Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes

SLOW COOKER SWEET POTATOES

I love sweet potatoes. I remember reading an article a few years back that basically said sweet potatoes are about the most nutrient dense or healthy thing you can find in a the produce section at the grocery store.  I am glad I like them so much.  My mantra during Week 1 of my Whole30 Challenge has been "a sweet potato a day keeps the headache away".  

During the very first part of this week, I was really focusing on vegetables and proteins.  I kind of forgot about having something with a little carbohydrate.  I started to have a weird nagging headache in the area of my forehead.  I had a sweet potato for dinner and, almost immediately, my headache went away.  I am thinking it might have had something to do with not having any sugar in my diet for a few days as well.  Interesting.  This week I've been cooking my sweet potatoes in the microwave oven and I just don't care for the texture when I cook them this way (dry and over cooked in some spots and under cooked in other spots). I much prefer sweet potatoes chopped up and roasted in the oven or baked whole in the oven.  It's been too hot outside to be cranking up my oven, so this week I decided to make a few sweet potatoes in my slow cooker (Crock Pot).  It's super simple and I like the texture so much better.

SLOW COOKER SWEET POTATOES

Scrub your sweet potatoes and poke a few holes in them with the tip of a sharp knife.  No need to dry them, just place them in the slow cooker (Crock Pot).  Cover and cook on LOW until done.  I cooked 2 SMALL sweet potatoes on LOW for 4 hours and they were perfectly done.  MEDIUM sized sweet potatoes will likely take about 5 hours.  To check doneness/tenderness, just poke with a fork or sharp knife.  When they are done, the fork or knife will slide into the sweet potato easily.  Cooking time will also vary depending upon your slow cooker.  

Here's a great article discussing the virtues of the sweet potato.  If you are interested, click HERE.