New Meal Monday: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

The sweet potato and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship.
For a long time, I just hated it.  I’m not sure what it wasn’t I didn’t like, I just didn’t really care for it.  Overtime, it become hard to escape, and started to win me over.  However, I still had a bit of a problem with it, because often people would try and deprive me of delicious regular potatoes by replacing them with sweet potato fries.  For example, my wife would ask, “Hey, instead of splitting an order fries, do you want to split sweet potato fries?”
NO! It’s bad enough I’m splitting fries, now you want them to be slightly healthier?! (In case you didn’t realize this, I love potatoes. French Fries, home fries, chips…Potatoes are to me, what shrimp is to Forrest Gump’s friend Bubba).

However, now that I’ve found that I can love MULTIPLE types of potatoes, the sweet potato and I are on great terms.  So much so, that when we were deciding on a meal to make recently, I suggested taking on stuffed sweet potatoes.  There’s a lot of good things you could mix up and shove in a hollowed out sweet potato, but we focused on some ingredients that would be hardy enough to make this a meal instead of a side or a snack, primarily quinoa and black beans.  We made this up a bit as we went along, so feel free to do the same and mix in some things you’d prefer!

What you’ll need:

• 4 Large Sweet Potatoes
• ½ Cup of Uncooked Quinoa
• 1 Cup Water
• 1 can Black Beans rinsed and drained
• ½ cup frozen corn
• ½ Medium Yellow Onion Diced
• 2 Cups Fresh Spinach
• 1 Tablespoon Sunflower Oil (Vegetable or Olive Oil works fine too)
• 2 Teaspoons Teeny Tiny Spice Yucatecan Recado Rojo*
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 half avocado, diced.

How you’ll do it:

1. After poking 5-6 times with a fork around Potatoes, place potatoes on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake 425 for 1 hr.
2. Take half of potato inside and save for some other use another time, and take other half and set aside for stuffing.
3. Bring water and quinoa to bowl in medium sauce pan, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes (until water is absorbed)
4. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat, add onion, sauté  for till soft, about 5 min. Add corn and sauté until cooked (additional 2-3 minutes)
5. Add Spinach and 1 teaspoon of Rojo and mix well, cooking till spinach begins to wilt, about 2 minutes.  Add beans and continue to sauté for 1 minute.
6. Remove from heat and add quinoa, sweet potato, and additional teaspoon of Rojo. Mix well!
7. Scoop mixture into hollowed out sweet potato halves, top with cheddar, and bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes (until cheese is melted).
8. Top with diced avocado and enjoy!

*If you don’t have this spice, try using 1.5tsp cumin, 1/4tsp of allspice and 1/4tsp of black ground pepper.