Chef Creations: Sweet Potato Boats, never heard of them but they were delicious!

We decided to try recreating a recipe Stephen saw on Instagram from someone he follows. We saw a great looking dish which combined meat, sweet potato, and salsa. We made them in two different formats to see how they would work out.

Since Stephen had just made some boudin balls and remoulade sauce, he decided to scoop out some of the sweet potato, break apart a boudin ball, and top it with remoulade sauce. I decided to try ground buffalo spread over a sweet potato, and covered with salsa. Both were delicious, I just think Stephen added too much remoulade sauce and might need to back down the amount next time not to overpower it.

Sweet Potato Boat with Buffalo & Salsa

Makes 2 servings

Nutritional Facts (per 1 serving):

155 Calories, 2g Fat, 35mg Cholesterol, 433mg Sodium, 601mg Potassium, 23g Carbs, 5g Fiber, 

8g Sugars, 14g Protein, 325% Vitamin A, 28% Vitamin C, 4% Calcium, 12% Iron

Ingredients:
1 large Sweet Potato
3 oz. Ground Buffalo
2 Tbsp. Salsa

Steps:

1. Cut a large sweet potato in half.

2. Bake the two halves in the oven to soften the potato.

3. Remove from oven and scoop out some of the middle.

4. Heat up 6 oz. of ground buffalo. Cover each half with 3 oz. of ground buffalo.

5. Top each half of boudin with one tablespoon of salsa.

Sweet Potato Boat with Boudin & Remoulade Sauce

Makes 2 servings

Nutritional Facts (per 1 serving):

214 Calories, 15g Fat, 14mg Cholesterol, 145mg Sodium, 318mg Potassium, 15g Carbs, 3g Fiber,

5g Sugars, 7g Protein, 245% Vitamin A, 32% Vitamin C, 4% Calcium, 4% Iron

Ingredients:
1 large Sweet Potato
2 2 oz. Boudin Ball
1 Tbsp. Remoulade Sauce

Steps:

1. Cut a large sweet potato in half.

2. Bake the two halves in the oven to soften the potato.

3. Remove from oven and scoop out some of the middle.

4. Heat up two boudin balls. Break apart two boudin balls and spread across each half.

5. Top each half of boudin with one tablespoon of remoulade sauce.

Celebrating National Food Holidays

I was reading this post at Life's a Bowl when I learned that it's National Pancake Week! I mentioned this in yesterday's post, but today Stephen and I finally made the protein pancakes we've been planning to make for weeks.

PB2 Banana Protein Pancakes:

Ingredients:
1/2 c oats
1/2 c egg whites
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (we used Jillian Michael's Vanilla Creme Shake)
1 mashed banana
2 tbsp PB2 powder
splash unsweetened almond milk

These were amazing! Nice and fluffy (I read that sometimes protein pancakes are anything but), topped with 100% pure organic maple syrup and and fresh fruit (blackberries and strawberries for me, blackberries and blueberries for Stephen. We are slightly obsessed with berries at the moment).

In case you're curious, I also firmly believe that National Pancake Week calls for these Salted Caramel Pancakes (also from Life's a Bowl). If only I had the sugar-free salted caramel Torani syrup...

Today is also National Cook a Sweet Potato Day. Stephen and I are obsessed with roasted chipotle powder sweet potatoes, so cooking a sweet potato was not. a. problem!

Prepping sweet potatoes and having an appetizer.
We were hungry post-workout!

Well, not a problem until I burned them! My mom called, so I got distracted :/ 

Good thing it's National Cook a Sweet Potato Day,
not National Eat a Sweet Potato Day!

Since we're on the topic of national food holidays, Stephen's birthday is National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day. He's stoked! Me? I'm kinda meh. Definitely feeling National Pancake Week and National Cook a Sweet Potato Day instead.

I don't have a national food day on my birthday, March 10. Should we make one? How about National Mushroom Day? National Biscoff Spread Day? What does it say about me that these are the two days I  choose for my birthday-meets-national-food-holiday day? 

I had way to much fun reading Allison's post. Clearly.

Question: What's your favorite food holiday? Is there one on your birthday?

Food Prep Monday

Today, Stephen and I had a cooking marathon. We decided to prep food for the week. This is something I've done quite often before, but today was the first time we've prepped together.

So, what was on the agenda? Chicken breasts seasoned with a local spice blend and cooked on the George Foreman.

Sweet potatoes roasted in the oven with salt and chipotle chile powder. Our latest obsession, but that's another post.

And a few other miscellaneous items: roasted asparagus, brown rice, brown lentils, hard boiled eggs, black beans, steamed broccoli (to eat with dinner tonight).

Brown lentils, hard-boiled eggs, roasted asparagus.
Yes, that lid is too big for the pot...
We make do around here

We also had a kitchen failure, but that's another post.

What do we intend to do with all of this food? Well, we are Catholic kids, so that means no meat on Wednesday or Friday. For my part, I fully intend to have rice bowls with some combination of brown rice, lentils, sweet potatoes, and black beans... quite possibly topped with some Greek yogurt. Also, mashed avocado and alfalfa sprouts on whole-wheat toast, maybe with some tuna.

I can't speak for carnivore Stephen.

Of course, we couldn't have done all of this without quite a large grocery trip. We spend about $150 (which is ridiculous for two people, we know), but we were literally out of everything. Seriously... bare fridge and pantry. We forgot to take pics of our grocery haul (again, we'll get better at this whole "we are bloggers" thing), but a few highlights are chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, asparagus, avocados, hummus, tomatoes, broccoli, local whole wheat bread, cage free eggs, turkey sausage, alfalfa sprouts, cantaloupe... yeah, that list could go on forever.

Now, we have a beautifully stocked fridge.

Prepped fruit, veggies, and meals;
almond milk, nut butters, Greek yogurt...

What was for dinner tonight? Well, you'll see...

His and hers, anyone?

Guess which plate is mine? You're right; the top left: brown rice with sriracha, grilled chicken, broccoli with lemon--all with a delicious Passion Tea Lemonade. Stephen had grilled chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, pretzels(?!), barbeque sauce, and broccoli with cheese (which, by the way, he didn't eat... I'm really trying with the whole "you have to eat your vegetables" thing). With a Coke Zero.

Do you meal prep? What are some of your go-to staples?