Empty the Fridge Sweet Potato Hash

In stark contrast to last Tuesday, I woke up this morning refreshed from my rest day and excited to knock out my repeats on the treadmill and get in some solid strength training.  I was apparently so excited, in fact, that I somehow managed to accidentally shorten what should have been 400m recovery periods to 200m.  I wanted to make sure I hit my target of 5.5 miles, so I tacked on a couple of 200m repeats at the end.  It was a tough run, but I’m really happy to be feeling more comfortable with my speedwork again.  I also set a new PR on the bench press, and I think I could have gone even heavier if I had a spotter.  All in all, it was a great morning at the gym!
When I got home, I was craving sweet potatoes. I opened the fridge and saw a crisper drawer full of veggies leftover from last night’s dinner that needed to be used and decided that a sweet potato hash was in order.  I recalled seeing a recipe for Eggs and Sweet Potatoes with a Cottage Cheese Sauce on Endless Simmer; in addition to the boatload of vegetables I wanted to use, I had the last little bit of a can of chipotle peppers in adobo, so I got to work whipping up my own version.

Spicy Sweet Potato Hash
Makes 4 Servings

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes (This was about 2 1/4 cups for me)
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced into small cubes
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning Blend
salt and pepper to taste
1 large zucchini, diced into small cubes
1/2 cubanelle or poblano pepper, finely diced
1 cup of chopped onions
1 cup of assorted chopped bell peppers

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss the sweet potatoes and carrots with the cumin, Mrs. Dash, salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray or lined with a Silpat, and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the sheet from the oven; add the remaining veggies, and toss them in with the sweet potatoes and carrots. Return to the oven and roast for an additional 20 minutes or until they are fork tender.

Fat: 0.5g
Carbohydrates: 30.6g
Calories:131.6
Protein: 2.9g
Nutritional Info calculated on sparkrecipes.com

Adobo Cottage Cheese Sauce
Makes approximately 8 two tablespoon sized servings

1 cup 2% cottage cheese
1 tbsp diced chipotle pepper in Adobo sauce
Juice of 1 lime
2 tsp diced jalapeno
a few sprigs of cilantro, leaves and stems

Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.

Fat: 0.6g
Carbohydrates: 2.7g
Calories:28.5
Protein: 2.9g
Nutritional Info calculated on sparkrecipes.com


I put a serving of the hash in a bowl, added about a tablespoon of the adobo cheese sauce, and topped it all with a fried egg.  The sweetness from the potatoes combined with the heat from the chipotle & jalapeno peppers in the cottage cheese sauce and the drippy egg yolk was the perfect way to refuel.  I ended up with a lot more cottage cheese sauce than what I used on the hash, but I’m glad because I can definitely see myself using it to spice up sandwiches, wraps, or even just plain chicken breasts.