Tink's Baked Sweet Potato and Pixie Dust

Ok, so I'm a glutton for Once Upon A Time. It's definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. This season has a special focus on Peter Pan, one of my all time favorite stories. There's nothing better than enjoying a guilty pleasure show with some guilty pleasure food. I wish I could eat bon bons and ice cream while I watch but if I did that every time I craved something sweet, I'd be the size of a house again. With that in mind, I've gone in search of other sweet tooth appeasing vittles that pack more of a nutritional punch! 

Today I'm going to share one of my very favorite and extremely simple Paleo deserts courtesy of everyone's favorite fairy, Tinkerbell! She just made her first appearance on Once Upon a Time last night! This recipe takes an hour to prepare, so often I'll get it started right after I finish cooking dinner so that I'll have an hour to eat, digest and feel ready for my deliciously sweet treat! Without further ado, here's my recipe for: 

Tink's Baked Sweet Potato and Pixie Dust

Cook time: 1hour

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

Baked Potato (try to choose a small-ish one that fits in the palm of your hand).

2 tsp Coconut Oil

Pixie Dust! (Also known as cinnamon!)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Scrub your sweet potato in cool water and remove all imperfections and stringy bits. I don't mind the potato ends, but sometimes people do. If that's you, then use a small pairing knife to cut off the tips of the potato on each end.
3. Dry the potato carefully with a towel. If you don't, it will steam in the oven instead of bake.
4. Use your knife to stab a few holes into your sweet potato.
5. Measure out your coconut oil and carefully rub it over your potato until it's coated and glistening like the second star to the right! 
6. Place the potato on a foil lined baking sheet and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes, flip the potato. 
8. After the second 30 minute bake, remove it from the oven. You may notice that there's a syrupy residue. This is perfectly normal. Just remove any burnt bits from the potato before putting it on a plate. It almost always just sticks to the foil.
9. Use a knife to cut the skin from one end to the other and then press them together with your fingers to open up the potato. 
10. Use your knife to break up the inside of the potato a bit.
11. Now for the pixie dust! Take your cinnamon and use your finger to tap it onto the potato. You can be the judge of how much you need. I usually just give it maybe 5 finger taps at most depending on the size of the potato. You can use your fork to mash/mix everything up.
12. Give your treat little bit of time to cool or you'll burn yourself, but in about 5 minutes or so, depending on your own personal taste, it should be ready to put in your face mouth Bangarang style!

What do you eat to satisfy your sweet tooth? Please share your suggestions with your fellow slayers in the comments!

Paleo Baked Diced Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Recipe

I've been cooking a whole bunch of delicious Paleo food at my family reunion in North Carolina. 

It's given me a great chance to share what I've been doing with my relatives (many of whom are surprised to see me in the kitchen!) and to work on some new recipes with my dad. Just one year ago I weighed about 100 lbs more and was just getting ready to embark on my quest for weight loss and wellness while I was here with my family. I think they're all pretty shocked at the change but everyone has been very supportive and encouraging. To give you an idea, here's a picture from last year.

/shudder.

Aside from helping me map out and film my 20k run (which I'll report on soon!), Dad did a lot of shopping to make sure I had all sorts ingredients at the ready so I could stay on track this week. As a caterer he often has a lot of great ideas to liven up my dishes. In honor of Lord Caldephron (his D&D Druid alter ego) and his much appreciated assistance, today's recipe deals with a new way to enjoy sweet potatoes (my very favorite tuber treat!). It's a great side or even a tasty desert depending on how you look at it. So without further ado, here's the recipe for:

Caldephron's Roll for Crit Diced Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• Sweet potatoes (About 1/2 lb per person you're cooking for. For one person, I tend to use one hand sized sweet potato)
• Fresh Ground Sea Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil Cooking Spray
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Ground Cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Peel or not according to preference. If you are not peeling, give into the dark side and scrub sweet spuds aggressively. 
3. Cut into approximately 1.5 inch cubes.
4. Spray an oven safe baking dish with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray and deposit your sweet potatoes.
5. Fresh ground sea salt and pepper to taste.
6. Carefully sprinkle a light dusting of cinnamon evenly across the potatoes. 
7. Drizzle a teaspoon (per potato used) of extra virgin olive oil on the seasoned potatoes and toss the cubes till they are all glistening and coated evenly.
   
8. Put baking dish into the oven for 15 minutes.
9. Remove baking dish and re-toss potatoes. 
10. Put baking dish back into the oven for 10 minutes. 
11. Remove from oven and serve like a boss!

Note: You may need to adjust your cooking times based on how thick your potato cubes end up being. Stick a knife in after the first round in the oven and you can adjust time more or less based on whether they seem cooked through.