Roasted Sweet Potatoes

I did it! I stuck to my promise from a previous post!
...I cooked something, and I took pictures!


I won't go out on limb and say that we eat "super" healthy, but I'm pretty sure we eat healthier than the majority of people in the U.S.  For some things, I don't mind going the healthy route, but some dishes should just not be tinkered with. Yes, Paula Deen has diabetes, but a serving of her recipes once in a while isn't going to make anyone obese. 


For instance, over the weekend, I cooked a hunk of bacon in my cast iron skillet, solely for the purpose of having bacon fat from which to coat the skillet prior to making cornbread. Sinful? Yes. Indulgent? Yes. Tasty? Abso-freaking-lutely! I don't make cornbread that way all of the time, but once in a while isn't going to give either of us a heart attack.


That being said, if I can find a way to make something taste as good or better in a healthy way...I'm all over it!


One of my favorite vegetables is the sweet potato. Now, I love baked sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon (and brown sugar and marshmallows) as much as anyone, but of course I know that all that butter and excess sugar isn't particularly good for me. On their own, however, sweet potatoes are a fantastic source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and should be added to everyone's rotation of foods for healthy eating...but a lot of that goes down the drain when saturated fat is added.


So, as an alternative, I began roasting cubed sweet potato, and I like it as much or more than baked/buttered version! The roasting process pulls the natural sugars in the potato to the surface and caramelizes them...making them crispy and a bit chewy. Yum! And actually, this can be said of any root vegetable...carrots, beets, parsnips...all root veggies are just better roasted, in my humble opinion.


As another alternative (if peeling and cutting up the sweet potatoes is a bit too time consuming), I have also been known to "bake" the potatoes in the microwave, remove the skin, put the innards in a bowl, and then add about a half a cup of cinnamon apple sauce (whatever brand and consistency you prefer) per potato...and mash away. I especially like this version with pork. There's something about pork that goes well with both sweet potatoes and apples...so why not combine them?!


So for the roasted version, here's what I do...


(For the two of us, I usually use two sweet potatoes...most of the time we have a little leftover. Adjust amount accordingly)


2 sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Pepper
Cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Rinse the potatoes (yes, you're about to peel them, but it's much easier to remove the majority of the dirt now)


Peel them


Cut them into 1/2" cubes. There are a bazillion ways to skin a cat, er, cut up a potato, so just figure out what works best for you. Sweet potatoes are typically a very hard, dense root, so I find it easier to break them down into manageable chunks and work with them from there. I'll give my knife spiel in a separate post.


Toss them in a bowl and drizzle with just enough olive oil to coat, add about a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of pepper, and 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon. (You can add whatever herbs or spices you like. I often add just a dash of cayenne. Just be careful with fresh herbs because they will burn and char.) Toss together until all cubes are coated.

Line baking sheet with non-stick foil. This makes clean up a lot easier, and with the non-stick properties of the foil, you don't need to use quite as much oil...therefore, not adding unnecessary calories.


Dump the seasoned sweet potato cubes onto the sheet and spread them out so that they're all flat on the sheet and not stacked on top of one another.

Here's where I think I do it a bit different than other recipes...I put the potatoes in for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees to make sure they get done in the middle. I then, carefully, give them a stir, and crank the oven up to 400 degrees. This helps the outside get crispy! I usually leave them at 400 for about another 20 minutes, stirring one or two times more to make sure they brown evenly. Timing all depends on the size of your potato pieces, so I usually taste test along the way.


Some bits will look a bit on the burnt side, but that's okay! (I should have stirred these one more time, but I got distracted...so I have a few with bottoms that are a little more burnt than I would have cared for)

Side note: two potatoes does yield much more than this...but I forgot to take the photo until after Kyle and I had served ourselves.

This isn't the prettiest batch I've ever made, but man were they yummy. And actually, this is the way Kyle prefers me to prepare them...he just doesn't like the 50 minute prep and cook time. 


Hope you enjoy!