Healthy Habits: Get Sweet on Sweet Potatoes

It wasn't until relatively recently that I discovered the joys of the sweet potato. My mother detests them, hence they didn't appear on our dinner table with any regularity...or ever. Once I did get the chance to sample this wonder veggie, it became one of my favorite foods. Not only does it deliver a distinctive sugary taste, but it also provides several nutritional advantages.

One small potato provides a whopping 262% of your daily needs for vitamin A as beta carotene, plus plenty of vitamin C, manganese, and dietary fiber; the beta carotene and vitamin C make sweet potatoes an antioxidant-rich superfood. Sweet potatoes are also known for their lower glycemic load in comparison to other potatoes, meaning that their carbohydrates are digested more slowly. While any kind of potato is perfectly suitable for a healthy diet, sweet potatoes might be a better choice for those concerned about blood sugar levels.

For more information about the nutritional profile of sweet potatoes, visit this website.
In addition to the traditional marshmallow and brown-sugar concoction that appears on special holidays, sweet potatoes may be prepared and enjoyed in a multitude of ways. Although I am a fan due to their innate tastiness, the food blogger in me loves the color sweet potatoes add to the plate--they make for great pictures:) Here are a few of my favorite ways to enjoy them:

Simply baked or microwaved, and topped with cinnamon, sometimes with nuts as well.

Cut into spears, sprinkled with spices, and baked to make oven fries.

Mashed with greens, as in Lindsay's African Kale Mash

Combined with beans and veggies for a spontaneous hash. (Best with black beans).

Baked and topped with hummus and paprika.

Topped with canned (top) or homemade (bottom) chili.

Topped with refried beans and salsa.

The possibilities are endless! I'd love to hear how all you creative foodies out there enjoy your sweet potatoes.

Before I go, I have a request regarding another superfood, flax seed. I have two large containers of ground flax seed to use up, and I am looking for ways to incorporate it its valuable omega-3s into my diet. How do you use ground flax?

Well, I must return to studying for the evening. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A Year in Review...

If you've been lurking in the food blogosphere lately, I am sure you have noticed that some of my fellow bloggers have published "Year in Review" posts. It seems like a good idea...so I am totally mooching off of their brilliance.

Here are a few of my favorite posts from the past year:

March
Introduction
Exciting News

April
Farmers' Market on the Quad!
Getting to Know Caroline
Becoming Vegan: to Be or not to Be?

May
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig
Cookbook Burnout
Getting to Know Caroline, Part II

June
Weekend Wrap Up
Matrimonial Frenzy
Major Spill

July
Wal-Mart Gourmet
Chop, Chop!
Back from Hot-lanta

August
Chicago, My Kind of Town
Chicago, the Foodie Perspective

September
Healthy Habits: Smoothie Makin'
An Unexpected Houseguest
Boys on the Brain

October
Lucky Day
The Comforts of Home
Return of Blue Devils Basketball

November
Pomegranate Crime Scene
Boxers and Brazil Nuts
Another Food-fest Complete

December
Healthy Habits: Taste the Rainbow!
All Wrapped Up
A Very Merry Caroline

OK, onto the more recent eats:

Wednesday
I had to eat quickly before heading out to a New Year's celebration. I kept it simple with a Sunshine patty with salsa, salad, broccoli, and Greek yogurt with wheat germ and blackberries.
No shake on Wednesday...several glasses of wine and a White Russian took its place. Almost as healthy, right?

Thursday
Breakfast yesterday was another banana blender concoction. I used GoLean again (my fave cereal) along with almonds this time. Perfect consistency!

Lunch consisted of the Tangy BBQ sandwich from Lindsay's cookbook. It was yummy, but I think I should have used more of Annie's BBQ sauce. I served it with mixed greens and a dish of blackberries with walnuts.
The end of a very boring day was made a little better with some black eyed peas to which I added mushrooms and onion, as well as Tabasco and BBQ seasoning. I also had some kale, a salad, and a baked potato with cinnamon and cashews.
The shake last night was slightly unusual in that I combined strawberries, chocolate, and peanut butter: all wonderful ingredients that I had never thought to enjoy simultaneously. It was fabulous, despite the crappy picture.
Friday
My mom and I had some errands to run today, so I made a quickie breakfast: pumpkin-banana smoothie and a Rudi's bagel with Maple PB
After scoring some new clothes on discount at the mall, we returned home for lunch. I finished off my divine shiitake-tomato hummus in a wrap with sun-dried tomatoes and field greens. I also had a salad with Woodstock dressing and an apple.
Check out what I got in the mail today:
Anyone tried these? What do you think of them?

Dinner tonight was inspired by this recipe. I didn't have any plum jam, so I improvised with blueberry jam (which I reviewed here). I think any jam would work in this recipe--its primary purpose is to add sweetness to the tofu. The cashews are also my contribution to the recipe.
As I've mentioned before, I am a self-proclaimed shoe addict. With some Christmas $$in my pocket just itching to be spent, I am contemplating a Zappos order. What's your current favorite in footwear?

Happy weekend!

Weekend Wrap Up

I had a full and enjoyable weekend. I kicked it off right by heading to the farmers' market with my mom on Saturday morning. We got some hefty tomatoes, mixed squash (including patty-pan!), rainbow chard, and oregano and mint plants (Sorry, no pictures!). Later, I went to the university gym with my sister and her husband (we are all attending the same university for our various degrees). I also went to a health food store with my dad that night, where I got a new flavor of Spirutein (Chai Latte), some roasted red pepper hummus, Ezekiel bread, and a few other goodies. Overall, Saturday could be summarized as a health nut's dream:)

Sunday was my mom's big day, of course, and our celebration was a success. We went over to the soon-to-be newlyweds' house for dinner, presents, and ice cream cake. Although my sister hasn't moved in yet, she has managed to get it looking picture-perfect. It seriously looks like a page out of Pottery Barn--Kudos, Katie! To cement her status as a domestic goddess, Katie made her favorite dish: macaroni and cheese. I didn't have any, but it was a beautiful dish that was enjoyed by all who indulged in it. I'll post pics of my plate later in this post, but for now here are a few of the family. No two people ever seem to be looking at the camera at the same time, but such is life:) My brother-in-law Ryan wanted his picture to be on the blog--he's the one staring into an abyss next to the cake.


Rewind: here's what I've been eating, starting with Friday night.

Friday
My evening smoothies have been a lot more healthful lately, mostly because I discovered that adding fruit makes them quite delicious. I'm not a big fan of fruit with chocolate (other than bananas), so I have kept them strictly fruity. Friday's included raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. You know the rest.
Saturday
Before heading out to the farmers' market on Saturday, I had a quick breakfast of whole wheat toast with sunflower seed butter and watermelon. This kept me full for a while.
Lunch consisted of some oven-roasted Tofurky I found in the freezer stuffed into an Ezekielpita with mushrooms and lettuce. I had a yummy salad on the side with chunks of avocado.
For dinner, I made my own lentil dip out of lentils, lemon juice, mushrooms, sauteed onion, fresh oregano, and garlic; I used whole wheat Pitettes as dippers. I had sliced tomatoes (from the farmers' market) with basil and a side salad as well.
The evening smoothie was blue all over, with blueberry Spirutein, frozen blueberries, nonfat organic plain yogurt, and granola--in a blue cup, of course.
Sunday
For lunch on Sunday, I finally tried kale chips! I got some strange looks from the fam when I whipped this one up. "You're eating what?!" I prepared mine with garlic salt and some steak seasoning (how ironic is that?). They were perfectly crunchy--thanks for the recipe, Kath! I enjoyed these as a side dish to homemade lentil-tomato soup, whole wheat toast, and a pear.

As I mentioned above, we were over at Katie's house for dinner. Since the family would be having steak, I picked up some Helen's Kitchen Tofu Steaks. My dad saw these featured on the Today Show on Saturday morning, and directed me to their website. These were a winner! Next time I might try one with marinara sauce though. I also had some of my sister's salad, which had romaine, feta, pecans, and strawberries. I elected to eat mostly strawberries and PECANS, however. I love that combination. We ordered a frozen yogurt cake from TCBY for my mom, as per her request. It was chocolate vanilla crunch flavor, I believe. I hadn't planned on having any, but my mom served me a sliver, so I ate it to make her happy. I was expecting it to be delicious, but it was actually kind of meh. I still managed to polish it off though:)

Monday
Today was another parfait day for breakfast. This one had plain soy yogurt, crumbled Weetabix, and mixed berries. Sunshine makes it taste even better.
Before heading to class, I had a roasted red pepper hummus sandwich and a salad with broccoli, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and walnuts. I spritzed the salad with balsamic vinegar (I keep it in a small spray bottle called a Misto). I also had some apple slices.
Tonight's dinner was inspired by what the family was having: paninis! My mom bought some frozen chicken-mozzarella flatbread paninis at Sam's the other day, so I decided to make my own version. Mine had farmers' market zucchini, organic mozzarella, and a Quorn cutlet in a whole wheat tortilla. I had some freezer burned green beans, a side salad, and a handful of cashews to balance the meal.
Whew! Marathon post again--sorry. If you're still reading (or even if you're not), have a great evening!