I have been in love with the sweet potato as of late. They are delicious, versatile and so far I have not been able to screw it up.
My love for this root vegetable started with a fry recipe. The potato is pretty sweet, as the name suggests, so contrasting that with spicy cayenne and chili powders results in a great flavor combination. I also like that although I love the way sweet potatoes taste, I can't eat a lot of them because they tend to fill me up fast.
Lately I have been branching out from the fries and moving on to mashed sweet potatoes. Last night I tried this recipe for Sweet Potatoes 'n' Pears. I tweaked the recipe a bit and instead of using brown sugar and butter, I added some low fat vanilla yogurt, pumpkin pie spice and sprinkled it with some crumbled Gorgonzola cheese. Oh my these were good. The cheese mellowed out the sweetness perfectly. The pears were also a really nice addition.
I haven't tried a sweet potato pie yet, quite possibly the most popular way to eat the potato. Actually I have never had any sweet potato pie but I have a feeling it is pretty high in calories and probably uses a lot of sugar and other high fat ingredients I don't need. If there is a lower fat/cal version though, I will find it:) I think sweet potatoes are so good as they are that it seems unnecessary to add much else anyway.
Nutritionally (according to Wikipedia), the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fibre content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato. A 100g root is reported to contain 108-121 calories and since they are somewhat high in carbs, they are a runners friend. All in all not too shabby.
If anyone has a sweet potato recipe they would like to share please do!
it's not so much a recipe, but I like to use them for hashbrowns with just a little olive oil and some onions, red bell pepper, etc. Also, I find that the Garnet (orange) variety is sweeter than the yellow/white variety. I prefer the lighter variety for most dishes.
ReplyDeleteSlice them into rounds, and lightly coat with good olive oil and sea salt. Bake on 350 for about 10-15 minutes, depending on how soft you like them. Yummy!
ReplyDeleteMy sweet potato pie recipe has loads of butter and sugar (brown and white). They're flippin' delicious, accept no substitutes.
ReplyDeleteJustin and Madison, those sound great. I am a salt addict much more than sugar so those ideas sound delicious to me and I will try them both. I love making breakfast on weekends with eggs and the hashbrown stule would be perfect.
ReplyDeleteAnd Adam I am sure they are wonderful pies but all that sugar probably wouldn't sit well on my stomach which makes it not so much worth it for me.
I'll cut you a thin slice. ;-)
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