Honey-Lime Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Honey-Lime Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (slightly adapted from Cooking Classy, Servings: 8, Total Time: 50 minutes)

Ingredients

·         4 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed and rinsed then pierced several times with a fork

·         1 cup uncooked quinoa

·         1 3/4 cup vegetable broth

·         1 Tbsp. olive oil

·         1 cup chopped yellow onion

·         1 clove garlic

·         1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed

·         1 ½ cups frozen corn

·         ½ tsp. ground cumin

·         ½ tsp. ground paprika

·         ¼ tsp. ground coriander

·         1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

·         3 ½ Tbsp. lime juice

·         3 ½ Tbsp. honey

·         Salt and freshly ground black pepper

·         3 Tbsp. chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish

·         2 oz. shredded taco cheese (1/2 cup)

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven until tender, about 40 minutes.

2.       Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and broth to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover and simmer 15 minutes, or until fluffy.

3.       Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add onion and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes, adding in garlic during last 30 seconds of sautéing. Add onion mixture to cooked quinoa, along with black beans, corn, cumin, paprika, coriander, cayenne, lime juice, honey, and cilantro and toss mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4.       Cut cooked sweet potatoes in half and scoop out some of the sweet potato flesh to create a bowl shape, while leaving about 1/3 to 1/2-inch of sweet potato intact (reserve scooped out potato in refrigerator for another use). Fill sweet potatoes with quinoa mixture, then sprinkle tops evenly with cheese. Transfer to oven and broil until cheese has melted.

My  husband and I both liked this dish a lot – it was delicious!  I used a little less lime juice than was called for (maybe 2.5 Tbsp.) because I was concerned it would make the dish taste overly lime-y.  I also used dried cilantro (maybe 2 Tbsp.) because we are not huge fans of the spice, but I didn’t want to leave it out completely.  We were almost out of quinoa, so I actually used a mix of ½ quinoa and ½ Israeli couscous – it still worked.

I found that I had a of the bean/quinoa/corn mixture leftover, so I just added more to the top of the potatoes after serving them.  The beans and corn add a bit crisper texture to the quinoa and it all worked nicely with the soft sweet potatoes.  The dish was like a sweet Mexican bite with some creamy cheese.  I definitely plan to make this again and also shared the recipe with a girl at work.