February Recipe of the month

 Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burrito

In honor of heart month, I wanted to share a recipe that is not only good for your but tastes good too! Sometimes, you want something that gives you that warm, full tummy feeling but you don't want to feel guilty after eating it. This recipe hits the spot! It's also a great recipe if you ever participate in Meatless Monday or you're not a big meat eater. I feel like being allergic to dairy and soy on top of my Celiac disease limits my food choices too much so, I am not vegan or vegetarian. However, I will celebrate a meatless Monday every now and then because I feel like it helps me explore my food options and broaden my diet.

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato or 2 medium sweet potatoes
1 15 oz. can low sodium black beans (drained and rinsed)
3 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 dashes of cayenne powder
1 pinch of salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 whole medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced

Optional:
tortillas ( I use a brown rice tortilla from Food for Life)
cheese
cilantro
sour cream

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is preheating, line a small pan with aluminum foil (helps with clean-up later). Poke a few holes into the sweet potato with a fork to vent air. Place the sweet potato on the foil line pan and place in the oven. The size of the sweet potato will determine how long to cook it. If it is a large one, it may take an hour per side. When the sweet potato is soft to touch it is ready to be taken out. Let cool and the skin will be easy to peel off. For faster cooking, peel the sweet potato before cooking and cube it then boil it in hot water until tender.

2. In a bowl, mix the black beans with the lemon juice and seasonings. Place the oil in a skillet over medium heat (I typically do this while the sweet potato is cooling after I have finished baking it). Cook the onions and garlic in the skillet until tender, about 2-3 minutes.Add the bean mixture from the bowl and warm through.

3. If you are using a corn tortilla, you may want to cook some brown rice and add to this recipe. However, Food for Life has a brown rice tortilla that I love and increases the fiber content of the meal without increasing the calories too much. You may also want to add some low-fat cheese but I would recommend trying the mix first. Its very tasty on its own! The beans alone have great flavor!

Serves 4 people

The black beans are only about 70 calories per serving and my husband likes me to double the recipe so he can add meat and cheese and make nachos with them! 1/2 cup of sweet potato is 90 calories and is high in Vitamin A as well as a good source of Vitamin C. With a serving of brown rice or the brown rice tortilla, this is an excellent source of fiber. If you are out of tortillas though, you can eat the mix with tortilla chips or just eat it naked with brown rice! Either way, your gonna feel good and have a full belly too!