Low Cal-High Fiber Sweet Potato Skins!

Today is the day, aka, my first Pinterest recipe attempt!!

I personally have an obsession over sweet potatoes. Not only are they low in calorie, but they also have a significant source of fiber and they provide, what I like to call, "healthy carbs."  But most importantly, they taste great! :) With this being said, I thought it would make perfect sense to kick start my Pinterest endeavors with a recipe that incorporated this oh so wondrous vegetable.

The Challenge (Insert Drum Roll Here): Sweet Potato Skins!

The inspiration for this dish came from Lindsay who writes her own food blog called, Pinch of Yum.
Here is what her recipe called for:

- 2 medium or large sweet potatoes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 shallot (minced)
- 1 bag of fresh spinach
- 1/4 cup of light sour cream
- 2 ounces of light cream cheese
- 1 cup of chickpeas
- 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

Her recipe sounds great, and I am so glad I got to use it as a guide for my own creation! I tweaked just a couple of the ingredients:

- I am not a huge fan of cream cheese or sour cream so I eliminated them from the recipe entirely. I was contemplating on using plain Greek yogurt as a substitute but decided against it once I sampled it with the rest of the ingredients.
- Instead of chick peas I used Great Northern Beans because, well, I forgot to buy chick peas on my daily trip to Kroger, and I had these beans in my pantry!
- In addition to the pinch of sea salt and pepper, I added garlic powder and just a dash of parmesan cheese to the top of the skins for an extra kick!

The Result: DELICIOUS! A success!! Check it out!

Want to try it for yourself? OF COURSE YOU DO! Here are the instructions that I followed from Lindsay with the addition of my tweaks:

Instructions:
1. Bake sweet potatoes at 350 for 45-60 minutes, or until fork tender. (The more thick the potato is the longer time it will need, mine took 70 minutes at 400 degrees!)
2. Cut sweet potatoes in half and let cool for 5-10 minutes. While they are cooling, saute the diced/minced shallots (red onion works too) with the butter over medium heat until translucent. Add fresh spinach and heat for 2-3 minutes, until spinach has cooked down. Set aside.
3. Scrape the sweet potato out of the peel, leaving a thin layer inside with the peel so that it can stand up on its own. Mash the innards of the sweet potato with the Great Northern Beans (1/4- 1/2cup), and stir in the spinach, shallots, sea salt (just a pinch), pepper, and garlic powder.
4. Coat potato skins with a drizzle of olive oil and bake for about five minutes to get a crispier outside (I did not add the oil and it turned out great, but it would definitely add even more flavor, not to mention a crunch!) Remove from oven and fill each skin with the sweet potato mixture and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake again for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and the filling is heated through.

This recipe definitely requires some time but it is so worth it. It is perfect for the family to enjoy on a Sunday evening :)

Hope you give it a try, if not, you do not know what you're missing!