Other People’s Recipes: Sweet Potatoes & Beans

Growing up, I don’t really remember having sweet potatoes often. I claim that my mom never served them, but she begs to differ. Either way, when I rediscovered them a few years ago, they quickly became a staple in my diet. One of my favourite ways to eat them is actually sweet, rather than savoury. I mash up some roasted sweet potato, banana, apple sauce, almond & cinnamon to make a fairly ugly & disgusting looking pile of mush and put it on oatmeal. Looks like awful, tastes like amazing.

For this round of Other People’s Recipes, I’m showcasing sweet potatoes in the savoury sense. First up is Caribbean Empanadas from Our Four Forks (recipe here). The filling for these empanadas was a mix of sweet potato, black beans, kale and a bunch of delicious herbs & spices.

I was surprised at how easy and simple the dough recipe was. It was only 4 ingredients, but it was delicious. Once the empanadas are baked, they’re topped with a fresh mango and pepper salsa. This was a really tasty (& filling!) dinner, but my one complaint was that it was fairly time consuming and it only made 6 empanadas. Next time I’d definitely double the dough recipe (there was a bunch of filling and salsa leftover) to have enough for at least 2 meals.

Though not necessarily a bean, red lentils are a close relative to the bean family, and that’s what’s featured in the Sweet Potato & Lentil Cakes from Blissful Basil (recipe here). I knew I wanted leftovers for this recipe, so I multiplied the recipe by 1.5. Looking back, I should have noticed that the recipe indicated it made 12-3” patties. My patties were only about 1.5”-2”. I ended up with 42 patties. I guess I got what I wished for! I was able to freeze half of them and they were enjoyed for quite a while. The actual recipe itself was great too! I couldn’t stop eating it straight from the food processor!

The only change I made was omitting the fresh herbs (I didn’t have any) and adding 2 teaspoons of coriander in their place. I didn’t have the ingredients for the accompanying Lemony Avocado Sauce so I improvised by using my old standby tahini-based dressing from Oh She Glows (see here). I’ll definitely try the avocado sauce next time though!

This last recipe didn’t actually call for sweet potatoes, but knowing how well these delicious root veggies pair with black beans, I couldn’t resist! The Mexican Bowl from Kristy at Keepin’ It Kind (recipe here) was such an easy meal to throw together. There were a number of components to this dish, but they all melded together wonderfully to create an amazing meal. I didn’t have cashews on hand to make the cashew cheese, but I made everything else. This bowl is made up of the following layers: greens, spiced & sautéed beans, grains (I used red & white quinoa and millet), guacamole and a zucchini, tomato & corn salad. And obviously I added some cubed and roasted sweet potato into the mix.

Each bite contained something new and different and I could see myself making this again and again!

Consider this to be the first of many odes to sweet potatoes on this blog. They’re such a versatile vegetable, and when paired with something as hearty & protein-packed as beans (or lentils!) they can make a really filling, nutritious and great tasting meal!