Sweet Potato Fries, Take #1

I've had a hard time finding a baked sweet potato fries recipe that doesn't just result in limp pieces of baked sweet potato. This recipe from The Art of Doing Stuff promised to make them crispy and fry-like, and included sriracha mayo.

You cut up the sweet potatoes, soak them, coat in cornstarch and oil, and bake.

Here's what mine looked like right before going in the oven:

And when done:

As part of a meal with crockpot jerk chicken and citrus slaw:

They were NOT a hit (except for the sriracha mayo, that was tasty). The cornstarch made the fries gluey and gave an off taste. They were definitely not very crispy. The recipe says you have to play with the cornstarch and oil proportions - and I also thought I might have cut them too thick - so I tried again on another night, with thinner fries, less cornstarch, and more oil. I also baked them longer. The results were similar - mushy and gluey.

Verdict: Didn't really work. Maybe you could do batch after batch and find just the right methods, but I'm not going to keep trying. On to the next sweet potato fries recipe....

Loaded Sweet Potatoes

Pinch of Yum (great spot for healthy recipes) has a recipe for Healthy Mexican Sweet Potato Skins that gets pinned a lot as "loaded sweet potatoes."

It's not super quick for a weeknight, but it's not too complicated either. Skillet roast some corn, then mix with beans and set aside. Saute some onions. Mix the corn, beans and onions with a bit of cilantro, the flesh of baked sweet potatoes, and some cream cheese, sour cream, and chipotles. Put it back in the sweet potato skin, top with a little shredded cheese, and bake till warmed and melty.

I followed the recipe as written, except I put powdered chipotles in with the roasting corn, rather than adding chipotles in adobo later.

They came out looking pretty decent. (The one on the right has a cablanca goat cheese topping, because my littlest guy was still nursing with a cow's dairy allergy, so I had to avoid the cheddar).

It was a very delicious, hearty meal! The 3-year old loved it, the sweetness of the sweet potatoes is a great way to get veggies in kids. It takes a little more effort than some of the "easy weeknight" recipes, but I think it's worth it because it's a solid one-dish meal.

Verdict: Tasty and healthy, a great vegetarian meal.

Turkey and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

The Skinny Taste blog gets lots of pins, and I can see why - the recipes are usually tasty and successful. This turkey and sweet potato shepherd's pie looked healthy and yummy:

I pinned this image:

I followed the recipe pretty much as written: brown turkey, saute veggies, add seasonings and flour, add liquid and simmer. Cover with mashed sweet potatoes and bake. I used one big dutch oven instead of individual portions, and that seemed to work fine.

Here's what my filling looked like, and then the finished product after baking:

It was very good. Every bit as tasty as the usual beef-and-potatoes shepherd's pie.

Verdict: A solid, easy, healthy recipe.