Mashed sweet potatoes

Seriously, why eat boring old white potatoes when sweet potatoes are like dessert?

This is a super simple, super delicious recipe that had people raving when I took it for a party recently, so I'm sharing it with the world.

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon coconut butter
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• Dash of cinnamon

If you have a pressure cooker, this will make your life much easier.  Place the sweet potatoes in your cooker and cook at 15 pounds of pressure for about 5 minutes.  Cool immediately by running cold water over the pressure cooker.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can always steam them or roast them in the oven.

Once your potatoes are soft, mash them and add in all of the ingredients and stir until combined.

The coconut adds such a great flavor but doesn't leave anything overly sweet.

Sweet potato hash

So I bought a couple of sweet potatoes a while ago and I keep trying to figure out what to do with them.  I thought about making sweet potato hash from Everyday Paleo, but I didn't have sausage.  I thought about making twice baked sweet potatoes from PaleOMG but didn't feel like doing all the work, so I did a combo of both and the end result was amazing if I do say so myself!

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and grated (use a cheese grater or the shredding disc on your food processor)
• 5 slices bacon
• 1 small yellow onion, sliced thin
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• Sea salt (to taste, I just did several grinds right in the pan)
• Black pepper (to taste)
• Cinnamon (I didn't measure but I'd estimate I used maybe 1-1.5 teaspoons?)
• Dash of cumin
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

In a large skillet, cook the bacon.  Remove and set on a paper towel to absorb excess grease and chop roughly

Toss the sliced onion and garlic into the skillet (use the bacon grease that's in the pan) and saute until onions are tender.  Melt in the coconut oil and add the sweet potatoes, salt, pepper, cinnamon and cumin and stir until the potatoes are tender (mine took maybe 5 minutes).  Add the bacon back in and combine everything.

The cinnamon and coconut oil lend a sweetness to the potatoes, while the bacon, salt and cumin add a salty/smoky flavor.  I can see this going into the rotation of post-WOD snacks, a great balance of healthy carbs, fat and protein!  My only regret is not making a double recipe, I am going to devour this!

Cinnamon roasted sweet potatoes

Compliments of Allrecipes.com

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 t cinnamon
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
• 1 T fresh lime juice (optional-I didn't use it)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and pour the oil to a 9x13 baking dish and place in the oven for about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes to the oiled dish and bake for 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes.  In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

After the 20 minutes is up, remove potatoes and sprinkle with the brown sugar mixture and mix to coat.  Return to oven and roast for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, stirring as necessary to allow them to brown evenly.

Remove from oven and transfer potatoes to a paper towel to drain the oil.  Serve immediately.

The end result?  Pretty tasty!  It made a large serving and I had some for leftover the next day and they tasted just as good reheated.