While October brings chilly weather, longer nights, and a lack of days off of school (I know no one can wait for our half day next Friday!), it does bring the wonderful sensation of autumn: leaves falling off trees in beautiful colors, Halloween, and a bunch of really delicious and healthy foods, including pumpkin, brussels sprouts, apples, and my all time favorite: sweet potatoes. This week I am making a super quick and easy meal that will fill you up for lunch or dinner and will give you amazing health benefits as well: baked sweet potatoes.

Typically you see baked sweet potatoes topped with calorie-filled butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, or any other sweet topping. However, we are going to make a sweet potato just as delicious, but much healthier. Our sweet potatoes are taking on a kind of Mexican theme, with beans, cheddar cheese, and our own homemade sour cream.

Sweet potatoes, in my mind at least, are the king of all fall foods. They are chock-full of vitamins B6, C, and D, which are all critical to your heart health and immune system. Also, sweet potatoes are a great source of magnesium, which is a relaxation and anti-stressing mineral—perfect for keeping our cool in school. These nutritional wonders can be made into almost anything in almost no time, so no excuses! You can season sweet potatoes with salt, pepper, and olive oil or peel, slice, and bake and you have delicious sweet potato fries! You can also pureé, grill, and roast sweet potatoes and add them to salads, soups, and sandwiches.

Another one of my favorite foods in this recipe are the black beans. All you have to do is open the can of beans and pop em’ in your potatoes (so easy, right?!?). I got Trader Joe’s organic black beans and I’m telling you they’re delicious! You probably won’t use the whole can of beans, so you can use the leftovers in a variety of different ways (all of them needing no prep to the beans): Add them to salads, sandwiches, soups and chilies, or just eat them plain. Like sweet potatoes, beans are super beneficial to keeping your heart healthy. They are full of magnesium, but also help keep your digestive system running smoothly and can lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

Usually, there is some prep needed before cooking anything, but that’s what I love about this recipe so much; you don’t need any prep!!! This recipe is very free form, so there aren’t any measurements, just use as much of any one ingredient as you like and vua-la! The sweet potatoes need to bake for about 40 minutes, so I would start making the other ingredients (beans, sour cream, and pumpkin seeds) around the 15 minute mark. The sour cream is made with greek yogurt, lime, and chili powder, and actually tastes much more flavorful than regular sour cream, not to mention it has a ton more protein, and a lot less fat. I used a one serving sized Fage plain Greek yogurt, the juice from a quarter of a lime, and about a 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder. All you have to do is mix it in a bowl and you’re all done! If you want your pumpkin seeds (which contain high amounts of magnesium and omega 3 fats) to be warm and toasty, you can stick them in the oven with your sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes, and their flavor becomes a little more potent. Also, if you are looking to add more flavor or protein to your dish, you can grill or sauté chicken strips and mix them with the beans before filling your potatoes. This recipe can be completed in under an hour and makes a super easy and extremely delicious and nutritional dinner for the fall. Enjoy!

Baked Sweet Potatoes:

Ingredients:

-Sweet potatoes (I used 3)

-Cheddar cheese

-Canned black beans

-pumpkin seeds

-chives

-Greek yogurt+chili powder+lime (sour cream)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Poke holes with a fork into your sweet potatoes and place them on a baking sheet, bake for 40-45 minutes—until they are tender when poked with a fork.
3. Slice open the potatoes once removed from the oven and mash them slightly with a fork.
4. Sprinkle cheddar cheese in the potatoes and put them back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese.
5. Add the beans and pumpkin seeds to your potatoes, and top with your homemade sour cream.
6. Mince a couple of chives and sprinkle them on top along with some chili powder.