Saturday, April 11, 2015

'SPIRALIZED' SWEET POTATOES, BEEF AND BLACK BEAN CASSEROLE

The Paderno Spiralizer opened up a whole new world for us in terms of cooking and eating vegetables! It's amazing, first of all, how quickly and easily some veggies can be prepared for cooking, and second, how cutting them in different ways suddenly influences all sorts of creativity in the actually cooking and constructing a dish!

The following recipe started with 'spiralized' sweet potatoes!

Note also that the 'house seasoning' is my standard mixture of garlic powder (not salt), onion powder (not salt), and a good quality seasoned salt. (Lawry's) I keep this in a large spice jar in the cabinet all the time. It's great on roasted vegetables, popcorn, even buttered rolls! It's very versatile in everyday cooking!
House seasoning:
1/2 cup garlic powder
1/3 cup onion powder
1/4 cup seasoned salt

In chronological order:
Preheat oven to 350

3 medium sweet potatoes, spiral cut
3 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp house seasoning (see note above)
Place the spiralized sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Toss with the coconut oil. Sprinkle the house seasoning over them and toss again to spread the seasoning evenly throughout. Place the seasoned sweet potatoes in a 9 x13 baking dish. (Stoneware bakeware works great for this!) Place in preheated oven and roast for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until just tender,  stirring once about halfway through the baking time.



  
MEANWHILE:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef (low fat)
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cans diced tomatoes (I like mine less chunky, so I ran them through the food processor slightly)
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp smoky paprika
1 tsp red pepper (more or less to taste)
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp prepared mustard
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
1 can black beans

1 cup shredded white (or yellow) cheddar cheese (Cabot's Sharp Vermont White Cheddar works GREAT for this dish!)

Heat the olive oil in a skillet on medium heat and add onions. Saute until translucent. Add the ground beef and brown completely. Drain. To this beef mixture, add the garlic powder, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, paprika, red pepper, brown sugar, prepared mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well. Add the black beans and stir to mix.

When the sweet potatoes have finished roasting, pull them from the oven and pour the beef and been mixture over them evenly. Return to the oven and bake for about 10 more minutes. When you remove from the oven for the second time, while the casserole is still very hot, spread the shredded cheese evenly over the top and allow it to melt slightly before serving.

This is great accompanied by good quality multi-grain tortilla chips and avocado!





1 comment:

  1. What a fantastic dish idea - I don't think I would have thought to put these things together, so thanks!!

    ReplyDelete