Saturday, April 9, 2016

Spiralized Sweet Potato and Carrots w/ Honey-Ginger Sauce

I find it so very amusing when I'm engaged in conversations with people about how hard it is to find things to eat that's healthy. Or, the other favorite one, it's so expensive to eat healthy. I'm like...really? Tell me what's in your frig. Don't say........LETTUCE!!! There are so many healthy meals that can be created. Now, let's keep in mind, I'm not a gourmet chef. I just love to cook and eat. I love great tasting foods. I also love to create. Now, let's group my love for foods, living a healthy lifestyle and a love for creating and that results in food and fun. 

Let's think outside the salad box and get creative!

Arriving home one day, I was left thinking about what I was going to enjoy for dinner. I had a sweet potato (or yam) on my table. Wasn't really feeling like I wanted to have it baked, yet I did want to eat the potato. But, how? I thought...spiralize it with my little Benriner vertical spiralizer (Like the plug? I figured you'll ask me what in the world am I talking about...lol). I needed something to accompany my potato. So, I grabbed a carrot from the frig and spiralized it too. 
For an extra boast of flavor, I combined some fresh ginger (I grated it) and some honey and coated the spiralized combo. Familiarize yourself with the technique of spiralizing. Check out this video, using the same spiralizer that I have.

Yum! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
  • 1 - medium size sweet potato, clean and peeled
  • 1 - large carrot, clean and peeled
  • 2-3T of honey
  • 1t - minced ginger
  • pinch of sea salt
  • black pepper
  • 1-2T olive oil
  • parchment paper
  • baking sheet

Time to Create:
Photo credit: Angelfit Trainer Meals
Preheat oven to 400°F.   After cleaning, peeling and spiralizing the carrot and sweet potato, place them in a bowl and combine them together.  Drizzle some olive oil over the combined veggies. With your hands, rub the olive oil over the veggies making sure to coat. Sprinkle a little bit of sea salt and black pepper over the oil coated veggies. 

Spread some parchment paper over the cooking sheets. Lay the veggies onto the parchment-lined baking sheets. Since, I was using a large sweet potato, I ended up utilizing two baking sheets. You may need only one. You want to be able to spread the veggies out pretty thin for even baking. 

Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, mince some fresh ginger (technique here). I used 1tsp, remember it's your taste preference. You can always do a little more and add small amounts of ginger to the honey until you reach your desired taste. Combine the ginger and honey, then set aside. 
Photo credit: Angelfit Trainer Meals

Check veggies for desired doneness. Once done, remove from oven and place the spiralized veggies into a heat resistant dish. Drizzle the ginger/honey dressing over the warm veggies. Being sure to coat. A little bit goes a long way here with the dressing. You'll be surprised how it coats.

Top with a spring of flat-leaf parsley and serve.