seal with lid and marinate for at least 2 hours in fridge.

4. Grill as usual, and discard marinade.

Pumpkin Soufflé
Last week, I made gluten-tastic Pumpkin Crisp. Here's the paleo-ish take on that recipe.

Ingredients

• 15 oz pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds

Icing

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and remove cream cheese from fridge to allow it to soften.

2. In medium mixing bowl, blend pumpkin, eggs, cream, agave and vanilla until smooth.

3. Evenly distribute batter into ramekins. I used 8 ramekins.

4. Sprinkle with almond slivers and bake for roughly 30 minutes.

5. Check to see if soufflé is done by sticking fork or toothpick in the middle. Remove from oven and set aside.

6. In medium mixing bowl, blend all icing ingredients until smooth.

7. Dollop icing on soufflés and garnish with cinnamon.