RECIPE: Sweet Potato Skins with Bacon & Cheese | #ThisGirlEats

Serves: 1
How much does it cost? This cost me less than 75p per person.
What are the benefits? It counts towards one of your five a day, is high in fibre and high in antioxidants.


I’m not exaggerating when I say that stuffed potato skins are one of the greatest things to come out of America.

Whether they’re served as a wicked restaurant appetiser or a “Mum’s-gone-to-Iceland” picky tea, potato skins are always a winner 👌

The idea behind this one is to elevate these little pockets of heaven to a more nutritious place where your body can reap the benefits as much as your tastebuds. My sweet potato twist with low fat cheese is still totally satisfying, I guarantee you, but it also helps count towards your five a day too.

Honestly, these are SO tasty and well worth a try. Cheese and bacon is a pretty tried-and-tested flavour combo – believe me, it works! – but the bacon can easily be swapped for onion, chives or black beans for a veggie alternative. Also, give it a try with some chilli flakes or fresh jalapeños for a feisty kick.

These sweet, crispy skins are packed with salty bacon and strong cheddar cheese to bring out the fantastic flavours of the USA 🇺🇸


INGREDIENTS
1 Sweet Potato
1 Slice of Unsmoked Bacon
Handful of Low Fat Grated Cheese (approx 30g)
2 tbsp BBQ Sauce
1 tbsp American Mustard

SEASONING
Before the potato goes into the oven, rub a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper over the skin. When your combining the flesh with bacon and cheese, make sure to add a squeeze of BBQ sauce and American mustard to the mix, as well as some more salt and pepper to season. These are simple flavours, but they all work really well together.


So, this is how I did it…

1. Sweet potatoes can be a bit gritty, so wash and prick them properly. Then rub a teeny drop of oil, salt and pepper on the skins, wrap very loosely in foil and pop into the oven at 220°C. I had an absolute BEAST of a potato so it took ages in my rickety old oven, but usually they take between 45 – 60 minutes to cook.

2. For the last 20 minutes of cooking, add a slice of bacon to the tray and oven cook this as well, flipping over halfway until it goes all crispy 🥓

3. Remove the potato and bacon from the oven. Cut the bacon into small pieces and add to a bowl, then scoop the potato flesh from the skins and chuck it in there too. While you’re combining this all together, stick the skins back in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

4. Mix together the bacon, sweet potato, almost all of the cheese (leave a little!) as well as a squeeze of BBQ sauce, American mustard and salt and pepper for seasoning. Remove the skins from the oven and scoop the mixture back into them.

5. Switch on the grill, sprinkle what’s left of the cheese on top of the skins and stick them under the grill for a few minutes, until the cheese bubbles and the skins are crispy 🍠

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RECIPE: Oven-Cooked Sweet Potato Fries | #ThisGirlEats

Serves: 1
How much does it cost? This cost me less than 50p per person.
What are the benefits? These fries are 1 of your 5 a day, are low fat, and make a great vegan side dish.


I’ve always assumed I don’t like sweet potatoes. It’s just sort of always been a thing for me, like, “Sweet potatoes? No thanks.” It’s an instant reaction. But they seem like something I should like. So this week I tried making sweet potato fries at home as a last-ditch attempt to jump on the foodie bandwagon – and LOVED them!

It depends how you wanna serve these – I had them on their own for lunch, so I just cooked up a whole sweet potato for myself. I was ecstatic to find there’s a way to essentially just eat a big bowl of fries for lunch and feel great afterwards.

You can get a sweet potato for around 35p and you’re pretty much sorted, so it’s a definitely cost-effective option. Not only that, but sweet potatoes are, of course, a vegetable, so you’re now using a side of delicious fries as one of your five a day!

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INGREDIENTS
1 Sweet Potato, Sliced into Chips 

SEASONING
For me, seasoning is key for this recipe, adding a healthy dose of flavour helped me scoff down with delight something I would’ve previously avoided. Coat the fries with a sprinkle of salt (try onion salt for an extra burst of flavour!) and pepper, a pinch of garlic flakes and a handful of rosemary, dried or fresh.


So, this is how I did it…

1. I’m not really familiar with cooking sweet potato, on account of inexplicably not eating them for most of my life, but hacking away until it resembled chip-shaped chunks. Seemed to work out fine.

2. Lay the fries out on a baking tray, cover with a small amount of oil (I was afraid cooking spray wouldn’t crisp up properly – but feel free to try it!) and season with salt, pepper, garlic flakes and rosemary.

3. It was a complete guess, but I cooked on 220°C for 20 minutes, turning them over halfway through and they turned out fine. Crispy and, to my surprise, utterly delicious!

sweet potato fries
Crispy, tasty, oven-baked sweet potato fries