June 2009 Archives

Buying Sweet Potatoes
When buying sweet potatoes, look for ones that are firm, without cracks, bruises, or soft spots.  Try and avoid refrigerated varieties, since cold temperatures alter the taste and speed decay. Warmer temperatures accelerate sprouting and loss of moisture, therefore resulting in a sweeter taste! 

Storing
Once you get your sweet potatoes picked out, make sure to keep them stored in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place away from a heat source. Storing them loose (not kept in a bag) is suggested.  They should be able to keep for 6 to 10 months. That's a long time!

Cooking
There is a variety of ways to cook sweet potatoes. In the first sweet potato post, I gave you a recipe for stuffed sweet potatoes with pecans. There are many other ways that you can cook them: think breads, muffins, casseroles, stews, and even puddings and pies! 

The easiest way to cook a sweet potato is to just try one just by itself! If you don't have a lot of time, you can simply poke the potato with a fork and then microwave it until it's soft. It usually takes less than 7 minutes in the microwave.

If it's not sweet enough on it's own, you can add a little olive oil, brown sugar and cinnamon. Many times I find that the good ones don't need extra flavoring! Or you can try my personal favorite...

Sweet Potato Fries!

• Cut the potato into strips (you choose the thickness!).
• Sprinkle with olive oil, pepper, cinnamon, paprika and a little salt.
• Bake in the oven at 350. It can take up to 45 minutes to get them crunchy, but it's well worth it!

Here is yet another interesting option for your orange cancer fighting veggie!

Sweet Potato Dessert Purée

Purée cooked sweet potatoes with bananas, maple syrup and cinnamon. Scoop into a cup or small bowl and top with chopped walnuts. You can alter the amounts of each ingredient to your taste. 

I would love to hear your recipes for sweet potatoes! Comment on the site or send me an email and I'll share them with all the readers!

- Julie  

Sweet Potatoes and Yams

Sweet, Savory, and Healthy....who ever thought that would be a combination!  The sweet potato is something that should not just be eaten during the holidays piled with sugar and marshmallows!

Sweet potatoes come in different varieties. Skin and flesh colors range from cream all the way to a dark pink or purple.  As usual, the darker the color the more nutrients! in this case, the darker varieties have more cancer fighting carotenoids (FYI, there are more than 600 different carotenoids!). 

Don't be confused between sweet potatoes and yams. Yams are a total different type of vegetable and have different nutritional value.  In the American grocery store, the "yam" refers to the soft variety of sweet potato. At an international store, you might find the real yam.

One of the World's Healthiest Foods!

Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene, a very good source of vitamin C, and a good source of potassium, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), iron, manganese, lutein, zeaxanthin and copper. They are on the Worlds Healthiest Foods list, so make sure they are on your shopping list! 

One of the best things about this vegetable is that for a medium sized potato (5 in. long and 2 in. diameter), it's only about 95 calories, not to mention all the vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals it has too.  Don't forget to eat the skin with these, as it has three times the amount of nutrients compared to the flesh.

Here's a recipe to get you started! Put them in the oven and do 45 minutes of exercise, then come back and finish the recipe!


Stuffed Baked Sweet Potatoes with Pecans
(from http://allrecipes.com )

Serve it with a salad and some chicken or black beans, and you have a healthy dinner!

Ingredients

• 6 medium sweet potatoes, washed and scrubbed
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

 
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Arrange the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet, and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
3. Cut a slit into the top of each potato.  Make sure you protect your fingers; the potatoes will be hot! Carefully scoop out the pulp from the potato, leaving the skins intact; place the potato in a large bowl. Add the margarine and pineapple to the potato and stir together. Stuff the potato mixture back into the reserved potato skins. Sprinkle the pecans over each potato.
4. Return the stuffed potato skins to the oven; bake another 12 minutes.
   

In the next post, you'll find more recipes as well as information on buying and storing these nutrition powerhouses! Thanks to my nutrition intern, Maria for the content on the sweet potato posts. I definitely needed some new inspiration!

- Julie