Healthy Comfort Food: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Comfort food does not equal butter. I know it’s cold, like VERY cold, and all you want is buttery mashed potatoes or mac n cheese or beef stew or whatever it is people eat when they just CANNOT anymore with this cold. But there are better options. I’m about to give you one.

I don’t have photos, cause when I was making it I thought it would be no big deal, but it turns out it IS A BIG DEAL, and I want to eat this everyday until I can walk outside and can actually feel my face.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Ingredients (serves 4ish):

• 2 sweet potatoes (or 4. you’ll see)
• 1 pound organic ground lean turkey
• 1 16oz can black beans
• 1 bunch organic Lacinato (Tuscan, aka not curly) kale
• Some spices. Oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper. And cinnamon.
• 1/2 teaspoon honey (or thereabouts)

Start by roasting the sweet potatoes in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour or so — until they’re soft enough for you to scoop out the center and mash it. You could also steam them for about 25min instead, but the skins don’t hold together quite as well. Whatever. Do whichever you have time for.

While your sweet potatoes are happening, toss that ground turkey in a pan on medium-high heat, throw all those spices on there, and brown it as you break it apart. Once it’s cooked through, turn off the heat and put the cooked turkey in a large mixing bowl. Keep that pan, cause you’re about to put beans in it.

Drain and rinse the black beans, and throw them in that same pan with maybe a splash of water and the same spices as the turkey. Cook for like 4 or 5 minutes, and then throw HALF of them in a blender or food processor — this will help bind the filling together. Then put the half blended, half in tact beans into the same bowl as the turkey. Friends!

Wash your kale and tear the leaves from the stem. Roughly chop them and throw them in that same bowl. The mixing bowl is becoming a major hangout.

When the sweet potatoes are done, cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the majority of the inside (keep enough in there for the skin to hold its shape) and mix it in with the rest of the ingredients (parrrrty). Squeeze just a little bit of honey into the mixture, and add a splash of water or chicken stock to make sure it all binds together well (the sweet potato and black beans might be enough though. Use your judgement). Your kale, black bean, turkey, sweet potato stuffing should have a nice salty sweet thing goin on.

Now scoop that mixture back into the sweet potatoes. You can pile it high, don’t be shy.

Put the stuffed potato halves in a pan and cover with tin foil. Cook at 350 for about 20 minutes.

There will probably be a bunch of the stuffing left. That’s okay. One serving is two stuffed sweet potato halves, and there will probably be enough leftover for 2 more servings. You can toss that extra in a saucepan (or in the same baking pan as the sweet potatoes, depending on how much you need at a time). If you’re dingo it in a pan, just add a splash of chicken stock or water so it doesn’t dry out. You’ll want to cook it long enough for the kale to wilt a little, like 7 or 8 minutes.

If you try it with 4 potatoes, you can ditch the honey and you’ll probably have the amount of filling that evens out and fills all 8 potato halves. But, you know. Hindsight is 20/20.

So now you have a super tasty, savory sweet dinner that is all good for you.  The sweet potato is a nutrient packed superfood, high in iron, potassium, carotenoids, and loads of vitamins. Adding black beans and lean ground turkey provides protein and more fiber, and the kale provides antioxidant vitamins A, C, and K. You’re gonna feel full and warm and really really happy.

Try this! And if you try it with 4 sweet potatoes, lemme know how that goes. These are also pretty portable, so, easy lunch leftovers.