Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins

Last night was one of those times where the fridge was bare and I had to make magic with the random items I had left in the fridge and pantry. I had 4 sweet potatoes, 2 ears of corn and a few random cheeses.

I wasn't sure if they would notice that it was a meatless meal, but no one did and I got clean plates and two thumbs up all around. I served it with this Mexican Quinoa- sorta like Mexican rice but using quinoa instead and the changes I made to the recipe were: using salsa instead of chopped tomatoes, ancho chile powder instead of chipotle, added some roasted corn kernels and I topped it with cilantro and green onion. Luckily, my family loved these and I had several requests for the recipe so here it goes!

Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins

4 small/ medium sweet potatoes

2 ears of corn

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 tablespoon butter

½ onion, chopped

1/4 cup light cream cheese and herb spread

¼ cup light sour cream (you could use greek yogurt too)

1 teaspoon salt (+ more to taste)

1 tablespoon pampered chef tex-mex rub (you could sub taco seasoning)

½ cup cilantro, roughly chopped

1 cup shredded cheddar-jack cheese

1 cup shredded Pepperjack cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the sweet potatoes for 45-60 minutes.

Remove sweet potatoes from the oven when fork-tender. Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Cut the sweet potatoes in half. Scrape the flesh of the sweet potatoes out and place in a mixing bowl, leaving a thin layer of potato inside of the skins. Mash the sweet potato until almost completely smooth.

While sweet potatoes are baking, cut the kernels off the cobs and place it in a heavy cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat with no butter or oil. Sprinkle with salt and other Mexican seasoning (as much as you want). Do not stir! Let corn roast for several minutes before stirring. Let it roast for a few more minutes before stirring again. Continue this for about 10 minutes, until corn is browned and roasted on the outside. Pour the roasted corn in the bowl with the mashed sweet potato.

In the same skillet you roasted the corn in, sauté the onion in the butter over medium heat until soft and translucent. Pour the onions into the mixing bowl with the sweet potato mixture.

Stir the black beans, cream cheese spread, sour cream, salt, seasoning mix, cilantro and cheddar jack cheese. Mix well and then TASTE IT. Add more seasoning if needed and taste it again. Once you like the filling, scoop it into the skins and top each with the pepperjack cheese.

 Broil for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

If I wasn't making this for my kids, I would have added some pickled jalapenos to the mix, but that would have been too spicy for them. These would be great topped with guacamole too!