Sweet Potaters

I made these wonderful veggie burgers the other night. And as I was cutting up the beets, I was just overcome with how beautiful they were. If I were a better blogger, I would have taken a picture. But I'm not, which is why Reece Witherspoon will never play me in a movie. Ha! Anyway, I was going to write a Vegetable of the Week post about beets, but then I realized I already did. That's how much I love beets.

So, instead I'll talk about the side dish - sweet potato fries. If you want the burger recipe, you can find it here. It's somewhat time consuming but mega yummy!

Sweet potatoes are a fabulous source of Vitamins A and C. They also contain a good amount of fiber, Vitamin B6 and iron. They also have great antioxidant properties and help control blood sugar! Plus they're sweet and yummy - even without all the gooey stuff people put on top of them at Thanksgiving.

When my babies were baby food age, one of my favorite (and their favorite) foods to make for them was to bake a sweet potato until soft, then mash it with some breastmilk - one small sweet potato made a billion servings of baby food. Okay, maybe not a billion, but a LOT. I just froze them in little single-serving plastic jars.

My all-time favorite sweet potato recipe is from Gourmet magazine, and it's how my mom makes them.

Whipped Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

5 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 8 large), scrubbed
1 1/2 to 2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce*, minced and mashed to a paste (about 1 tablespoon)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

Preheat oven to 450°F. and line a baking sheet with foil.

Prick potatoes and bake in middle of oven 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until very soft. Cool potatoes until they can be handled and scoop flesh into a bowl. With an electric mixer beat potatoes with chili paste, butter, and salt and pepper to taste just until smooth and spread in a buttered 2-quart shallow baking dish. Potatoes may be prepared up to this point 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring potatoes to room temperature before proceeding.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake potatoes in middle of oven until hot, 20 to 25 minutes.

I also love sweet potato fries. If you live in Little Rock, you must try them at Gadwalls Grill. I'm still working on recreating the dip they serve with theirs - I'm guessing honey, brown sugar, and water and something else? Yum!

To make sweet potato fries at home, I simply cut the sweet potatoes (2 large ones make enough for our family of four) into strips, then put them into a gallon sized ziploc bag with a little olive oil and some cinnamon and sea salt and shake to mix. I spread them single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a 425 degree oven for about half an hour, flipping halfway through.

You know what else is sweet? This