Thursday, October 1, 2009

Kitchen Tip: Sweet Potatoes

I've been using sweet potatoes a lot more in cooking because they substitute well for pumpkin. Since Frog Prince is allergic to pumpkin, I've been able to enjoy my favorite fall foods by using sweet potatoes :) The texture is nearly the same, but the prep is a little different.



Normally, for pumpkin puree, all I did was open a can.

So, I had to learn how to prep a sweet potato.

There are two ways, that I've found to prepare sweet potato puree.

(1) Baking.  

First, scrub up that potato, and use a fork to poke holes in the potato.


Next, rinse the potato, and then, wrap it in tinfoil. Wrapping it while wet helps it stay moist during baking.


Bake the sweet potato at 350-375 for roughly an hour, or until sweet potato is tender. You might want to place the wrapped potato on a cookie sheet to prevent it from dripping into the oven. Sometimes, sweet potatoes are known to leak a bit.

Remove the potato from the oven and allow it to cool, still wrapped.

About 30 minutes later, unwrap the potato, and slice it in half. You should be able to scrape the potato out of the skin, and almost peel the skin off.

(2) Boiling.  

I've come to LOVE boiling sweet potatoes.  It's just easier... and the potatoes are so moist!

Scrub the sweet potato, and then plop them in a pot of water.  Bring that water to a boil and boil for about 20-25 minutes until the sweet potato is tender to the prick of a fork.

Remove the sweet potato from the water and place on a cutting board.  Allow it to cool for a little while, and you should be able to slice it open and scoop it out just as you would if you used the baking method.


MAKING PUREE:

Once you have your potatoes cooked -- scoop out the flesh and place it into a bowl or plastic container in which you can easily freeze or refrigerate your puree.   



Place the sweet potato into 1 C containers, and mash a bit with a fork.


Store in the fridge for up to 2-3 days, or freeze for later use.

Just before using, add a few tablespoons of water to the mashed sweet potato and stir to make a thinner puree.

Note: you do not need to add the water before freezing, just do so before using.  

This post is liked to:

10 comments:

  1. I had no idea that you could use sweet potato for pumpkin in a recipe! That's one reason I keep coming back here, you have some good information along with such tasty recipes!
    Love your blog!


    Your blog has been awarded! There is an award waiting for you on my blog http://www.pcgirl.net/blog/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, Ihad no idea you could be allergic to pumpkin. That would make me oh so sad...

    I do love sweet potatoes and we use them tons since they are potato-like but not actually in the potato family (morning glory family). I am diabetic so I cannot really eat lots of potatoes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love sweet potatoes and make them at least once a week. Fried, mashed or really anyway. I make them for the nutritionally value. I have low potassium levels and eating sweet potatoes is better than a big yucky pill. THANKS!!! Geri

    ReplyDelete
  4. hmmm, I just made sweet potato baby food puree. I think it would work too.
    Here's what I did.
    peel sweet potato and cut into peices.
    Place in steamer. (Mine is a stovetop one. You know put the steamer in the pot and put an inch of water in the bottom.)
    Steam for 12 minutes.
    Puree with fork or in a food processor. Add a little bit of the steaming liquid to get the right texture.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome! I didn't know they substituted well for pumpkin. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love sweet potatoes, and try to have a few bags of pureed sweet potatoes in the freezer to add to muffins or casseroles.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was just going to do a search for pumpkin recipes on your blog. I love pumpkin, but now I know that I could sub your sweet potato recipes for pumpkin. We also love Sweet potatoes but I always just cook them in the microwave, it takes about 5-8 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  8. We love sweet potatoes. In fact, my husband, a former sweet potato hater, now loves them more than white potatoes. You can also boil them unpeeled and then peel them after they are done.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm so glad you posted about this...I love pumpkin stuff and have noticed that the price on canned pumpkin has gone up quite a bit in my area. I knew sweet potatoes could be substituted, but I honestly just hadn't thought about it....so this is a great reminder! Can't wait to try the sweet potato chocolate chip bread! Sounds delish!

    ReplyDelete
  10. That is a wonderful idea! We don't have any issues with pumpkin, but good to know that there are other options....some people have mentioned shortage of canned pumpkin in the grocery stores (I haven't checked ours yet) due to all the rain this summer. So, sweet potatoes would be an excellent alternative! Thanks!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear from you; especially how you're finding JOY in your kitchen.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...