Healthy Sweet Potatoes

Sometimes there isn't much to say about a recipe other than oh my goodness, please try this. That is the case with these healthy version of twice baked potatoes, which are make using sweet potatoes (so you get your daily intake of beta carotene, vitamin C, and potassium), chick peas (added protein), and spinach (so you get your iron and fiber!).  Sometimes Most of the time twice baked potato recipes frighten me, due to the overwhelming amount of butter, sour cream, cream cheese, more butter and more cheese they contain.  I usually stay far, far away from them....but not these guys.  Just looking at the pictures is making my mouth water.  I think I will make these again this week. 


P.s. If you are like me, you are wondering what wine to drink with these...they pair well Naked Grape chardonnay :) 

Healthy Sweet Potato Skins (http://pinchofyum.com)

Ingredients

2 medium or large sweet potatoes

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 shallot, minced

1 bag fresh baby spinach

1/4 cup light sour cream

2 ounces light cream cheese

1 cup chickpeas

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bake sweet potatoes at 350 for 45-60 minutes, or until fork tender.

2. Cut sweet potatoes in half and let cool for 5-10 minutes. While sweet potatoes are cooling, saute the shallots with the

butter over medium heat until translucent. Add fresh spinach and heat for 2-3 minutes, until spinach has cooked down.

Set aside.

3. Scrape the sweet potato out of the peel, leaving a thin layer inside with the peel so that it can stand up on its own.

4. Mash the sweet potato with the cream cheese and sour cream. Stir in chickpeas, spinach, and salt and pepper.

5. Coat potato skins with a drizzle of oil and bake for about 5 minutes to get a crispier outside. Remove from oven and fill each skin with the sweet potato mixture and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake again for 10-15 minutes, or

until cheese is melted and filling is heated through.

Banana Almond Smoothie

The recipe I am about to share with you will change your life. Okay, that might be a bit extreme, but I am pretty sure my life has significantly improved since I discovered (and have since perfected) this smoothie.  Last fall, I attemped a raw diet  and stumbled upon a banana almond smoothie during the process. This smoothie called for almond butter and my Mother helped me make homemade almond butter solely to use in this smoothie.  It was OUT OF THIS WORLD.

Fast forward from last fall to two weeks ago.

My training is beginning to increase (my first outdoor triathlon of the season is in eight weeks!) and am deperately trying to increase my protein intake.  A simple way I have gone about this is to make smoothies with protein powder.   To be honest, I am still not entirely sure how I feel about protein powder- I have heard both good and bad things about it....but what I do know is that I DO NOT use the standard serving size, which is TWO scoops or 56 grams of protein. I only use one scoop (23 grams of protein).  I plan to continue my research on protein powder, but while I do that, I need to share this recipe with you.  I ended up modifying the original banana almond smoothie and replaced the almond butter with vanilla protein powder.  I like almond butter, however, my graduate school budget doesn't support purchasing a jar of it for $12 and making it isn't exactly budget friendly either when almonds are $7.99 per pound.  After trying many different ingredients in this smoothie, I have perfected it.  The best part?  No measuring is involved.  As you can see in the pictures, I drink my smoothies out of a mug, with a straw.  I don't know why, but I love drinking everything, including water, out of old coffee mugs.  Everything tastes better this way, I swear.

I splurged on almond extract from the local coOp,
it was definitely worth the money.

Banana-Almond-Flax Smoothie
Ingredients
1 frozen banana - I cut up a bunch of frozen bananas at the beginning of the week and place them in a container in my freezer.  The broken up banana is easier for my blender from 1972 to to handle)
1 Spoonful whole flax seed
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
A splash of almond extract
Almond Milk- I use the unsweetened vanilla flavor, only 40 calories in 8 oz.
A small handful of oats- if I had to guess, I would estimate 3 tablespoons

Blend all ingredients in blended until smooth. Pour into a coffee mug, find a straw and enjoy!

HEAVEN IN A MUG.