Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Goat Cheese, Honey and Roasted Red Grapes

Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of activity here this past week; I was on the road coming back home and took a few days to decompress. I don’t have much to report as far as eating on the road goes, as I didn’t try any new places with healthy options. I did, however, discover Buddy Fruits: these pouches contain fruit purée and nothing else (no sugar, no preservatives). Each pouch can be kept at room temperature until it is opened and each contains one serving of fruits. They come in flavors like Multifruit (apple, banana, passion fruit, mango and strawberry) or Strawberry (apple, strawberry, blackcurrant). I found these to be wonderful on mornings when the hotel didn’t have a good fruit selection (red apples are pretty much always a given, but sometimes that’s all there is, or you might have canned fruit salad in syrup – not very inspiring). Plus, they’d make a great healthy snack for kids. I really like this product!

So, one last recipe I made in Montreal was these stuffed sweet potatoes, where the flesh is mixed with lactose-free goat cheese and honey, and served with roasted red grapes (I found the recipe via Pinterest). I served it with turkey breast cooked in a white wine and rosemary jelly, which was the party favor at Dear Sister’s wedding (so even though the poultry looks really bland below, it wasn’t; it’s just that the jelly was hard to see). I had some trouble getting the potato skins not to tear as I was emptying them and later stuffing them, so next time I might cut them into a boat-shape rather than just slit the skin and I would leave some flesh in there to make it more solid, or perhaps I’d just make smaller servings and serve the flesh in ramekins. Overall, I would have enjoyed a more solid texture, but this was a really good combination of flavors! I love roasted red grapes any day, and the honey and goat cheese here made the whole thing come together. This dish is even Engineer-approved; he didn’t think he would enjoy sweet potatoes this much, and they were like candy!

4 sweet potatoes
2 cups red, seedless grapes
1 tsp. grapeseed oil (or another high-heat oil)
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
4 oz. lactose-free goat cheese (I’d use even more)
2 Tbsp. honey + additional for drizzling
1 pinch each of cinnamon and nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Poke holes in sweet potato with a fork, then wrap each tightly in aluminum foil. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until potatoes and tender to the touch. Unwrap foil and cut a slit down the middle of each sweet potato. Let sit until cool enough to handle.

Increase oven temperature to 450 °F. Lay grapes on a nonstick baking sheet and drizzle with grapeseed oil and a pinch each of salt and pepper, then toss to coat. Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until grapes begin to burst. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Once sweet potatoes are somewhat cool, gently remove the flesh with a spoon, trying to keep the potato intact. Add the sweet potato to a large bowl, then mash with 3 ounces of goat cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper and honey. Taste and adjust seasonings if desired, then scoop flash back into the potato skins. At this point you can re-warm the potatoes (if you let them cool completely) in the oven, then top with remaining goat cheese. Add grapes on top and serve with additional drizzled honey.