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
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Loaded Veggie Chili Ground Beef (see below)
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10 small sweet potatoes or 5 large ones, split
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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
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heaping 1 tablespoon olive oil
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3-4 carrots, diced
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1 small or 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
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2 green peppers, diced
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2 small zucchini, diced
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1 32 oz can diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
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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)
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2 tablespoon chili powder
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1 tablespoon paprika
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1/2 teaspoon garlic
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1 teaspoon salt
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1 teaspoon cumin
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1 teaspoon italian seasoning
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1/2 teaspoon coriander
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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.
I don’t think I’ll ever go back to making ground meat the old way. Adding the veggies made it so much more dynamic – and pairing with a sweet potato was the perfect combo. Easy and delicious. And with so many variations to build into this, I will definitely be using this again.
So happy to hear you liked it! And yes I ALWAYS add veggies! It’s so easy to!