What's Cookin' Wednesday - a very yummy veggie dinner :-)

Hi friends! While I'm recuperating from carpal tunnel release surgery, I thought I'd share a dinner from my files that I really loved. And unlike most of what I've shared so far, this is quite a healthy dinner, too! Although I'm not a vegetarian, I adore vegetables. We skip the meat at dinner quite often.


The main dish was a Savory Indian Sweet Potato from my all-time favorite vegetarian cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. I'll share this particular recipe at the end of this post.


The salad was also from the cookbook and is one we have often - although usually we just do lettuce and/or spinach, avocado and olive oil. In the cookbook's version, you mince some garlic into the bowl and combine it with the olive oil, then add the greens, avocado and also fresh grapefruit sections. It is so delicious!

I rounded out this plate with a bit of cut mango. It was some of the yummiest mango I've had outside of Malaysia - perfectly ripe and juicy. Yum! Do you know how to eat a mango? I find the "meaty" sides of it and cut them off (there's a long thin pit in the center of the fruit), and then slice it into squares right inside the skin. These are just cut off at the base and popped into my mouth, er... I mean... placed on the plate. :-)


And finally, the recipe for the sweet potatoes. The only thing I did differently was sprinkle some cilantro on at the end. Because everything is better with cilantro...!! (ok not EVERYTHING, but A LOT of things...)

Savory Indian Sweet Potatoes
2 large sweet potatoes
1 cup diced onions
1/3 cup water, unsweetened apple juice, or orange juice
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 small fresh green chili, seeded and minced
2/3 cup diced red and/or green bell pepper
3 tablespoons Neufchâtel (low-fat cream cheese)
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh or slightly thawed frozen green peas
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Bake sweet potatoes at 400 degrees F for about 1 hour, or until tender. While potatoes bake, combine onions and water or juice in a medium saucepan. Cover and simmer until onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, cumin, chili, and bell pepper. Cover and simmer until pepper is tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Cut Neufchâtel into small pieces and stir it into hot vegetable mixture to melt. Set aside.

Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Hold each potato half with a heavy towel or mitt in one hand and scoop out the flesh with a spoon, leaving 1/4-inch shell. Mix potato flesh with vegetable-cheese mixture. Add lemon juice, peas, salt, and pepper.

Lower oven temperature at 350 degrees F. Stuff potato shells with filling. Place potatoes in prepared dish, cover and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until thoroughly heated.

And now I am officially hungry.