Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Healthy Mexican Sweet Potato Skins

Author: Pinch of Yum from pinchofyum.com

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

Total time: 1 hour 20 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 can corn, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 2-4 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced or pureed
• 1 ounce light cream cheese
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 1 teaspoon salt (+ more to taste)
• 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 6 tablespoons shredded cheese (Pepperjack, Cheddar, Colby Jack… anything will work)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the sweet potatoes for 45-60 minutes.
2. While sweet potatoes are baking, place corn in a heavy cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat with no butter or oil. Sprinkle with salt and other Mexican seasoning (as much as you want). Do not stir! Let corn roast for several minutes before stirring. Let it roast for a few more minutes before stirring again. Continue this for about 10 minutes, until corn is browned and roasted on the outside. Set aside in a small bowl with the black beans.
3. Saute the onion in the butter over medium heat until soft and translucent. Set aside.
4. Remove sweet potatoes from the oven when fork-tender. Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Cut the sweet potatoes in half. Scrape the flesh of the sweet potatoes out, leaving the skins intact. Sometimes leaving a thin layer of potato inside of the skins helps them hold together better.
5. Mix the flesh of the sweet potatoes with the cream cheese, sour cream, chipotle peppers, and salt. You can use a mixer or just a spoon, depending on how soft the potatoes are. When well-mixed, gently stir in the black beans, roasted corn, sauteed onions, and cilantro.
6. Scoop the filling into the skins and top each with 1 tablespoon shredded cheese. Broil for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Court's Notes

As a side - this will serve at least 8.  Each time I've made it, I've had more filling then potato skins.  I've put the filling in a pyrex and sprinkled w/cheese & just cooked it off.  It's still really tasty.

I have only ever used 3 chipotle peppers and i think it's been a little spicy!  

The spices I used on the Corn -- Chili Powder, Ancho Chili Powder, Paprika, Salt, Black Pepper, Garlic Powder.  Just a sprinkle of each around the perimeter of the pan.  Heavier on the Paprika & Ancho.  

I haven't used the cilantro on mine b/c I have 3 cilantro haters...and I used a Mexican blended cheese.  This saves well in the fridge - but note the longer it sits and then gets reheated - the spices kick it up a notch so if you are making ahead of time - maybe only 2 chipotle peppers.  Enjoy!

CHEESY STUFFED SOURDOUGH LOAF

 (adapted from Chicho’s Kitchen and found on nancycreative.com)

• 1 (1 lb. 8 oz.) round sourdough bread loaf (or substitute another type of bread if you don’t like sourdough)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/3 to 1/2 lb. (or about 5 to 8 ounces) thinly sliced roasted chicken, turkey, ham, or  salami
• 10 to 12 ounces sliced mozzarella or provolone cheese, or 5 to 6 ounces of each (about 14  slices total)
• 3/4 to 1 cup roasted red peppers from a jar, well-drained (I drained mine on a paper towel; if you don’t drain them, they’ll make the bread soggy)
• Optional: 1/3 to 1/2 cup sliced olives or any of the following–chopped marinated artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, sliced mushrooms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place your loaf on the sheet.  Slice your round loaf of bread vertically into 3/4″ to 1″ thick slices–but do not slice all the way through to the bottom! (You should end up with about 10 or 11 “slices,” giving you 9 or 10 “slits” to stuff with cheese, meat, and roasted peppers).
In medium bowl, combine olive oil, oregano, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and minced garlic, stirring to mix well. Using a pastry brush, brush both sides of all the bread “slices” generously with this olive oil mixture.
In assembly-line fashion, make 14 “piles” with each slice of cheese, topped with a thin slice of deli meat, then topped with a roasted red pepper slice or two (you could also add or substitute some chopped olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, etc. with or in place of the red pepper).
Bend each cheese slice “pile” as if you were going to fold it in half, and fit down in between your bread slices. Because several of the end slices are narrower, one “pile” is enough to fill them up. The wider middle slices will require two “piles” stuffed in between them. For the other slices, I stuffed one-and-a-half of the cheese “piles” in between them. If this sounds confusing, all you really need to remember is to stuff the bread slices with your piles of cheese and other goodies till your loaf is well-stuffed!
Bake your stuffed loaf on the baking sheet at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, and serve while warm! You can just pull the slices apart as you’re eating it, or cut them with a knife.

***I used 1/4 cup olive oil & a 1/4 cup red pepper olive oil which added a little heat to the appetizer.  We stuffed the bread once w/salami, mozz, provolone, and red peppers.  Another time we did provolone, mozz, sundried tomotoes.  It was tasty every time!!