Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos

 Missy Tippens

I just had another amazing vegetarian dish this week: black bean and sweet potato tacos. They were SO GOOD! I'm already craving the tacos again. Will be making this often!

This was a dish from Dinnerly food delivery service, so I don't feel I can share the exact recipe. However, I wanted to just tell you the ingredients so you can come up with your own version.

I first peeled and cut up a sweet potato. I was limited on time so cut it pretty small. Then I tossed the potato with olive oil, taco seasoning (powder) and some salt and pepper. I roasted the potatoes at 400 degrees until they started to get tender. Then to the sweet potatoes I added a little bit of water (about 1/4 cup), a can of rinsed and drained black beans, and some chopped garlic. I roasted it a bit longer until the potatoes were ready to eat.

Serve on taco shells (soft corn tortillas is what I used) with guacamole and grated cheese! My husband added salsa to his. Like I said, these were amazing. And so simple! A one-pan dish. Or wait, it was actually two pans because I used a skillet to warm my tortillas. But that's still very easy cleanup!

www.missytippens.com

A Little Bit of Sweet and a Little Bit of Savory

Jan here with a reminder that desperate times call for desperate measures...and they usually involve chocolate!

Sometimes on our trips to Sam's Club, we'll indulge in a treat for ourselves. The last time we went, it was my turn to choose...

The background is my Susan Branch
desk blotter calendar. I get one every year to add a bit
of whimsy to my office.

Yes, those are Dove Chocolate Promises. YUM! I've been making them last, only having one or three at a time....

The one in the green wrapper is salted caramel. The gooey salted caramel is wrapped in delicious Dove dark chocolate. I wish the entire container had been filled with that one flavor!

But it made me start thinking about that blend of sweet and savory - salt & caramel, apples & peanut butter, salted peanuts on a hot fudge sundae, etc. 

One of my favorite ways to blend the two tastes is in this salad idea I got from our friend Pam Hillman.

Yes, that is a can of tuna. And yes, that is an apple. You can substitute soy sauce for the Bragg's Aminos, and mayo for the wedge of Light Laughing Cow Cheese. Just dice the apple and blend everything together according to your taste...and don't knock it until you've tried it!

This is a delicious and filling low-fat, healthy-carb lunch!

Another sweet and savory combination I often have for lunch is a baked sweet potato. But not the way you're thinking - I don't load my sweet potatoes down with butter and brown sugar anymore! (Unless it's Thanksgiving...)

Do you see my secret ingredient? Yes! It's cumin!

When I want to have a sweet potato for lunch, I put it in the oven right after breakfast. I cut the ends off (to minimize the stringiness,) wrap it in foil, and bake it for 3 hours at 325° or 2 hours at 350°. By the time I'm ready for lunch, it's baked to perfection. The skin pulls off easily, then I split it in two and 1 teaspoon of butter, a dash of salt and pepper, and then plenty of cumin. 

What makes it so delicious? I'm convinced it's the combination of the sweet potato and the savory cumin. I'm always a little sad when I get to the last bite...

What is your favorite sweet and savory combination?

In doggy news, we had a couple gorgeous spring days before our snowstorm last week, so we took Sam to Custer State Park for the first time.

As soon as we were out of the truck, both pups had their noses to the ground! 

This is a service road, not an official hiking trail, but it is inside the park so wildlife is at large. We saw signs of bison (the buffalo chips were fresh!) and we know that deer, elk, antelope, coyotes and a huge number of other animals frequent this area. Smells abound!

Every dog's favorite hobby is finding sticks, right? Especially these two!

And especially when the "sticks" are actually trees that fell after some long-ago forest fire.

How much fun can a pup have?

We walked "in" about 15 minutes, let the pups rest, and then walked back "out." A nice easy hike for early spring.

The pups have a favorite treat on an occasional evening - 

I fill their Kong toys with a mixture of plain yogurt and puppy kibble, 

then throw them in the freezer for a few hours. They keep the pups busy during that freak-out time between supper and bed, especially when a storm keeps us inside all day.

Ah, the joys of raising puppies! I'm glad it doesn't last forever!

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and baby border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.

The Great Leaf Debate (with a side of NO SUGAR added sweet potato soup)

Polar vortex how you taunt me! Talk about cold. The most beautiful fall in ages destroyed in an instant.  The orange, yellow and red leaves shivered off the trees. No wind! They just fell to their doom.

The weather here has led to the question of the moment,

Are you a leaf raker....

Or...a leaf blower

 


OR...a leaf jumper?

I confess to being all three!

Public Service Announcement #1: No matter how you go about attacking leaves, make sure you warm up first. Do stretches so your back won't go out (yep, one of the autumn's most common injuries). Make sure you wear ear plugs if you use a blower. And make sure there is nothing dangerous or odorous in that leaf pile. You're welcome.

Falling leaves and sweet potatoes have always gone together in my book.  And since I'm in the South, sweet potato pie is as much a tradition this time of year as pumpkin pie. Sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber and make a luscious end to a meal. Sigh AGAIN. Since I can't find a decent gluten free pie crust, I've been missing sweet potato pie.

That's when I thought back to summer's dessert soups. Cold peach, watermelon, strawberry soups always appeared in my Southern Living magazines and eventually to my table. Where are the winter dessert soups? Pumpkin tends to be more savory. I haven't seen a lot of apple soups either. But sweet potato soup after a meal of ham casserole and salad sounded divine to me.

I found plenty of savory sweet potato soups similar to Jan's Butternut Squash Soup . Made with chicken broth and onions, these soups are perfect for an entree. Dessert means sweet, at least in our house. A friend told me about a soup made with apple cider but I wanted something creamy. Plus, our house is having to watch our sugar consumption.

Public Service Announcement, #2: Do you know how much sugar is added to our processed foods? Do you know sugar acts like cocaine on the brain? But if you cut out sugar, you will get used to less.  For me, this was sweet enough for a dessert. For others, maybe not so much. Back to our regularly scheduled post.  

After a few tries, I think I nailed it. These are ingredients for my Dessert Sweet Potato Soup:

And here's the recipe that is a perfect reward after all that raking.

Sweet Potato Dessert Soup:

Soup ingredients:

1 can sweet potato puree or one very large or two regular sweet potatoes, cooked and pureed with a processor or blender

1 cup half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, more to taste if needed

Dash nutmeg

Optional: 1/4 cup brown sugar if your family insists on really sweet things but the toppings should also make the soup taste sweeter for sugar addicts.

Add on Toppings:

Diced apples, raisins soaked in orange juice, chopped pecans, mini marshmallows, marshmallow fluff, coconut

Assembly:

Combine all the ingredients in a large sauce pan and whisk over medium heat until heated through.

Stir constantly at low  to medium heat so you don't burn your soup!

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle on toppings.

Note: This is a thick rich soup so serve in small bowls (portion control!) and treated like a sundae with your toppings. 

Bonus alternative:  Add a cup of cooked rice and a half cup raisins to the soup, along with two beaten eggs and bake at 350 until set for sweet potato rice pudding!

Now to the questions of the day, do you use a rake, a leaf blower or have you already moved on to a snow blower? Have you ever had a dessert soup and do you like soup for dessert?