If you are struggling to get vegetables into your kids then the sweet potato can become your best friend. They are rich in dietary fiber, Vitamin-A, Vitamin-C, and Vitamin-B6. In fact, if your kids hate carrots, this is a great alternative. (Even if your kids don’t hate carrots, sweet potatoes are a good addition to the diet.) They’re super versatile too. If you’re not quite sure what to do with a sweet potato here are a few ideas:
I generally boil my sweet potatoes just like you would a regular potato. When they’re good and soft, I peel them and mash them and serve them in one of the following ways:
*Whip sweet potatoes with an old fashioned egg beater. Beat in some butter. Top with cinnamon.
*Make a streusel topping: Mix together 1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar, 2 tbsp. flour, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and ½ c. of chopped pecans. (You can skip the pecans if you want.) With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in 2 tbsp. of butter until you get a nice crumbly mixture. Top mashed sweet potatoes with the streusel.
*After mashing the sweet potatoes in a casserole dish, top with extra sharp cheddar cheese and walnuts. Put dish in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheddar cheese.
*Make vegetable chips: Thinly slice the sweet potatoes and stick in a Ziploc baggie. Coat the slices with olive oil. . .about a ¼ cup but make sure that you don’t have extra olive oil in the baggie when you’re done. Next lightly salt your sweet potato slices in the baggie. (I generally use sea salt as it is a little healthier for you!) Add parmesan cheese, carefully coating all the chips. Lay in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes.
Other recipes you might want to try:
Delicious Sweet Potato Souffle