Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Sweet!






I never liked sweet potatoes (otherwise known as yams) till maybe 5 years ago.  It was at a Thanksgiving in NJ one year that cousin Claudia made baked sweet potatoes wrapped in foil.  I'm not sure why I even put one on my plate but I'm glad I did. It was heavenly.

I'm sure cousin Claudia is completely unaware, even now, that she is solely responsible for my liking sweet potatoes. 

It goes to show, that our taste buds DO change!

Cousin Claudia? Do you even read my blog? Do you even know I HAVE a blog?




Sweet potatoes are very high in beta-carotene and significantly raise our blood levels of Vitamin A.  It's recommended that you steam or boil them to get the full nutritional benefits from them, but I honestly love the sweet caramelizing flavor of a baked sweet potato. There's just NO comparsion!

These lovely beauties (okay, they aren't particularly beautiful) also have antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory nutrients as well as the ability to help regulate blood sugar levels. Who knew?

I've been buying organic sweet potatoes in 3 pound bags (5ish potatoes) and baking them all at once.  Then I can eat them all week long for lunch.



Baked sweet potatoes are super easy to make.

Just wash, poke with a fork, and place in a hot oven for 45ish minutes (depends on how big they are.)

Notice my foil "tray?"  Sweet potatoes leak their sugary yumminess during baking. I like to catch the drips on a piece of foil that I can fold up and throw away.  Not very "green" of me. Sorry world. (I know some folks wrap the potatoes in foil but I'm trying to avoid too much aluminum contact with the foods I eat)



Add a dollop of butter, a sprinkle of sea salt, and serve with a nice crunchy organic salad full of raw veggies for a delicious healthy lunch!

How sweet it is and just SKIP the marshmallows, okay?
The Lunch Lady

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I've been making alot of sweet potato fries lately and the rest of the fam that doesn't think they like sweet potatoes, loves them. Just a touch of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and paprika and they are amazing, although a little more time intensive.

slowpoke said...

I've always loved 'em since I was a kid. Keep us blog-posted if you ever make homemade sweet potato fries! I'm going to let the new lunch lady do the work and I'll just keep reading her blog and stealing ideas. :)

I really love your blog, Hannah! You're doing a great job with it. I enjoy your humor and all the information about why a certain food is beneficial in addition to being yummy.