Kale and White Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes & Caramelized Turnips

 
My apologies for being absent!! I was on a wonderful and relaxing beach vacation - and I incidentally took a vacation from this blog (oops)! So, back to business...

Before I left, I made a delicious, healthy and vegetarian meal. Although I'm not vegetarian, I do enjoy finding dishes that are filling and well-balanced while being meat-free. This meal, adapted from this and this recipe, was great!

Kale and White Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

(Yields 2 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 shallot, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 4-inch sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 10 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 bunch of kale
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Thoroughly wash sweet potatoes then prick them multiple times with a fork
3. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and cook for 1 hour (or until soft all the way through the potato)
4. When the potatoes have been cooking for 40 minutes, thoroughly wash and dry kale. Remove stems. Chops leaves into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside 
5. Heat deep pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add small amount of olive oil (enough to coat pan)
6. Add shallots and cook for about 5 minutes, or until shallots are softened
7. Add garlic and rosemary and cook for about 1 minute
8. Add beans and cook for another 5 minutes
9. Add kale, cover pan, and cook for about 5 minutes or until kale is soft
10. Remove rosemary sprig. Season kale and bean mixture with salt and pepper
11. Remove cooked sweet potatoes from oven. Slide each potato lengthwise and push open to make room for the kale and bean mixture
12. Spoon the kale and bean mixture into the sweet potatoes

Here is the kale and bean mixture before I added it to the sweet potato:

 
And here is the finished product:


I also caramelized diced turnips to eat with the stuff sweet potato. I never eaten or cooked with turnips before, so I did some research before cooking them. Turnips are a root vegetable with edible greens (although I didn't eat the greens, just the root). Turnips are relatively mild and can range in color; mine were a bright red/pink color! Here is a picture of my turnips before I peeled and cooked them:

Caramelized Turnips

(Yields 2 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups diced turnips
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 chicken bouillon cube (use vegetable bouillon if you're keeping this vegetarian. Alternatively, use seasoning a skip the bouillon!)
• 1/2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. white sugar

 Directions:

1. Thoroughly wash turnips then peel and dice them
2. Place turnips, water and bouillon cube into a small pot over medium heat
3. Simmer turnips about 15 minutes or until turnips are tender and water has evaporated
4. Stir in butter. Once butter is melted, sprinkle sugar onto turnips and cook about 10 minutes or until turnips are sticky and coated 

Here are the finished turnips - I love the color!


  
Enjoy and thanks for reading!