Not eating grains could lead me to feeling deprived but not when I feast on plenty of potatoes, sweet potatoes and squashes. There are many c varieties of each and they take on a plethora of flavours depending on how they are prepared.

Tonight I wanted a simple baked sweet potato but I decided once it was cooked to spoon out the flesh, mix it with cashew nut ‘cream cheese', salt, pepper and peas. I served it alongside a simple salad made of julienned carrot, radish, cucumber and chopped fresh coriander, mint and parsley topped with sliced scallions and topped with honey lime dressing.

Sweet Potato Boats

Ingredients

1 medium sized sweet potato (the orange variety)

2 tbs cashew nut ‘cream cheese’ (for recipe see blog dated 9 February 2022)

1 cup frozen or fresh peas

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 200c. Scrub a sweet potato and remove any blemishes on the skin. Place in a small baking dish lined with baking paper and pierce in several places with a fork or knife to allow the steam to release during cooking. Bake in the oven for an hour. When done, put a fork in the sweet potato; it should go in easily. If needed, increase the baking time.

Five minutes before the sweet potato is done, saute the peas on a ceramic non stick pan with a pinch of salt and fresh pepper until the peas are defrosted or just cooked. Remove and put to the side.

When the sweet potato is cooked, cut in two lengthwise. Carefully spoon out the flesh in to a bowl keeping the skin in tact as best you can. Add the ‘cream cheese, salt and pepper and mash the flesh. Mix the peas through and spoon back in to the sweet potato skins.