Can we talk about sweet potatoes for a minute?
I have a very strong affinity for them, I think they are perfect, and sweet, and wonderful, and quite frankly my life is better because sweet potatoes are in it.
They are on my staple grocery list. If I have sweet potatoes in my house I always feel like I have something good to eat. If I don't, I feel something pretty close to terror.
I eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack. I eat them here. I eat them there. I will eat sweet potatoes anywhere.
Oh wonderful friends, do you love them as much as me?? Do you? Do you?
If you don't feel the love pulsating through your veins like I do, maybe you should give this recipe a try. It's the perfect combo of sweet, tangy, and savory and a great way to start playing with sweet potatoes, in unconventional ways, in your kitchen.
Let me tell you the real whopper of a reason I think you should give this recipe a try.
It's fast.
And lately, I need fast recipes more than I ever have before.
My life has become a snip busier these days because I made a pretty epic life decision to go back to school. In exactly 2 weeks I begin a masters program in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine!!! It's super exciting and also terrifying. I am currently finishing a few pre-requisite classes and have become much better acquainted with something called time management.
I haven't had my leisurely blocks of 4 hours to play in the kitchen, I've had to get down to action quickly, and prepare meals that give my hard-working brain a little boost.
So this is exactly where stuffed sweet potatoes come in, the perfect quick lunch.
Full disclosure, it does take 45 minutes to cook a sweet potato in the oven, but I totally won't tell anyone if you choose to cook it in a microwave instead.
The rest of the dish takes a whopping 10 minutes.
So I guess it's safe to say you will be seeing more speedy recipes from me in the future, let's hope they are all as successful as this one!
Kale and Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potato
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 cup yellow squash diced
- 2 cups kale leaves stripped from stems and chopped
- 1 cup organic black beans
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin ground
- 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Instructions
- Bake sweet potatoes in 375 oven for 45 minutes or until tender
- While sweet potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add chopped garlic and saute for 1 minutes (be careful not to burn)
- Add yellow squash to pan and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add kale, stir well, reduce heat to medium low, and cover skillet for 4 minutes to allow kale to wilt.
- Once kale has sufficiently wilted add black beans, cumin, salt, pepper, and lime juice. Stir well to combine and cook for 3 more minutes.
- Remove sweet potato from oven, when cool enough to touch, split open and drizzle with olive oil, a pinch of cumin, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lime juice. Pile kale mixture on top of sweet potato.
- Bring this kale and black bean stuffed sweet potato to work for lunch, parade it around your office, make all of your coworkers jealous.
Notes
- I typically cook sweet potatoes ahead of time which makes this a 10-minute meal! #winning
- Any dark leafy green works well in this recipe; spinach, swiss chard, collards, or dandelion greens.
Cynthia Berstler says
I made this and it was a big hit with the family! So wholesome and delicious!
Abra Pappa, MS, CNS, LDN says
Yay! So glad to hear Cynthia 🙂
Jordan Schehr says
This is a great go to for a complete meal when I want to keep it healthy but full of flavor.
Hannah Stahlheber says
I have to try that this weekend!!! Uhhh that sounds really delicious! Yellow squash is yellow zucchini, right?
My fastest fast food for the winter time is a super fast tomatoe soup. Roast a shallot in 1 tbsp coconut oil. Add 1 organic can (about 400 mg) of cherry tomatoes and 4-5 (or more) tbsp of coconut milk. Simmer and blend with a hand blender (makes it a little more foamy then a blender), add a pich of stevia, herbs n spices of choice (I usually ad peppers for spice, cumin and organic curry powder but I have also done an “italian version” with oregano and basil where I used olive oil instead of coconut oil. Oh and sea salt. (Of course using fresch tomatoes makes it tast better but the canned tomatoe potion only takes 5 min and after work that is great).
Abra Pappa says
That tomato soup sounds incredible!!! Coconut milk? Oh man, you totally had me at coconut milk!!!
Hannah Stahlheber says
I have completly fallen in love with coconut milk during the cleanse. So much better than cream!