Consider........ the Sweet Potato

Did you know Yams and Sweet Potatoes are two different things? I thought they were the same, but according to about.com, the Sweet Potato is the orange critter we all know and love for pies and as a vessel for melted marshmallows. The Yam is actually popular in Latin American and Caribbean cuisine, is generally sweeter, and can grow up to 7 feet in length!

There, now don't you feel enlightened?


Anyway, one of my (many) goals this year is to step out of my culinary comfort zone and make some new and interesting recipes with some new and interesting (and healthy) foods. I've done pretty well so far I think  - the chicken tortilla soup being the stand out star so far.




Tonight, I will attack the Sweet Potato.



Now I've made sweet potato souffle, and candied sweet potatoes, and all sorts of variations of the two. The problem is they're always more of a Thanksgiving/Christmas type side dish (that could easily do double duty as a dessert), and any health benefits are essentially negated by the copious amounts of sugar, marshmallows, jams, juice, and more sugar added to the mix.

I could do the standard baked sweet potato - but what do you add to that? brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter?

So my challenge to myself is to make a healthy savory sweet potato side dish for dinner tonight - and for my husband to eat it.

And that, my friends, is the true challenge here.

I love my husband, I truly do. He's my best friend, my confidant, my lover and my accomplice. But he's not the most adventurous eater. He tends to like his meat and potatoes (and by potatoes I mean white), his burgers and fries, his hamburger helper and... well, need I say more?  The tortilla soup was a stretch for him. He didn't like all that "stuff" floating around together in there so he had to close his eyes and take a bite on a leap of faith. (BTW, he really liked it!)

He's never eaten a sweet potato outside of a holiday dinner. Not even a baked one w/ all the sugar and stuff.

I am about to change that.

Tonight we're having roasted pork loin, steamed green beans, and...............................

CAJUN BAKED SWEET POTATOES. 

Are you excited? My husband doesn't know it yet.... He'll see them when they hit the plate. They have really good reviews at allrecipes.com, so I've got high hopes!

A little sweet, a little more spicy.... I'm hoping this can be a regular into the rotation! I'll let you know how it turns out!