Guest Post: Sweet Tater of My Dreams
Hi friends!
I’m here chilling at the Phoenix airport 🙂
A little later than usual posting today—I had to wake up early as ballz, took the shuttle to Phoenix –roomies ended up going late last night, so I waited until this morning to go- and met my nana and madre at the “love” Starbucks before catching the shuttle 😀
(J Crew denim blazer, wunder under crops, white tee = comfy travel outfit)
I’m about to eat a little sumthin’ sumthin’ and board the plane, but just wanted to say hi and post this very special [foodgasmic] guest post from my friend Mara.
**Craniums up: my blog schedule is going to be a little unique over the new few days with some very exciting re-caps thrown in 😉 It will be similar to our honeymoon posting schedule– so you can expect one awesome guest post and one post from myself each day 😀
See ya in Georgia!
xoxo
Gina
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Hi Fitnessista readers! I’m Mara, and I write a little blog called What’s For Dinner? which follows my adventures in cooking and baking. I’ve been a visitor here at The Fitnessista a couple other times, and I’m always so excited when Gina asks me to to post for her.
See, my husband isn’t exactly the most adventurous of eaters. Generally, I "play it safe" with a lot of my recipes, and leave out the things he won’t eat. Among the things he won’t eat are:
- mushrooms
- onions
- zucchini
- eggplant
- large pieces of tomato
- pickles
- squash
- dark chocolate
What’s really fun about doing a post for Gina is that it’s an excuse to cook something that I wouldn’t ordinarily make for just my hubby and I. I know that all of us Fitnessista readers have a love for food combinations that are not only healthy, but delicious. So, I told my husband that while our main dinner meal would be something I knew he’d like, the side dish? The side dish was going to be something more interesting because it was for Gina’s blog.
I put together a few of my favorite (and Gina’s favorite) ingredients:
And, I put them together in a most unexpected way. Usually, people associate "twice baked potatoes" with the rich and cheesy football-sized spuds that come with a meal at a fancy steak house. I took the twice baked potato into a whole new realm: meal-sized, Gina-fied eats.
Fun-Filled Fitnessista Spuds
Ingredients
- 3 large sweet potatoes (or 4-5 smaller ones)
- 4 ounces soft goat cheese
- 2 large onions
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Pierce the skin of the sweet potatoes, place them on a baking sheet, and bake until soft, about an hour. (Another option is to microwave the potatoes until cooked, but make sure to pop them in the oven so the skins get crispy.) While the potatoes are baking, peel the onions and slice very thinly. Slowly caramelize them in a pan in the oil. Salt the onions, and keep the heat low until the onions are very soft and browned. This may take up to about 30 minutes.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and slice about 1/2" off the longer side of the potato. Using a spoon, scoop the flesh into a mixing bowl, making sure to leave about 1/4" of the potato in the peel so it holds its shape. Set the skins aside. Using a hand blender or food processor, gently puree the potato flesh until smooth. Mix in the goat cheese and spices. Stir in the onions and pepper, and then fill the empty potato skins. Bake a second time on a baking sheet at 375 until the top of the potatoes are lightly browned and very hot.
Avoid eating directly off the baking sheet as you will burn your tongue.
Not that I tried or anything.
The best part about these? The husband ate them… onions and all.
Have you ever made a traditional dish "your own"?
42 Comments
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Have a safe flight!!! Love the travel outfit. I am all about the comfort when I fly 🙂
Great guest post. One after my own heart…sweet potatoes, goats cheese, carmelized onion. Seriously 3 of my favorite things in the world!
Girl, you couldn’t have picked a better travel outfit if you tried! The structure of a blazer plus the comfort of demin?! Be still my little JCrew heart 🙂
Nice! Love the recipe. Have a great trip Gina! 🙂
These sweet potatos sound amazing Mara! And very Gina-like too! I’m bookmarking this recipe for sure.
Safe travels Gina! I can’t wait for the exciting recaps! 🙂
Have a safe trip Gina!
Mara I love the idea of twice baked sweet potatoes — and the addition of caramelized onions? Holy cow. That sounds amazing!
that looks lovely mara!!! can’t wait to make it!
have a safe trip, have lots of fun!
its official, i’m having sweet potatoes for supper tonight again.
cute outfit – MUST have been early – the sun isn’t even up yet! Have a safe trip!
Hey Gina–have a fun, safe trip! 🙂
Is the Lulu auction going to be this Thurs (tomorrow) or next Thurs? I def wanna bid on something!
Next thurs 🙂
Safe travels Gina!!!!!!
Mara this looks amazing!! Yummy!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
I’m going to be traveling soon and totally copying your style! Where do you get wunder unders?
Fab travel outfit! I always look like a slob haha — sweatpants, tee shirt, sweatshirt that can be removed once you get on the plane and it’s 902 degrees. You pull off comfort way better than I do 😉
Have a safe flight Gina! Mara, you’re a genius! Those look amazing, and I might have to make a veganized version in the near future.
I would just use the tofutti cream cheese in place of the goat cheese!
Oooooh man, that looks amazing. Thanks for sharing, Mara! 🙂
No onions, eggplant or tomatoes?? My will to live would suffer!
It’s difficult, let me tell you. I make Ratatouille when I want him out of the house 🙂
Mara these look great and just *seconds ago* I published a Potato Themed Recipes Post. Nearly two years worth of my recipes that use potatoes..and then click here and bam, your beautiful tater recipe is staring at me. It looks great!
Gina, have fun in Phoenix!!!!!!!
🙂
Those sweet potatoes look wicked good.
Those potatoes look super yummy, Mara! Have a safe trip, Gina! 🙂
Hi Gina! I love early morning trips even though it sucks to get up early —something exciting about the need to get up b4 the sun. Have fun for us!
and sweet potatoes are THE BOMB in my book, and I scored a free rice cooker hand me down on craigslist and I can make em now again!
I make a wicked Irish Soda Bread that won an award! but it’s a hand me down recipe and wont be getting made by me this year in the rice cooker :p
Thanks for the guesting Mara
Have a safe trip, Gina. These taters look tasty. I haven’t met one I didn’t like.
OH MY…i have all the ingredients at home too! Yay…guess what’s for dinner?!?!?!? 🙂
can i come over?
Those look awesome!! Like as mix between potatoe skins and double baked. Yum!
Have a safe trip, Gina!
Hold up, a shuttle? Like shuttle from Tucson to Phx? Crying inside now for missing DT last week, I might forget all the dances by next week 🙁 Hurry back but happy travels Gina!!
yep, it was $37!! amazing!
we’ll have NEW dances next week for you to learn, too 🙂
Cute outfit Gina! Mara-these look absolutely amazing!!! I will definitely be fitting these into next week’s meal plan.
I really hope this is an extra *special* trip for youuu!
Is that love Starbucks where you met your pilot!? 😀
I’ll be waiting on the edge of my seat for your exciting posts!!! I have a feeling you’re going to have a crazy awesome trip. 😉
yep!!
These look amazing! My family sounds a lot like your hubby, so it’s always hard to come up with family dinners when I’m home from university. I bet they’d love these though! 😀
I hope your recap is that the pilot is back and you are REUNITED!! 😉 am I the only one thinking it’s time? You did just get your hair did last week haha
These sweet potatoes look delicious Mara!
Have a safe trip Gina – can’t wait to hear all about it. And, if you need any other guest posts, I’d be happy to help out. 🙂
So I made this recipe tonight and can i just say holy. foodgasm. They were super delicious and super filling (I had to save half of mine for my lunch tomorrow). I definitely added Mara’s blog to my google reader too after this post!
Thanks for being so awesome Gina! Have a good trip! 🙂
amazing- i’m even more excited to try them now!
So glad you liked them!! I swear, next time they’ll just be dinner 🙂
Yum! Great recipe!
Looks delicious!
And I though my Fiancé was a picky eater. You have your work cut out for you there! I love sweet potatoes, and fortunately I can persuade my fiancé to eat them. This recipe looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it!
I knew they were twice baked sweet potatoes! I love it!