My name is Georgina and I love potatoes - all potatoes and cooked in every sort of way!
For many of my fad dieting years, potatoes were off the menu, they were put into the ‘foods I must avoid’ category with no logic, education or understanding as to why but I can tell you that I missed them every single time I banned myself from eating them!
Potatoes are not ‘bad’, they aren’t to be avoided and you can happily enjoy them whilst eating healthily and losing weight too (if that is one of your goals!).
I love all potatoes and many a meal each week has some form of potato within – they are so incredibly versatile as well as being cost effective!
For this week’s blog, I’m focussing on the sweet potato, one of my favourite recipes and a few other ways to enjoy this extremely healthy vegetable!
The sweet potato - why is it so good for you?
- Sweet potatoes do count as part of your ‘5 a day’ as per the NHS website (regular white potatoes don’t count!)
- They are classed as a superfood
- They are high in fibre and good for your digestive system
- They contain slow releasing carbohydrates so can help maintain steady blood sugar levels
- They are an excellent source of beta-carotene which helps boost your immune system, protect your skin and good eye health and vision
- They are high in vitamin C (a medium sweet potato contains almost all of your daily Vitamin C requirements)
- Eating the skin is very good for you – its packed full of nutrients so just give it a scrub and enjoy!
Recipe for sweet potato crust quiche - serves 4
Ingredients for the crust
- 1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes (peeled or unpeeled)
- Low calorie spray oil
- A large flan dish or any oven proof baking dish
For the filling
- 4 eggs
- Half a small pot of fat free cottage cheese
- A tin of tuna in spring water or brine
- 1 red onion, sliced
- A couple of mushrooms, sliced
- A pepper, chopped
- 80g of reduced fat cheddar, grated
How to make the crust
Step 1
- Preheat your oven to 190°C / gas mark 5
- Slice your potato into rounds.
I actually bought a white flesh sweet potato for the first time ever (completely surprised me to be honest!)
Step 2
Spray your flan dish with low calorie spray oil and then cover the bottom and the sides with the sweet potato discs. It’s best to overlap them as they do shrink a bit when cooked and don’t worry if you do have small gaps
Step 3
Place in the oven for 25 mins – keep your eye on it as you don’t want the potatoes to catch.
You can carefully move any pieces to cover any large gaps which may have formed if your potatoes have shrunk!
Prepare your filling
- Slice up your vegetables (you don’t need to precook them)
- If you are adding any meat, that would need to be pre-cooked
- I used tuna so drain that if needed (I love the no-drain stuff which I buy at Costco)
- Beat your eggs and mix in the cottage cheese. I used 4 large eggs, depending on the size of your dish, you may need to add more as you need to ensure that your filling is covered.
Add your filling mix to the flan dish
Pour over the eggs and cottage cheese mixture (you can add an extra beaten egg at this stage if you need to)
Place in the oven for about 30 minutes
Sprinkle over the cheese and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes until the cheese has melted and browned.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before slicing and enjoying!
I served a quarter of the quiche with a lovely salad for lunch.
The quiche will keep in the fridge for a couple of days so its a perfect meal to cook for lunches for a few days and its equally as nice hot or cold (I actually prefer it cold).
It’s a very filling meal as the quiche is packed full of protein (eggs, cottage cheese and depending what filling you add) as well as lots of fibre and goodness from the sweet potato and the added vegetables!
Some of my other favourite sweet potato dishes
Sweet potato jacket potato
Ideal for a quick and easy filling lunch – simply put your sweet potato in the microwave for about 6 minutes, turn and cook for another 6 minutes (adjust according to the size of your sweet potato but they take less time than a standard white jacket potato to cook).
I served this lunch with a big salad and some fat free cottage cheese.
Sweet potato pancakes
One of my new favourite breakfasts (also delicious as snacks too). I’ll most likely be enjoying these on 1st March as my breakfast on Pancake Day.
Very simple to make – peel and roughly chop your sweet potato and steam until soft (only takes a few minutes). Mash with a potato masher and add in 1 large egg (or 2 small ones) and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder. Spray a large non stick frying pan with low calorie cooking spray and spoon dollops of the mixture into the pan, flatten with the back of a spoon and cook for about 5 minutes each side.
I also love sweet potato chips, sweet potato mash, sweet potato curry and am yet to try sweet potato brownies at home but I’ve heard great things about them too!!! What’s your favourite sweet potato dish? I’m always interested in trying new recipes or getting your feedback on any of my dishes so I’d love to hear from you!
Oh Thanks George, sounds delicious!! I had pease pudding quiche on the menu this week but, as is often at th moment, it was not available. This will make a fab substitute! X
I actually found some pease pudding in my cupboard the other day and was contemplating making a pease pudding crust this week but my lunch guest didn’t like peas so I’m saving them for maybe next week! This one is a great alternative and really tasty – I hope you enjoy!
I like sweet potatoes and I’ve got a couple so will make good lunches at the weekend !!! Thanks 🙏 xx
I hope you enjoy, do let me know what you think!
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