Tired of making baked sweet potatoes with the usual brown sugar and cinnamon? Try these hearty and festive stuffed sweet potatoes with seasoned black beans, fresh sweet corn, robust red peppers and sharp cheddar cheese. Perfect for a meatless Monday meal – just add a salad and you’re ready to go. Or make it vegan by eliminating the cheese. Whichever way you choose, you will never miss the meat!

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 4 large sweet potatoes
• 1 ear of corn
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ¾ cup red bell pepper, diced small
• ¾ cup sweet onion, diced small
• 1 can (15 oz.) seasoned black beans, rinsed and drained (I use Bush’s)
• ½ fresh lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Sea salt to taste
• Hot sauce to taste
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine, (plus more for garnish)
• ¾ cup or so of reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 3 green onions, chopped small (for garnish)
• Light sour cream (for garnish)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Scrub sweet potatoes and prick them a few times with a fork. Microwave for 7 minutes. Transfer to oven (I use my toaster oven) and bake for 20 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, boil corn for 8-10 minutes. I usually put a pinch of sugar in the water to bring out the sweetness of the corn. Once the corn is cool enough to handle, cut off the kernels.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and red peppers and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

Add the black beans, corn, spices, lime juice, hot sauce and salt and simmer for 5 minutes or so. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro.

Slice the top of the sweet potatoes, open them up and sprinkle with the cheddar cheese.

Top with the black bean mixture. Looks good enough to eat right now, doesn’t it? Just a couple more steps.

Sprinkle with more cheese and return to the oven. Broil for a couple of minutes until the cheese has melted. Garnish with green onions, sour cream and a few cilantro leaves.

This goes great with a nice tossed salad and a glass of good white wine.

Special thanks to my late grandmother, Mamma, for instilling a love of sweet potatoes in me. For other Mamma-inspired sweet potato recipes, check out a couple of my previous sweet potato posts: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili and Savory Sweet Potato Skins.

Bon appétit!

Eat, drink and be merry!

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