Black Bean Smothered Sweet Potato

Smothered. Any dish with the word smothered has to be tasty, right.

A few weeks ago my sweet friend Emily (check out her and her husband's blog here) invited me along with some other girlfriends to join her on this cooking journey. You can read about it here on her blog. Of course I jumped at the chance. I love to cook new recipes and having something like this will be just the encouragement I need to actually do it and not get comfortable preparing the same 'ol thing each week. So here goes.

I love the Eating Well magazine- my lovely friend Maggie introduced it to me last year sometime, as she has prepared some delicious meals from here. Here is one that sparked my interest so much I just had to try it. Actually it is more of a consolidation than a recipe in my opinion.

Black Bean-Smothered Sweet Potatoes

Recipe from Eating Well
2 servings
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 medium tomato, diced
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation
1.Prick sweet potatoes with a fork in several places. Microwave on High until tender all the way to the center, 12 to 15 minutes. (Alternatively, place in a baking dish and bake at 425ºF until tender all the way to the center, about 1 hour.)
2.Meanwhile, combine beans, tomato, oil, cumin, coriander and salt in a medium microwave-safe bowl; microwave on High until just heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. (Alternatively, heat in a small saucepan over medium heat.)
3.When just cool enough to handle, slash each sweet potato lengthwise, press open to make a well in the center and spoon the bean mixture into the well. Top each with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro.

So I might not have followed it exactly; I like to add a little of this and a little of that to almost everything I fix.
To this recipe I added some kernel corn to the black bean/tomato mixture and instead of sour cream, we added some homemade guacamole and salsa.

I thought all the different flavors combined were great! And it made such a pretty plate- that is very important in my opinion.

If you would have followed the recipe as stated above- no extras- the nutritional information is below for your reference.

Nutrition.
Per serving: 351 calories; 7 g fat (2 g sat, 4 g mono); 6 mg cholesterol; 61 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 11 g protein; 12 g fiber; 468 mg sodium; 541 mg potassium.

Bon Appétit!