The Challenge of Getting the Family to Love Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a nutrient dense and surprisingly low calorie food. They are packed full of vitamin A - nearly 8 times the recommended daily need for the average adult, and because it's fat soluble instead of water soluble, it can be stored in the body to be used later instead of being wasted. They are also good sources of vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and many other nutrients.

The problem is that my family doesn't love the flavor.  I personally enjoy them baked with a little sea salt and black pepper just fine but the other 3 members of this house disagree and straight up refuse to eat them this way.  In fact there really is only one preparation method that I know I can win the battle with and that's roasting.  There are a few variations for roasting these orange little beauties but this one is a great way to easily get your veggie intake up in any meal and great for using up what is left in the fridge before shopping day which is always a bonus!  You can definitely add more than what I have here but this is what needed used in our house,

The kids had already eaten so I made less this week for just the hubz and me.

EVOO and seasoning time

stir to coat each delicious morsel with the oil and seasoning

Spread out and pop in your super hot oven to do it's thang

Roasted Root Veggies
2 sweet potato peeled and diced into 1/2-1" pieces
4 good sized carrots peeled and diced into 1/2-1" pieces
1 medium onion (I like yellow or red) sliced in to 1/2" wedges
2 tsp EVOO
Mrs. Dash or sea salt and black pepper to your preference

Preheat oven to 450°.  You will need a good sized cutting board, good sharp knife, a large baking sheet,  teaspoon measuring spoon.

You want all your veggies to be about the same size.  Pile them all on your baking sheet or you can dirty a bowl but I never do, and pour on the extra virgin olive oil and seasoning.  Toss to coat each piece and spread evenly out on baking sheet.  Roast in the hot oven for about 15 minutes.  Stir veggies and continue to roast for an additional 10-15 minutes or until lightly crisping.

Some other tasty additions would be a fresh beet (so different than the canned version!), butternut squash, and halved mushrooms.

I am always looking for new ways to eat healthy carbs and sweet potatoes are one of my favorites!  They are so much more flavorful than brown rice and packed with far more nutrition!  Since it is the Holiday Season and sweet potatoes are in abundance I will be making lots of dishes and (if they turn out good!) will posting them all here for you to add to your recipe repertoire too!

xoxo,
Laura