Loaded Sweet Potatoes (and a Killer Ground Beef Recipe)

While this recipe looks at sweet potatoes, the real star here is the ground beef in this recipe. I’ve tried this recipe out a few times, and finally decided to somewhat “wing it” without a list or real recipe (although I kept track of what I did and wrote it down). Previous times I’ve tried this, the vegetables I included release too much water and made the overall texture too watery. I think the quantities and types of vegetables here provides a perfect balance of vegetables and flavor/texture. Meat lovers will be satisfied with a good amount of ground beef, but there’s a lot of sneaky veggies in there too. If you really have someone who doesn’t like vegetables, I recommend 1) dicing the vegetables as small as possible, so they incorporate more into the meat and 2) not including the spinach, as it’s a bit more visible and “obvious” then the other vegetables.

What can you make with this beef other than sweet potatoes? I’ve done a similar take, but with nachos (add some guac, salsa, black beans, etc.) as well as with tacos (see below).

Loaded Sweet Potatoes

• Loaded Veggie Chili Ground Beef (see below)

• 10 small sweet potatoes or 5 large ones, split

• Toppings of your choice: Mine included shredded cheese, avocado, scallions, & some greek yogurt in place of sour cream

Preheat oven to 400. Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork about 10 times, evenly around. Wrap in foil tightly. Place in oven until soft to touch, about 40 minutes. I often check mine at about 25-30 just to be safe. Remove from oven and split in half. Add all toppings and serve.

Loaded Veggie Chili Ground Beef
Makes 10 servings

• heaping 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 3-4 carrots, diced

• 1 small or 1/2 large yellow onion, diced

• 2 green peppers, diced

• 2 small zucchini, diced

• 1 32 oz can diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes

• 2 pounds lean ground red meat (I used elk (90% lean) since it was available at the grocery store and looked good! I’ve used use beef and bison)

• 2 tablespoon chili powder

• 1 tablespoon paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning

• 1/2 teaspoon coriander

• 8 ounces spinach

In a large sauce pot, add olive oil and place on low to medium heat. Add carrots, onion, and pepper and saute until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add in ground beef and saute to brown the meat slightly, just for a few minutes. Add in tomatoes and all the spices. Stir to throughly combine. Simmer for 20ish minutes, until meat is fully cooked and the mixture has thickened a bit. Stir in spinach last minute. Let continue to simmer for just a few more minutes, until spinach has wilted. Serve.