September 4, 2014
By Anna Varriano
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This recipe incorporates two of the most nutrient-packed veggies into one delicious casserole! Kale and sweet potatoes are loaded with fibre and nutrients, especially beta-carotene, which our body can convert into Vitamin A. Beta-carotene and vitamin A offer numerous health benefits, including modulating our immune and inflammatory responses, which are critical to overall health. Kale is also a great source of two important bone-building nutrients, calcium and vitamin K. Bon appetit to that…or should I say Bone appetit…sorry, couldn’t resist! This recipe serves 6-8 as a side dish and can be prepared a day or two in advance.
What You’ll Need:
- 1 very large or 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, cut into small cubes
- one bunch of kale (preferably organic), roughly chopped (remove tough leaf stalks first)
- 3/4 to 1 cup of grated organic raw milk cheddar
- 4 TBSP of coconut oil or butter (or a combo of both)
- unrefined sea salt to taste (about 1 tsp)
- 1 medium diced onion (even though it’s not pictured above!)
Step 1: Cooking
Steam kale until soft/wilted (about 5 minutes). Then rinse under cold water and set aside. Steam sweet potato cubes until soft enough to mash (about 10-15 minutes; test for doneness by piercing with a fork). While the sweet potatoes are steaming, saute diced onions in 2 TBSP of the coconut oil and/or butter until soft (about 5 minutes). When the sweet potatoes and onions are cooked, set them aside and return your attention to the kale, which should be cooled down enough to proceed with the next step!
Step 2: Mashing
Once the steamed kale is cool enough for you to handle, gently squeeze it to remove excess water (you don’t want your casserole to be runny!), then chop it up into small pieces. Add it to a large bowl, along with the steamed sweet potato and sauteed onions (and the butter/coconut oil they were cooked in!), the remainder of the coconut oil and/or butter, and the salt, then mash it up real good! Give it a taste and add more coconut oil and/or butter and/or salt if desired.
Step 3: Assembly
Spread the mash into a casserole dish and sprinkle with the grated cheese. If you are making this dish in advance, cover it and keep refrigerated until you are ready to heat it up and serve it. It should be good in the fridge for a couple of days. You could hold off on grating and sprinkling the cheese until right before you heat it up (next step!).
Step 4: Heating and Melting
Put the casserole in a 350F oven and heat through. Timing will vary depending on if you do this step immediately after assembly (10 to 15 minutes) or if you’ve refrigerated after Step 3 (20 to 30 minutes). Once heated through, you can broil it for a few minutes to get the cheese bubbly and golden.
Enjoy!
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