Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The 90's are Over; Let's Eat Sweet Potatoes.

and if you're really enthusiastic about your sweet
potatoes you can buy this print here
First of all, I would like to give a giant thank you Colleen Wandel, owner of Say Ooh, for giving this fancy girl's blog a make-over. In addition to giving this blog a new face, this lovely lady also makes beautiful "pretty-enhancers" made from vintage lace, nightgowns, buttons, and feathers.  Be sure to stop by her shop and delight your fancy.

So, now that we've gone to Colleen's shop and browsed her pretty-enhancers, I am going to talk about a pretty-enhancer that you can eat.  Sweet potatoes.  When the 90's told us to stop eating potatoes, many of us lumped sweet potatoes into the same category and cut them out of our diets, only bringing them to the table on Thanksgiving.  Well, I'm here to tell you that we needn't pay heed to the 90's any longer.  Keep Weezer in your hearts and discard the rest--no more peace signs, no more giant cell phones, and no more strange diet fads that tell you not to eat sweet potatoes.  Not only are sweet potatoes good for you, make you look good, and taste so yummy, but they're only $0.69 per pound, which means we can afford them.

According to Alexander Page at Stuff You Should Know, one sweet potato can give you 40% of your daily intake of vitamin E.  Vitamin E both repairs and protects your skin.  Alexander Page says it so nicely that I'm just going to give you his explanation:

"Antioxidants are agents that neutralize the oxidant effect of free radicals, which are molecules that damage collagen and cause skin dryness, fine lines and wrinkles [source: Bouchez]. A simple chemistry lesson can explain how vitamin E does this. The atoms that comprise your body try to maintain an even number of electrons -- that's what makes them stable. If an atom has an uneven number of electrons, it will steal an electron from another atom to become stable. When your skin takes a beating from outside factors, such as the sun's ultraviolet rays, your body can produce free radicals. Free radicals are atoms with an uneven number of electrons, and when they form inside your body, they steal electrons from healthy cells like the ones that make up your skin. This can cause a damaging chain reaction, and that's where antioxidants like vitamin E come in [source: Rice]." [Alexander Page, Stuff You Should Know].


So, what I'm saying is that those of us who can't afford La Prairie's $1500 skin care line just need to go ahead and fork out 69 cents on a pound of sweet potatoes.

In addition to repairing your skin, sweet potatoes are rich in beta-carotine and vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.

I usually just bake my sweet potatoes, then dress them with some butter and cinnamon (preheat oven to 400 F, wrap your potatoes in foil, poke a few holes in them with a fork, and bake for about 40 min).  However, if we're feeling fancy, there are a few ways we can dress our potatoes for a meal worth talking about.

Following are 10 fancy and tasty sweet potato recipes:

1. Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Black Beans and Chili Dressing
2. Curried Sweet Potatoes
3. Sweet Potato Casserole
4. Scalloped Sweet Potato Stacks
5. Sweet Potato Mash
6. Sweet Potato Dauphinoise
7. Jamaican Sweet Potato Pone
8. Cuban Sweet Potato Salad
9. Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup
10. Baked Sweet Potato Falafel 








6 comments:

Rachel said...

So glad I saw this!! I didn't know you had a blog... it's no surprise though :) I look forward to reading them. Love sweet potatoes.... never listened much to the 90's about not eating them :) Thanks for the recipes. Will definitely give them a try. Love you!!

Lori said...

yummmmmmmmmmmm!!

Matilda Joyce said...

Hi! Just hit the "older post" link to see what else you've written about, and it sent me to Twitter.

Crystal said...

matilda, thank you for letting me know--very strange, indeed. I'll look into it. Were you able to get to older posts?
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Crystal said...

M--I think the problem has been fixed. Click away! Thank you for letting me know!

Lisa said...

Good selection of recipes, and you're dead right about the 90's vilification of poor sweet potatoes... let's bring 'em back to the table!

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