Pizza Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite quick weeknight meals. It makes a great side dish to any protein and saves well for a few days as leftovers. In the Paleo world, sweet potatoes can cause some confusion. While traditional potatoes are most definitely on the NO list, sweet potatoes toe the line. Different Paleo autoritues will have different opinions on whether sweet potatoes are an OK paleo food. While they are very carb-dense, they are extremely nutrient-rich and just plain tasty. After doing some research on Mark's Daily Apple, and Whole 9's websites, I feel good about eating sweet potatoes on a semi-regular basis.

This Pizza Sweet Potato recipe was a big hit in my house. It is very dense and comforting, and reheated really well as leftovers. Play around with the toppings, putting whatever you would traditionally order on your pizza. I would have loved to add mushrooms to this, but my fiance is "emotionally allergic*" to them. It makes me very sad that I can never cook with mushrooms, as they are one of my favorites, but you have to make compromises for the ones you love.
*The term "emotionally allergic" came from when we were once eating out, and he told our waiter that he was allergic to mushrooms. A few glasses of wine deep, I blurted out "no he isn't!" His response was that he was "emotionally allergic." The waiter, Tim and I all started cracking up, and the term has just stuck. For those of you who know Tim, you know he is the king of coming up with these kinds of verbal gems on the regular

I'm done talking, let's hunt and gather the following to get started.

• 4 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 lb sausage
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2-3 orange bell peppers, sliced
• any pizza toppings you like will work

For the Sauce

• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoons onion powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat oven to400ºF.

Prick and place your sweet potatoes on a baking sheet. Let them roast until their insides are soft, about 30-40 minutes.
While the potatoes are roasting, mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Taste and adjust to your preferences, then set aside.

In a large saute pan, crumble and brown the sausage. Remove the meat from the pan, reserving the rendered fat.

Toss in the peppers and onions. Let them cook until the peppers and onions are soft.

Once the potatoes are done, slice them in half (lengthwise) and arrange the halves nicely on the baking sheet. Smash and loosen the sweets' insides with a fork.
Ladle a few spoonfuls of sauce on top of the sweet potato, followed by the pepper/onion saute, and sausage.
Put the baking sheet back in the oven for a couple minutes, to re-warm everything.

adapted from Health-Bent

Enjoy!