With this being Valentine’s Day it’s fitting that we talk about one of my most beloved foods.
I’ve always enjoyed putting sweet potatoes on the dinner table but since I’ve gone Paleo, these nutrient-rich tubers are featured menu items at my house more often than ever.
Sweet potatoes are much more nutritious than plain old white potatoes. They are lower in calories and higher in all of the good things. Sweet potatoes are rich in Vitamin A (one cup gives you 438% of your daily recommended amount) and Vitamins B3, B5, B6, C, and E.
There are several more reasons why I choose sweet potatoes over white potatoes…
Beta-carotene. Orange-fleshed varieties of sweet potatoes are packed with beta-carotene.
Antioxidants. Sweet potatoes are strong cancer fighters because of the antioxidants they contain. But purple-fleshed varieties are especially powerful with their high amounts of peonidin and cyanidin with their powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. (If you can find purple-fleshed sweet potatoes you must try them! Yum yum!)
Minerals. Sweet potatoes are a great source of tryptophan, manganese, potassium, protein, folate, copper, calcium, and fiber.
Make sweet potatoes’ health benefits even sweeter
Adding 3-5 grams of fat to your sweet potato helps the body make better use of all that beta-carotene. So go ahead and add some olive oil or butter to your mashed sweet potato!
Top tip
Baking in the skins is the best way to retain all those nutrients in sweet potatoes but do you ever find yourself lacking an hour before dinner to bake those potatoes? Well, did you know you can prepare sweet potatoes in the slow cooker? This is a wonderful little trick especially if you like eating sweet potatoes for breakfast like I do. All you need to do is wash a few sweet potatoes and put them in the crock pot on low for 6-7 hours. Done!
For more great ideas for using sweet potatoes, check out Dinner Answers! Find out more here!
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You can steam them quickly too.
Put in micro steamer for twenty minutes…yummy
Once the sweet potato is baked in the crockpot, how long does it last in the fridge? Between hubby and I we can eat a sweet potato each daily (so yummy!), but baking 5-7 at a time makes so much sense and saves time later in the week.