Since I’ve cut out chocolate and unbeknown to me, increased my sugar intake ten fold! Ugh. I swapped from chocolate and sweet treats to tonnes of fruit! So this week I’ve been looking towards cutting back on my fruit intake and introducing more ‘sweet’ veggies into my diet.

That’s where this beautiful sweet potato gratin comes in. It’s going to add vegetables where I’d have substituted chips or even fruit. Now, don’t get this recipe confused.

Afterall, It’s not really recipe!

I am here to inspire you. It doesn’t need to be flashy, or complicated and it certainly doesn’t need to be expensive..It just needs to be healthy.

It’s all I ever ask of you! So no more excuses of “I don’t have time” or “We don’t have the money” or even “I don’t enjoy healthy food”. Sweet potatoes are quick, cheap and tasty, so having a healthy dinner or lunch just isn’t an excuse any more.

We eat sweet potatoes daily in my household, mostly mashed but we sometimes have them in wedges, baked. I needed something new! I bought some new Mini Casserole Dishes, how gorgeous are they? I thought for £1 they’re not bad and I can fill them with a tonne of different goodies, pie fillings, curries, stews.

What about sweet potato. There’s always room for a ‘weetie tato’

As always, I like to make my recipes as simple and as easy to follow as possible so people at all kitchen skill-levels can get involved and eat something healthy.

 

For 1 portion they’re only 112 calories that’s;
0.1g of fat! 5g of natural sugar, 4g Fibre, 2g Protein per serving along with Vitamins* A, B-6 and Magnesium!

Or ; 1 Slice of bread, 1 takeout coffee, a large banana,  What does 100 calories look like?

Along with these being healthy and amazingly tasty, they’re also packed full of fibre, protein and sweet enzymes, the good stuff, that gets your brain working!

*Vitamin A is 360% of your RDA! The vitamins I’ve included show upto 20% of your RDA per portion, however there are tonnes of other benefits in sweet potatoes!

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The best thing is you can swap out any your starchy sides for sweet potato, from pasta and cous-cous to rice sides and even chips! Sweet potato covers all the basis and stops any cravings you might have for the ‘naughty’ hit you’d normally get from chips.

So, I’ve baked mine for a crispy top and soft centred side-dish but you can eat sweet potato;

• layered with tomatoes and basil, as a lasagne
• Mashed as a side, or as a topping to your Shepard’s pies!
• Chipped, wedged and baked.
• Crisped, Slice them thinly and pop into the oven on high!

They’re so versatile!

Remember, this isn’t a recipe. (I’m not that crazy to have written up a recipe for a sweet potato). This is just a healthy and inspirational alternative to your junk-food sides! 

So what do you think? Will you be adding sweet potatoes to your shopping list?