Mediterranean Sweet Potato Boats

One of my goals for this fall was to try the different fall harvest vegetables and incorporate them into healthy recipes. The fall brings many changes- leaves turn different colors and fall, weather starts to get cooler, sweaters and hoodies come out, and pumpkins and squash are in all grocery stores or sold on the side of streets. I’m a big advocate of eating foods in season and in the fall that’s sweet potatoes, squash and pumpkin. These fall vegetables are all bright orange and therefore are filled with rich antioxidants, vitamin A, and fiber. Today I’ll be sharing a sweet potato recipe with a meditaerranean twist. This nutritious and easy recipe is sweet and savory and high in protein, healthy carbohyrates and vegetables. It’s topped off with a yogurt tahini dressing.
Sweet potatoes are such an interesting vegetable. As I was researching a little about sweet potatoes I found out that they are actually not related to ordinary potatoes! Some people refer to sweet potatoes as yams, but I found out that there are even some differences between the two.  Sweet potatoes usually have an orange flesh but can also be yellow or purple. Sweet potatoes are a nutrition powerhouse. Did you know that one medium sweet potato (5” long) has only 100 calories, 24 grams of carbohydrate and 438% of the daily value of vitamin A! Vitamin A acts as an antioxidant which helps protect your body from cellular aging. It’s also important for eye health to help you see in the day and night.  Switch up your carbohydrates and try this recipe.Servings: 3
Time: 30 minutes
Recipe
Ingredients:
-3 medium sweet potatoes
Bean Salad:
-1 cup chickpea (garbanzo) beans
-1 tomato diced
-1 green onion (scallion) chopped
-1/2 cup parley chopped
-1 lemon
-2 tbsp olive oil
-pinch of salt
Yogurt Tahini Dressing

• 1 cup yogurt
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 4 tbsp water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350oF. Wash and slice the sweet potato in half and place face down on baking sheet. Bake for 20-30 min or until thoroughly cooked.
2. In a bowl combine chickpeas, tomatoes, parsley, onion, lemon, olive oil and salt. Mix and set aside.
3. Prepare the yogurt tahini dressing by mixing all the ingredients together. You can adjust the amount of water added to the desired dressing consistency.
4. Once the sweet potato is thoroughly cooked, create an opening in the middle of each boat by gently pressing down on each with a spoon.
5. Spoon the bean salad into the boat and drizzle the yogurt tahini dressing on top. Enjoy right away.