Mexican Sweet Potatoes

I have to throw it out there that I don't LOVE sweet potatoes.  When I have the option of sweet potato fries verse regular, I always want regular.  Alex loves sweet potatoes and has been eating them a lot lately.  Given they have a great deal of health benefits and are much better for you than regular white potatoes- I have been looking for ways to help myself enjoy them a bit more.  I think I found it! I originally found the recipe on this blog.  My version is below with a few notes. I was really happy with the final product and at about 196 calories a half you can enjoy and enjoy!

Healthy Mexican Sweet Potatoes

Serving Size: 6 servings if using as a side 
3 servings if using as a main dish
 

What you need:

- 3 medium sweet potatoes

- 1 can of corn

- 1 can of black beans

- 1/2 medium onion (yellow is probably best, I used red as I had half of one in the fridge) 

- 2-4 canned Chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (the more you use the more heat it will add).

- 1 Tablespoon of butter

- 2 Tablespoons of cream cheese or plain Greek yogurt

- 1/4 cup light sour cream

- 1 teaspoon of salt + whatever you like to add for taste

- 1/2 cup cilantro roughly chopped

Optional Ingredients:

- 6 Tablespoons of shredded cheese of your choosing (I used a shredded Mexican blend). I tried one with cheese and one without and was very happy with both.

- Cayenne Pepper - I like to add this to my roasted corn with a little salt and pepper. 

What to do:

- Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Wash sweet potatoes and poke holes all around potato.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place whole potatoes on sheet.  Bake in over for 35-55 min. until cooked through.  ** I cooked mine for 45 and probably should have let them go another 10 minutes or so

- While potatoes are cooking, drain corn and cook over medium heat (no oil or butter) in a medium sized pan.  Cast iron is best, but I just used a regular non-stick pan.  Sprinkle corn with a dash of salt, pepper and cayenne (if you choose).  Do not stir for a few minutes to allow corn to roast, mix well and then let it continue to roast (about 10 minutes total). Pull off of the heat and place in a small bowl with the black beans (drain black beans).

- Saute onion with butter over medium heat until soft.  Pull off of the heat and set aside.

- Remove sweet potatoes from oven when they are tender to the touch of a fork.  Let cool for about 5 minutes.  Cut potatoes in half and remove flesh and place in a mixing bowl.  I left a think layer of the potato in the skin in order to help it hold its form. 

- Mix the sweet potato flesh with the cream cheese, sour cream, hot peppers, salt and pepper. You can use a mixer or just the spoon depending on how soft the potatoes are, I had to use a mixer.  When well mixed fold the corn, beans, onions and cilantro into mixture with a spoon. 

- Scoop mixture back into potato shells.  Put about 2 Tablespoons or a few pinches of the cheese on top of potatoes and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

** I stuffed my potatoes with heaping spoonfuls but I still had a lot of the mixture left over.  I stored it in the fridge and plan on putting it in a bowl with a little cheese, broiling until cheese melts and then serving it at our BBQ as a dip for tortilla chips. The stuffing itself tastes awesome! 

  

Nutrition:         

Calories 196 per half 

Total Fat: 6.5 g

Cholesterol: 18.5 mg

Sodium: 188 mg

Carbs: 28.1 g

Dietary Fiber: 5.1 g

Protein 7.8     

Weight Watchers Points Plus Points:

5 per half.  

 

Meal Planning

I feel as though I haven't posted in a while but I wanted to assure everyone that I am still trying to plan my meals! I am really working on creating a balance between wanting to cook yummy foods and not going overboard with the calories.  

I am posting a sample of my meal plan for this week.  I will post the recipes as I make them throughout the week with notes on how things turned out. 

My plan is to try and stay around a 1300 calories for my main courses. I am working out pretty consistently so will probably end up eating around 1500 calories a day. In addition to my weekly 3 course meal plan  I have created a list of snacks and their calorie count so that I can grab something before/after the gym or if I get hungry mid-day.  Using the list I can still stay around the desired amount of calories. 

Also, you will notice I have factored in nights to eat out as I want to be as realistic as possible. These nights will probably go a little over my goal but I figure that as long as I can stick to the plan then I will be cutting back more than usual and that will help my overall fitness goal. 

If you want any of the recipes prior to my posting them, just shoot me a message!

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast	Dr. Oz Breakfast Smoothie 300 Calories	Peanut Butter Toast w/ Apple 265 Calories	Dr. Oz Breakfast Smoothie 300 Calories	Peanut Butter English Muffin w/ Apple 253 Calories	1 egg, wheat toast, apple with Peanut Butter 337 Calories
Lunch	Kale Salad 211 Calories Turkey Burger w/o Bun 300 Calories	Dr. Oz Lunch Smoothie 600 Calories	Mexican Sweet Potato 196 Calories Cottage Cheese 100 Calories	BBQ Chicken Salad 389 Calories	Lunch Smoothie 608 Calories
Dinner	*Date Night*	Mexican Sweet Potato 196 Calories Kale Salad 211 Calories	Grilled Chicken and veggies w/ Caprese Salad 545 Calories	Dr. Oz Dinner Smoothie 350 Calories Buffalo Bites 320 Calories	*Dinner out*
Total Calories	811	1272	1141	1312	945
Calories Left for Snacks and other meals if I do NOT work out.	489	28	159	None	355