Snow and Sweet Potatoes

It has been snowing ALL day long. I somehow woke up at 8 am (even though it's a snow day) and it was already snowing then. When I moved to Charlottesville, I figured I would be safe from the snow. Definitely not the case. At least not this year. But that's okay - as long as I don't need to go anywhere, I am completely content. I've been sitting in my pjs all day, watching tv. By the time dinnertime came around, I figured I should do something productive. I have a lot of cooked sweet potato leftover from my burritos the other day, so I really wanted to use that up. Of course, I didn't find anything dinner-related to make with it. But I did decide to make a sweet potato casserole. While this was cooking, I made a frozen Indian dinner from Trader Joe's with some naan - delicious.

I can't wait until Charlottesville gets a Trader Joe's! I heard it's still a few years away though...
But back to the recipe - it's another weird flavor combination using sweet potatoes. If you don't like sweet potatoes, you won't like this recipe! And another warning - it is much better at room temperature. I tried some right when it came out of the oven and wasn't impressed. But after an hour or two, it's much better! So this isn't one of the best things I've ever made. But I think it was a good use of leftovers.

Sweet Potato and Banana Casserole:
Ingredients:
1 MASSIVE sweet potato, cooked and mashed (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups)
2 medium-large bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup skim milk
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 inch piece of ginger - grated
Cinnamon sugar
1/4 cup raisins

Directions:
Pretty simple - mix all of the ingredients together from the sweet potato to the ginger. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease an 8x8 glass baking dish. Pour the mixture into the dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and the raisins. Cook for about 30 minutes, until set. Let cool before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

* Update: After refrigerating overnight, it is delicious! This should definitely be served cold.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos

This is one of my first successful recipes, back in undergrad. I try to make these burritos every winter now, and freeze them so I can have a quick lunch or dinner. I usually try to double or quadruple the recipe so I can have a lot stocked up in the freezer. This time I must have used much smaller tortillas since I had a TON of the filling leftover. Not to worry - I used it as a dip and ate it with endive leaves.
The flavor combination sounds a little strange, but I promise - it's so good! When I freeze them, I take them out individually and either cook it in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or thaw it in the fridge and give it a quick toast.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos: (adapted from SparkPeople)
Ingredients:
Half a large sweet potato
Olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Half an onion, diced
1 tsp cumin
hot pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup black beans (drained and rinsed if from a can)
2 wedges light garlic & herb laughing cow cheese
2 tortillas


Directions:
Bake or boil the sweet potato in its skin until soft. While doing this, heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the onion and spices - cook until the onion is translucent.
When the sweet potatoes are cooked, let cool slightly and then remove from peel and mash.
Add black beans and cheese to the onion mixture - mash until creamy.
To assemble: heat tortilla between two paper towels for 20 seconds. Spread some of the sweet potato on, and then add some of the bean mixture. Try to add it in a line down the center. Don't over-fill or it won't close!
To fold: Fold in the two edges perpendicular to the line you created. Then roll in the other direction. I'm sorry if this is hard to understand - I'll try to put up pictures diagraming this at some point. At this point, either put it in the oven to reheat and toast, or roll them up in foil and stick in the freezer. Make sure you wrap them really well and put in a freezer bag.