Twice Baked Sweet Potato Recipe

Last night I was planning to make a large chopped salad for dinner and thought I needed a something to go with it;  so while I was at the market I decided to grab some sweet potatoes and thought I'd figure out what to do with them when I got home. I personally love sweet potatoes because they remind me of fall and have many health benefits! So I came up with this easy recipe for twice baked SWEET potatoes and they turned out to be super delicious!  Hope you enjoy!

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon chopped dried cranberries
• 2 Tablespoons chopped almonds
• 1 Teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Step 1: Poke your two sweet potatoes all over with a fork and place on a microwave safe plate covered with a paper towel and place them in the microwave for 7 minutes. 

Step 2: Remove your sweet potatoes from the microwave and slice each of them in half. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the inside of one of the halves and place the inside of the potato in a medium sized bowl. Clean out the inside of the potato half leaving a thin layer of potato along the inside of the skin. Repeat this process with the remaining halves. Place your empty halves on a cookie sheet. 

Step 3: Use a fork to mash up the inside of your potatoes that you placed in the medium bowl, mash potatoes until they resemble a smooth texture. Add in the butter, cranberries, almonds, cinnamon and stir mixture until ingredients are all blended together.

Step 4: Take your mashed sweet potato mixture and using a small spoon, scoop the mixture into each of the empty halves on your cookie sheet. Scoop the mixture in the halves until all of the mixture is gone.  Once your potato halves are filled, you can refrigerate them (for up to 24 hours) to cook later or place them in a preheated 350 degree oven to cook. Cook the potato halves for 30 minutes. Once they have cooked, serve and enjoy!  

Sweet Potato Health Benefits:

Massive amounts of Antioxidants

Contain twice the amount of fiber compared to regular potatoes

Rich in Vitamin C & E 

Potent source of Maganese (helps stabilize blood glucose levels and appetite for hours)

High levels of B6 and Potassium

The tubers also contain iron, magnesium and Vitamin D

Soothing for the stomach

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DIY Smoothie In a Bag!

Have you ever been in a rush out the door one morning and don't have time to grab breakfast or whip up a delicious fresh smoothie? I know when I have been in a time crunch, I'm focused on making sure my outfits perfect and my hair and makeup are finished rather than worrying about eating. But Breakfast is the most important meal of the day & gives you the nutrients you need to be alert for the rest of the day! So instead of wasting your time in the morning cutting your fruits & vegetables and picking out what ingredients you want to put in your smoothie, I made these smoothie bags! Haven't you ever seen the smoothie bags in the frozen section of your grocery store by yoplait yogurt or Jamba Juice?...These smoothie bags are kind of like those but you get to choose what ingredients you want in your smoothie!  I put these smoothie bags in the freezer which helps keep my ingredients fresh and makes my shakes nice & cold! They're super easy to make and save so much time when you're on the go, just throw one of your bags in a blender, blend it up, pour into a glass and enjoy! 

Here's what you need: 

•Fresh fruit

•Fresh Vegetables

•Large ziplock bags

•Permanent marker

After you take a trip to the market and load up on vegetables and fruits, chop up your fruits and vegetables that you want to make smoothies with. Come up with a few different smoothies you want to make & put the ingredients for one serving in each of the ziplock bags. For example in one bag I put 1 cup spinach in a bag, 2 skinned and sliced kiwi & a 1/2 cup mandarin oranges in one. With the permanent marker I wrote what ingredients were in my bag and also wrote "ADD:" listing what liquid I wanted to add to my smoothie bag when I'm ready to blend it (my liquid was coconut water) Be sure to write the date on your bag too so you don't blend up old fruits! [Yucky!] I hope these smoothie bags help give you a yummy & quick breakfast when you're in a rush! 

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Are you Counting your Calories?

Do you count your daily calorie intake? It's easy to forget counting calories when it comes to eating your fruits and vegetables, but it's important to do! Whether you're eating fruit for breakfast or enjoying it as a mid-day snack, it's important to know how many calories you are intaking. I love blending fruits and vegetables to make delicious smoothies for breakfast or lunch, but after doing some research I learned that I should be substituting some of the fruits I currently use in my smoothies for some lower calorie fruits. I created this list of the amount of calories fruits and keep it on my phone for reference when I'm grocery shopping that way I always know what low-cal fruits I need to purchase! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful too! Note; the list is organized in descending order of calories.

(Source used to find the information used to create this list: FDA) 

Can't see the image very well? Click Here to download my PDF file version!

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