Sweet Potato Bar

Strange how this went from an easy weeknight meal, to an easy quarantine time meal in less than a week, but such are the times. 

Last week on Instagram I mentioned a common meal around our house, the sweet potato bar, and I had quite a few inquiries. A sweet potato bar? Please explain! So I thought I’d share this super easy, family pleasing meal with you here today. First, have you ever noticed that an “easy” meal to someone else isn’t necessarily an easy meal for you? I consider this an easy meal for our family, because 1) I keep many of the components of this meal on hand regularly, 2) I do not mind chopping a few vegetables,  3) there is no actual “recipe” to follow and 4) crock pot sweet potatoes themselves are the easiest thing to cook in the entire world.

This really is the easist thing to make and everyone in my family loves it. The other thing I LOVE about this recipe is that everyone chooses their own toppings. I have found that any meal in this style is a hit with my kids because they get to choose what goes in their food. Major picky eater win. And even if one child only puts cheese on top of their sweet potato they’re still mostly eating a vegetable so I don’t even care.OK–so here it is. You simply wash and rinse 4-5 sweet potatoes (I use Trader Joes fruit and veggie wash FYI) then put them whole in the crock pot with about 1/4-1/3 cup of water. Shut the lid and turn on high for about 5-ish hours. That’s it. 

Shortly before you get the sweet potatoes out from the crock pot, you simply gather the southwest style toppings in your fridge you and your family might like on top. I almost always have some sort of cooked chicken on hand–either home smoked or store bought, a can of black beans is a great veggie protein substitute or addition, some sort of salsa (I’ve been making this recipe almost weekly for the past 5 years and I’m not joking at all), sour cream, cheese, avocado, tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, whatever. Last night we had chicken, black beans, sour cream, cheese, salsa and avocados. I usually like to have another veggie option or two, but this is what we had so this is what it was.

THAT IS IT.

So easy. So good. And as long as I don’t make it too often, always a family hit.