Sweet Potato Salad with Chili Lime Dressing

Sweet Potatoes are a super food!  After really enjoying the previous night's Sweet Potato Barbecue Burgers, I looked up the health benefits of sweet potatoes online.  They have high amounts of Vitamins A and C, fiber, potassium, and iron.  They also contain antioxidants and beta-carotene and help your body produce new skin cells (which equals younger, clearer looking skin!).  They are fairly low in calories.  One sweet potato is about 130 calories depending on size.  And despite the name sweet, are low in actual sugar.  With all of this in mind, and the lion's share of a 2 pound bag of sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's sitting on my shelf, I went online in search of more recipes to use sweet potatoes and came up with this delicious side dish to accompany last night's grilled chicken breasts.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

·      2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 medium-size red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 4 scallions, white and light green parts, finely chopped

(Diva Note: Yet again, I cut this recipe in half, and we still only ate about half of that, so the amounts above should make a decent side dish for 6-8 people)


Directions: 
Place the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until just tender, 7 to 10 minutes (don't overcook or your salad will be mushy and falling apart.) Drain and transfer to a large bowl. 

While the potatoes are cooking, make the dressing. Whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, chili    powder, cumin, cilantro, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Add the red bell pepper and scallions to the potatoes and toss with the dressing. Season again with salt and pepper. Serve warm or refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition Information:
This recipe did not come from the same website as yesterday, so full nutrition information was not provided.  However, spark recipes comes with a recipe calculator in addition to its massive bank of recipes.  You can enter information from any recipe and find out just how good (or bad!) it is for you.  Serving size matters of course, so this side dish comes to approximately 200-265 calories depending on your portion.

Verdict:

So good.  Really.  I've actually been thinking about it since last night.  And I don't even like spicy food.  Alex claims not to like cilantro, but he said it was delicious as well.  The dressing definitely has a zing to it.  I took a quick taste before mixing in the sweet potatoes.  And coughed for several minutes.  But when mixed with the starchy, sweet potatoes, the  flavors balance perfectly.  Preparing it was a bit on the time consuming side, so I wouldn't recommend it for a typical weeknight meal if you are exhausted and starving.  But it would be excellent for a weekend barbecue, and in my opinion is worthy of serving for company.  This will go in my permanent recipe collection, and I can't wait to make it again!