I Made This: Sweet Potato Mexican Stir-Fry

When it comes to food these days, I have two obsessions: veggies and protein. Protein and veggies. I spend an inordinate amount of time these days figuring out how I can get veggies at every meal. Lately, I’ve taken it up a notch and am forever striving to get a variety of veggies in my diet, and to eat the rainbow. Old Amy would totally get stoked about “tasting the rainbow” and down some Skittles, but these days, I mean that I want a lot of colors of veggies in my meals. I spend a ridiculous amount of time seeking out recipes to make that happen.

If you thought this blog belonged to a remotely cool person, I’m sorry. Now you know the truth.

When I’m not thinking about how to possibly cram more vegetables down my gullet, I’m thinking about how I can make meals easier. I leave for work every day at 6 AM, and I want things that I can throw into a tupperware with the greatest of ease.

This recipe was adapted from here (found via FitSugar) and is full of protein, gives me a ton of veggies AND can be thrown into a container and taken for lunch easily. Win, win, win.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Ingredients first:

In case you can’t tell, this is not a photography blog. In case this photo doesn’t make it obvious, ingredients are two sweet potatoes, a red pepper, a yellow pepper, an onion, cilantro, spinach, a can of black beans, a can of diced tomatoes and a pound of ground chicken.

Sweet potatoes get peeled, chopped and boiled for about four minutes, while ground chicken gets browned. Do it at the same time! It’s easy!

While that’s happening, chop your peppers and onion. Add them once the chicken is cooked all through.

Let that mix a bit and season it up. I don’t like things super spicy, so I went heavy on the garlic powder and cumin, with a few dashes of chili powder and red pepper flakes. The original recipe adds cayenne and a fresh jalapeno, but I’m a baby, so none of that here. Bottom line: season as you see fit. I’m sure you know what to do for your own spicy happiness.

Next, add the sweet potatoes and a can of diced tomatoes.

Let that warm up a bit, stirring and seasoning as you see fit.

Last step is chopped cilantro and your black beans.

You didn’t think I’d let cilantro count as my green, right? No way! That’s cheating. You could mix this with a lot of things: quinoa, brown rice, or some sort of tortilla situation. My preference? A little bed of spinach! The heat wilts it a bit, and you get another veggie in there.

It’s delish. Make it. I planned on using it for lunches but I couldn’t stop myself from having it for dinner, too. It’s that good.

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Sweet Potato Mexican Stir-Fry

Adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

Ingredients

1 pound ground chicken

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

1 white onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 orange pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 can of diced tomatoes (fire-roasted is good), drained

1 can of black beans

ground cumin

chili powder

1 teaspoon oregano

red pepper flakes

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus additional for serving

salt

pepper

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1. Put sweet potato in small pot with enough cold water to just cover them. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat and cook about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
2. Heat coconut oil in large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in onion and bell peppers. Cook to soften, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add sweet potato and can of drained tomatoes and cook again, about 3 minutes. Add cilantro and black beans and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and serve.

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Do you have any favorite recipes that include veggies of all colors? I’d love to read them!