Eating for Your Health: Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes are almost always on those lists you see for  “Super Foods” or “Power Foods,” and they are there for a lot of great reasons.  Sweet potatoes are high in fiber, vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B3, and B6, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, biotin, potassium, and phosphorus.  They are anti-inflammatory and help regulate blood sugar.  And, they are yummy.  They can be sweet-savory like the recipe here, or can go so far as to taste like dessert.  For those with diabetes, they are one of the few sweet, starchy foods that actually help blood sugar.  

Apparently, it helps your body use the beta-carotene in sweet potatoes to add a little fat.  This recipe hasselback sweet potatoes is basically savory and is a more attractive version of the every day sweet potatoes I usually make.  It uses a little healthy olive oil, which helps with that beta carotene, and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.   Feel free to add other spices, but I just love sweet potatoes with black pepper, so that is what I used here.   The recipe is for one, though I don’t usually make just one, but you do each one separately and then bake them all together, so it make the most sense to write it this way.

Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

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Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Slice sweet potato into 1/8 to 1/4 inch about 3/4 of the way into the potato, being careful not to cut all the way through.
3. Brush with olive oil trying to get in between the slices. Reserve any remaining oil.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and separate slices slightly with a knife to get them to fan out a bit. Brush again with remaining oil, or just to spread out the oil that is already there using the knife to help you get it in between the slices better.
6. Return to the oven and continue baking for an approximately 30 more minutes or until done.

Source:  The World’s Healthiest Foods