You’ll never believe it but one of my goals this year is to eat more carbs! It actually started last year, but since I identify as such a meat and veggies girl, this is something that I don’t automatically think to do.
(And yes, I know veggies are carbs too). But I’m talking about starchier carbs. 🤯
Before you get too excited for me, I’m still planning to be gluten-free, and I won’t suddenly be eating a lot of grains, but what I want more of are butternut & acorn squash (any squash really), and root vegetables like carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes and cassava.
As far as regular potatoes go, I’ll be choosing small, little fingerling multi-colored potatoes, which are much better in terms of nutrient density, they’re less starchy and have a lower glycemic index.
Note: You can jump to the end if you just want to know how I cook my sweet potatoes but don’t care why I eat them. I won’t be offended.
Root vegetable are low lectin, complex carbs that are going to fuel my body with a mega-dose of nutrients. They are very supportive, and they’re grounding, and they’re calming, and they support endocrine function, your hormone function, especially the adrenal glands.
This is especially important if you have a stressful life (don’t we all?). You could be thinking that you have energy, but you’re living off of stress hormones. The more stress that we have, the more well-cooked, balanced meals that we need, with clean animal protein and complex carbohydrates like root vegetables.
So my goal is to make 25% of my plate high-quality starch. I’m also working on getting my veggies to fill half my plate, which I probably find easier…
My favorite in this category are sweet potatoes. They are prebiotic retrograded starches, which means that when you cook and cool them, they turn into resistant starch and are great for your hormones. 😅 Hello leftovers! 🙌🏽
They are never not delicious. The fact that they are so helpful is just icing on the cake. Sometimes I try to get creative with them but generally there really are only three ways I cook them: baked, hash or pureed. Twice baked sweet potatoes are DELICIOUS but I don’t have time to bake anything twice unless it’s a holiday. 😎
Here are the super easy ways I cook my sweet potatoes.
Pureed – If I’m not baking my sweet potatoes, I’m steaming them. Steaming takes a while but I can’t bear the thought of boiling them. It seems like such a miscarriage of justice. So I steam them and mash them in my potato ricer. Add a little coconut milk and sea salt and mix it. You can add more or less coconut milk depending on the consistency you want. Sometimes I add organic butter or UMAMI Jerk or The Stardust. It really just depends on what I’m feeling like or what I’m having them with.
Baked – Wash potatoes and cut in half lengthwise. I try to buy similar sized, medium size potatoes so that they cook evenly and don’t take forever. Melt a little organic butter or coconut oil in a pan. Rub the cut side in it and then season that same side with sea salt. Cook cut side down on 400° for about 40 minutes, or until the cut side starts to caramelize and a knife slides through easily. The simplicity of this recipe doesn’t prepare you for how good they taste. 🤤
Hash – This one might be my favorite (it’s a toss-up between this and the baked 🥰). Peel and cut sweet potatoes into ½” – ¾” cubes (It’s easier to cut the potato in half lengthwise so that it lays flat before you try to cube it. The cubes don’t have to be perfect either). Put them on to steam. While they are steaming, chop an onion and a yellow or red pepper and sauté lightly in a little coconut oil or butter. I prefer the veggies to be a little on the firmer side, as it provides a nice contrast to the softness of the potato. Season your sauté with The Hot Mexican to taste. Yes, taste it. I prefer to season and taste before I put the potato in so that I don’t make everything mushy by stirring it too much. Once you are happy with the flavor, fold the potatoes in and serve. So good. (You get bonus points if you sprinkle with chopped, fresh parsley.) You can eat the leftovers for breakfast. 🤗
As you may have noticed, I am a fan of butter on sweet potatoes (it’s so good), but quality matters. I talk more about fat in these two blogs. The Lowdown on Fat Part I and Part II. 🙈🙉🙊