Sweet potatoes are one of the most nutritious and inexpensive foods you can choose to eat. Sweet potatoes are high in complex carbs, vitamins A, C, iron and calcium and they make a wonderful side dish, or a one dish meal in my house! Here is how to pick good yams. There are hundreds of great sweet potato recipes available, but I actually like them once a month as a meal in themselves! If you use the great sweet potato as the main course and meat as the side, it can cut your meal cost per person by 75%!
1. Make sure any sweet potato feels heavy. Heavy, dense yams are the best.
2. Avoid any potato with decayed areas, blemishes or sunken spots.
3. Choose potatoes of comparable size for uniform cooking. I like the biggest ones, split them for smaller portions. Choose sweet potatoes with orange, moist flesh (often mislabeled as “yams” in supermarkets). These potatoes have a sweeter taste than those with yellow, dry flesh. Scrub with a veggie brush and cold water in the sink to clean.
4. Brush lightly with oil, wrap with foil and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees F until a fork penetrates easily.
5. I serve as a one dish meal and provide simple toppings like cinnamon and sugar or butter and salt and pepper. Sometimes for an added treat, mini marshmallows, but I try to keep it healthy!
Sweet Potatoes can also be boiled (skin on), peeled and mashed as a side dish. These inexpensive tubers are delicious and bursting with nutrients. I think that will be dinner tonight!
For more money saving ideas or to download a free copy of the e-coupon encyclopedia, go to www.JanLeasure.com.
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- Guest Post:Pick, Prepare and Eat Sweet Potatoes! - April 26, 2010
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