The most delicious sweet potatoes

Ok so this just happened and it was awesome.

I have always hated cooked orange vegetables. Give me a grated carrot any day of the week but cook it in any way and I won't touch it. I've had friends and family try to convince me by making them with sesame seeds and honey (so gross). 

Same goes for pumpkin and sweet potato. So it astounds me that I found 4 sweet potatoes in the fridge. They must have been selling at a great price or the fairies magic'd them in or something. 

Since so many people rave about them, I thought I'd give them another go. And if I didn't like them well I'd never put myself through it again! 

Sweet potatoes are now going to be a regular at our house. I feel like giving myself a bit of a slap for dissing them for so long. What an idiot!!  

Here's how I converted myself to a card-carrying sweet potato lover. I sliced one sweet potato into rounds and placed them into a large bowl. Was still not loving them at this stage. Even though they were begging me to. 

Then I added some olive oil, dried thyme, flaky sea salt and garlic cloves that were finely (ok, not that finely) diced. Using my hands I mixed it all together making sure I coated the sweet potato well. 

Then I laid the pieces of sweet potato on a baking tray lined with baking paper and baked them in the oven (200 degrees Celsius) for 30 minutes or so - until they were brown around the edges and soft when I poked them with a fork. 

Then I tried one. And they were outstanding! So so so so good that I ate the entire sweet potato. I drizzled some tahini lemon sauce I made earlier all over them and it was a match made in heaven. 

So good were they that I pulled another two sweet potatoes out of the fridge and made another batch which I will eat for lunch this week.  I'm cooking up a big batch of black beans which will go nicely with the sweet potato and tahini lemon sauce. 

So if you think you don't like sweet potatoes, give them another go.

Post-holiday smoothie

Our almost-two-full-weeks at the beach came to a sad end yesterday. We had perfect autumn Queensland weather with warm, sunny days. We spent our days by the beach, building sandcastles and splashing in the warm ocean. 

The downside to being on holidays was food related. For the first time in three months I strayed away from a pure plant-based diet by eating cheese and chocolate. I'm not going to beat myself up over this. So today I'm back to whole-plant based eating. 

And is there any better way to start then with a delicious smoothie? I'm desperate for some greens and usually I would as kale or baby spinach to my breakfast smoothie. But since we haven't done a grocery shop yet, I'm left with whatever is still viable after sitting in the fridge for 10 days. And that, my friends, was cos (romaine) lettuce. I pulled away the outer leaves which weren't looking too good and underneath there were crunchy lettuce leaves - perfect for a smoothie I get that this may seem a little strange to some of you (kinda like how lettuce soup seems a little weird) but rest assured, you don't even know that it is in there. 

I always try to have frozen bananas on hand, as well as bags of frozen fruit. I had medjool dates that I brought home with me from our holiday. So I blended frozen banana, frozen blueberries, two pitted medjool dates, a teaspoon of cacao, cos lettuce and 500ml (2 cups) of ice water. 

What a perfect start to a Sunday morning.  

INGREDIENTS:

• frozen bananas
• frozen or fresh blueberries
• 1 tbs of cacao
• handful of greens (baby spinach, kale, cos lettuce etc)
• 2 cups of water (add more or less depending on how thick you like it)

METHOD:

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. 

Edamame. That is all.

Since converting to a plant based diet in early January 2015, I have discovered so many new foods.  Instead of craving sugary, sweet snacks I now look forward to eating a variety of vegetables....yes, vegetables!

One of my favourite snacks is edamame.  Edamame are soy beans in the pod, usually available as a side dish in any sushi restaurant.  Not that I had ever eaten them when we went to get sushi. 

Now I cannot get enough of them!  I buy them at our local supermarket (in the frozen section), throw them in some boiling water for a few minutes.  They are already cooked so it's just about warming them through.  Then I squeeze fresh lemon or lime juice and add some cracked black pepper. 

Only the soy beans inside should be eaten as the pods are stringy and tough. 

They are a favourite for our kids too - such an easy and healthy snack for the whole family. So look out for them next time you are at the supermarket and pick up a bag (or 20).