Baked Sweet Potatoes

There are very few things in life that excite me more than the following two things:

1) Husband cooking dinner

2) Vegetables that taste like dessert

This recipe and blog post involve both of those anomalies. Husb has been on a sweet potato kick lately. He found a simple recipe online and has made enough for a dinner and leftovers for him to take w/ him for lunch the past couple of weeks. I'm not a huge veggie fan, but these are seriously delicious! A vegetable that tastes like dessert = a bold statement coming from this sugar lover!

You'll need:

2-4 Sweet Potatoes (depending on how many you're cooking for)

Olive Oil

Dried Rosemary

Dried Oregano

Salt & Pepper... if you want

Husband w/ a cute backside (Don't have one of those handy? Bummer.)

With the skin still on (we're bein' healthy here, remember?) dice up your sweet 'taters into little cubes. Or if you are feeling like tricking someone into thinking they are fries, cut them so they look like french fries. It makes no difference what shape you choose.

Husb in the kitchen. Wearing J.Crew chino shorts. *sigh*

Sweet potatoes are ugly little suckers before they're cut up. But colorful!

Spread our your diced up sweet potatoes on a non-stick backing sheet or pan drizzled (generously) with olive oil. {This is 2 big, organic sweet potatoes... if you wanted an idea of how much 2 potatoes gets you!} When you are done chopping, drizzle a little more olive oil over top of the cut up sweet potatoes.

See the skin on? That's what gives them a little crunch!

Action shot! Can't take these when its just me in there cooking.

Sprinkle the dried rosemary, dried oregano and (optional) salt and pepper over the potatoes... and pop them in the oven! Bake at 325 degrees for about 30-40 minutes ~ the longer you bake them, the crispier they will get. This is just a matter of your preference, but we like them crunchy on the outside so we generally leave them in about 40-45 min.

Husb is the worst about remembering to pre-heat the oven. That was my job as sous chef!

Since these take a while to cook, husb usually whips up the main dish while they are baking. Some suggestions of meals to pair with these yummy little guys:

• Burgers (beef or bison)
• Turkey melts
• Steak
• Breaded chicken breasts
• Salmon
• Or, if you're weird like us... spaghetti! We did this on Sunday. Odd pairing, but still good.

When they are done baking, they will look something like this (hopefully)... Let them cool for 5 minutes or so before serving {learned this one the hard way this weekend. ouch.} and use a big spoon to sort of mix them all up before you remove them from the baking sheet. This will get all the seasonings and oil spread evenly over the sides that were facing down before baking.

With as good as these will taste, I promise you'll be shocked that they are among the very best vegetables to eat. "They're loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber" according to what I've read. Of course I had to research this wonder veggie after hubbs first made this recipe. This is one instance where something is too good to be true... but its true.

Healthy and nutritious does exist. 

I've seen the light... don't believe it? Then try this one out for yourself!