First, I cannot start this post without seriously thanking one of our lovely readers, Alex, for leaving me such a truly smile-inducing voice mail! I woke up to it first thing and it just totally made my day! I love getting the voice mails. So, thanks, Alex! Now onto food. Step aside you peasanty twice baked white potatoes! Your snobby, sophisticated and downright sexy cousins are in town! So next time you're thinking of making boring and commonplace twice baked potatoes, let your rad side roam free and make these Twice Baked Walnut and Broccoli Sweet Potatoes instead.
These are certainly healthier than regular baked potatoes and I assure you much, much tastier. Class it up, people! You're only cool if you're making twice baked sweet potatoes anyways. Hadn't you heard?
Twice Baked Walnut and Broccoli Sweet Potatoes
Inspired by Daily Bites
Makes 4
- 4 medium sweet potatoes (equal shape and size)
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- sprinkling of kosher salt
- heaping 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped small
- 2 Tbsp. pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), chopped
- 2 cups broccoli (florets only), chopped small
- 1/3 cup vegan cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 Tbsp. walnut oil (or olive oil)
- 1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed (optional)
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
Preheat oven to 400 F. Scrub the outside of the sweet potatoes and then dry them. Poke a few slits in each potato with the end of a knife. Rub them with olive oil and a generous sprinkling of kosher salt. Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 1 hour or until tender when poked with a fork.
Now, go curl up on the couch and read with a cup of hot cider. Or take your dog for a walk and call a friend to catch up. I did all three of these, you can do what you want. When the potatoes are done cooking, taking great care, cut them almost in half. Be sure to leave a small bit intact on both the ends of the potatoes, however. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet while you prepare the stuffing. Just trust me, you're gonna want to let these mofos cool. Leave the oven on.
On a different baking sheet, arrange the chopped walnuts and pepitas and toast for about 7-10 minutes in the 400 F oven or until fragrant. Careful not to let them burn. They're tricky. Once done, remove them from the oven and cool. Still leaving the oven on.
In a large bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients including the walnuts and pepitas and stir well. When the potatoes have cooled sufficiently, very carefully scoop out the insides and place them in the large bowl with the broccoli. You don't have to scrape every last bit, just be sure to get most of it. Careful not to damage the skin.
Mix all the sweet potato meat with the broccoli mixture and stir until very well combined.
Now, carefully place all the stuffing back into the potatoes. Once they are all stuffed and bulging *snicker snicker*, feel free to kind of shape them as you please. Top them with a little extra cheese, if you wish and place them back in the oven to bake at 400 F for about 15 minutes.
Serve hot! These are badass enough to be a main meal if you're a little guy like me, or as a giant side, I suppose.
We went for an awesome walk today and Todd took some beautiful, Alaskan Fall photos for you all! I'm in the pink, and my BFF in the purple. We have some termination dust! Long live Winter.
What am I listening to? Ghostland Observatory – Sad Sad City
[yumprint-recipe id='16']
