Sweet potatoes are pure bliss to me. Straight from the oven – all steamy, sticky and sweet – I’ll gladly eat them as simple as can be.
Glam it Up. However, a plain sweet potato doesn’t really count as a “meal” – so it usually gets served alongside other meal-type things like leafy salads, hearty veggies, tempeh, tofu, beans, grains. But what if instead of giving it side dish status, we made the potato the centerpiece of mealtime?..
Time to give the luscious baked sweet potato the treatment it deserves..
Sweet Potatoes. Baked. Stuffed. And over-stuffed.
Two recipes for you: Skinny Style. And Fully Loaded Style. So pop a sweet potato in the oven and stuff it in a flash!..
The canvas..
..and my edible art..
Tender kale salad, shiitake mushroom quinoa, spicy vegan refried beans, chipotle sauce and chopped chives – stuff this potato..
Any shape will work..
Stuffing or Re-Stuffing a Sweet Potato? Many “stuffed” or “loaded” sweet potato recipes I have seen online call for scooping and re-stuffing the potato flesh (usually after mashing it with some seasonings and accent ingredients or spices). Yummy, yes, but I prefer a more minimalist route.
To me, scooping and re-stuffing them seems unnecessary when that flesh is so darn delish all on its own. So instead, I have chosen to crack those golden babies open and simply load ’em up! No scooping, mashing and re-loading required.
Two recipes for you today:
1) Simple Stuffed. Skinny Style.
2) Over-Stuffed. Fully Loaded.
Simple Stuffed. Skinny Style..
Over-Stuffed…
Stuffings.. Today I used (among other fillings)..
Shiitake Mushroom Quinoa (quinoa + sauteed mushrooms):
Kale Salad (recipe below):
But really, you can stuff sweet potatoes with a very wide array of toppings..
Topping ideas:
* grains (quinoa, brown rice, barley, couscous..)
* beans (hummus, re-fried beans, whole beans..)
* chopped veggies
* seeds (hemp, sunflower, chia..)
* salsa
* salads
* plain soy yogurt or vegan sour cream
* dressings/dips/sauces galore (BBQ, vegan chipotle mayo..)
* Slaws, sauerkraut
* Tempeh bacon bits
And on and on..
Recipe One: Simple Stuffed. Skinny Style.
1 sweet potato, oven-baked/slit down middle
3/4 cup plain soy yogurt
1/3 cup tomatoes, diced
sprinkle of chopped cilantro
chopped chives
a few dashes of chipotle spice
salt/pepper to taste
The simple-stuffed result..
Recipe Two: Over-Stuffed. Fully Loaded.
1 sweet potato, oven-baked/slit down middle
1/2 cup vegan refried beans (spicy flavor for me)
1/3 cup mushroom quinoa (basic quinoa tossed with sauteed shiitake mushrooms + optional nutritional yeast)
1/4 cup marinated kale salad (recipe below)
2 Tbsp vegan chipotle sweet potato sauce (recipe below)
chopped chives
pepper to taste
Directions for stuffing potatoes: Simply pile on the toppings! Sticky or heavy items are best layered first. For the loaded potato I did beans, quinoa, salad, dressing, chives/pepper on top.
Kale Salad
2 cups kale, chopped
1 tomato, diced
2 Tbsp sliced almonds
2 scallions, chopped
tossed in Miso Dressing – recipe in this post
Chipotle Sweet Potato Sauce
1 Tbsp baked sweet potato (scoop from potato)
1 Tbsp vegan mayo (Vegenaise)
a few dashes chipotle powder
1 tsp maple or agave syrup
(thin out with a splash of liquid if desired – water, vinegar, oil works)
Dive into sweet potato comfort food..
