Saturday looked like this in the McGhee household....8 am swim practice, 10 am swim team meeting, 11 am hair appointment, 1 pm baseball pictures, 2 pm birthday party, 3 pm baseball game, 5 pm formal fundraiser. 9 am, 10:30 am, 11:30 am, noon, 1:30 pm, 2:30 pm, 4 pm, let puppy out to pee. Somewhere around 10:30 am, I gave up and realized when in survival mode, one is not picky about what one eats. And when one begins to lower ones standards slightly, a rapid decline in ones standards is quick to follow.
Basically what I'm trying to tell you is that I ate like crap this weekend. And I think I am trying to blame it on my minis and my puppy. What's in the past is now in the past (and my past includes hot dogs, pizza, and tequila), so I am moving forward today and getting us all back on track.
If you are one of my regular readers you know that one of my true loves in life is sweet potato kale quinoa. I have made that dish for so many people and everyone loves it (once they get past the quinoa looking like ants all over the sweet potatoes).
Since I love the sweet potato-kale combo so much, I went on a hunt for another recipe that combines the two veggies. As a sidenote, I am starting to realize I need to stop looking for recipes and start writing more of my own. I end up changing 95% of the recipes I find and always feel like "I could do better than this" when eating the food. And, yes, this is one of those recipes....but I'll give you the original recipe and then recommendations on how I would change it.
Loaded Sweet Potato Skins
What You Need
- 4 to 6 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds – make sure they are all around the same size)
- 1 shallot
- About half a bunch kale (enough for 2 cups kale)
- 1 cup chickpeas, canned or cooked (I omitted the chickepeas)
- 1 cup shredded cheese (we used a blend of Monterrey jack and cheddar, next time I will use 1/4-1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese)
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh ground pepper
- Olive oil
- Sour cream and green onions, to garnish
What To Do
1 Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash the sweet potatoes, and prick them with a fork. Rub them with oil, and sprinkle with some kosher salt and pepper. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until tender. (If you are crunched for time, you can pierce potato with a fork and bake in microwave).
2 Meanwhile, finely chop the shallot. Roughly chop the kale. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Saute the shallot until soft, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the kale, and saute for a few minutes, until tender. Set aside.
3 When the potatoes have finished baking, remove them from the oven and let them cool a bit. Cut them in half and scoop out about 1/2 of the inside, making sure to keep a layer of sweet potato within the skin so that it can stand on its own. In a bowl, mash the sweet potato, then add 1 cupchickpeas (drained and rinsed, if using canned), 1 cup shredded cheese, kale, 3/4 teaspoonkosher salt, and fresh ground pepper.
4 Fill each potato skin with the filling (you may have some left over). If desired, you could top with more shredded cheese as well (though we did not). Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. Serve hot, garnished with sour cream and sliced green onions. (I did not serve with sour cream. Next time, I will drizzle with balsamic vinegar).
Prepare your sweet potato.
Mix your filling.
These were pretty good as written. I think with a few changes that I suggested, they will be delish!
