Mmmm...Sweet Potatoes!

Sweet potatoes are not only delicious, they are so good for you!  Did you know that the sweet potato can be considered a super food?  According to Dr. Greger, sweet potatoes are a huge nutritional bang for your buck.  Sweet potatoes are the highest nutrient-rich food per dollar.

Eighty percent of the protein found in the sweet potato is a unique protein that may have anti-cancer effects.  Read more about the cancer-fighting effects here.

As a busy mom who never really knows when her husband will be home for dinner, the sweet potato has long been in my weekly rotation.  How come?  I let the slow cooker do my cooking!  All moms know that the dinner-prep hour is the witching hour.  Kids are hangry, homework is getting worked on, the baby is crying and needs to be in bed already, and us, moms, are just trying to put food on the table.  But, hallelujah, once a week, my dinner prep has been made easier because of the mighty sweet potato!

The slow cooker does this amazing thing while it cooks the sweet potatoes.  The potato's flesh becomes so rich and creamy.  The flavor is sweeter and more intense.  If you are cooking the typical sweet potato, the orange flesh will be a brilliant orange.  I also like Hannah sweet potatoes in the crock pot.  If you put a bit of brown sugar on it, it has the familiar taste of a sugar cookie.  But you by no means have to add sugar to these babies.  They are so good, my second grader has declared them her favorite vegetable.

To achieve this sweet goodness, simply wash off your sweet potatoes and place in the slow cooker.  No need to pierce with a fork or wrap in foil.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.  I love that there is a warming feature to keep them ready for you until your husband comes home.  This style of cooking makes the skin soft, so if you are wanting the crispy outsides, this will not do that for you. 

To finish them off, I simply cut them open and butter them up (I like Earth Balance's Coconut Spread) and sprinkle some cinnamon on them.  I've recently stopped adding sugar, but a bit of brown sugar is yummy too.  

Oils - This Is Awesome!

First of all, I want to say, THANK YOU!  I wasn't sure what kind of feedback I would receive from yesterday's post and I actually lost sleep over it the night before.  The last thing I want to do is to act like I have got it all together and you should learn from me!  I hardly ever create my own recipe, but I'd love to share some of my this is awesome moments with you!

This morning I woke up learning that I had a new Young Living customer sign up.  As I was writing a follow-up email, I had the realization about how wonderful these oils have been in my life!  Life-changing in some ways.  I want to share with you about some of my favorite oils on the blog, but please don't take this as a sales pitch.  I'm just sharing my this is awesome moment with you.

***This will be my only time to nudge you to sign up!  The rest of the posts will be more testimonial.***

But, with that being said, I HAVE to tell you that if you have been on the fence about whether to try out the oils, this would be a fantastic month to start!  The Premium Starter Kit is 10% off this month! This type of sale does not happen often.  Once you purchase the Premium Starter Kit, you become a wholesale member and get 24% of the retail price.

I was awakened in the wee hours this morning by my oldest daughter.  She wasn't feeling well.  It is such a good feeling to care for her at the most unexpected time.  I used two of the oils that come in the Premium Starter Kit.  She was able to go back to sleep and is at school today.  Crossing my fingers that she can pull a full day.

The Premium Starter Kit is quite a deal because you get a diffuser with it.  The diffuser alone retails at $83.  I love my diffuser!  You also get 11 oils, samples, catalog, product information, and Ningxia Red.

If you are interested in joining, but are timid because of the price, Valentine's Day is coming up!  Perhaps it will make a great gift!  How romantic, right?  Well, it might actually be!

That is all I will say, since my mom reads this blog!  

A Guiltless Sweet Treat

Let's talk about sugar, shall we?  It's a big problem in America.  We're addicted to it and it is hard to get away from it.  Drinking cokes has to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, source of sugar for the majority of Americans.  But even if you have given up the sodas, you are still being toyed with by the food companies.  Did you know that there is this sweet spot (pun fully intended) called Bliss Point.  When producing food, the company will create a formula called the Bliss Point to find out just how much sugar they can add before it is too sweet and you don't like it.  The same goes for salt too.  Since sugar has been reported as addictive (maybe even to the extent as cocaine), this has you coming back for more and more of their product.  You probably are already aware that sugar isn't the best thing for you, but you might need a push to cut back or eliminate it from your diet.

Michael decided in November (before Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years and Valentines Day...the man is either really smart or really foolish) to completely eliminate any added sugar from his diet.  At the beginning of his new lifestyle, we watched on Netflix, That Sugar Film.  I highly recommend watching that film to get a kick in the pants to at least pay attention to what you are consuming.

I know, I know.  You love chocolate.  I am going to share something with you that is chocolate and has no added sugar!  If you have been eating a lot of sugar, it may not be very sweet to you, but it is sweet enough for my kids to beg for it!  It is raw, vegan, and extremely good for you.

The recipe maker, Chocolate Covered Katie, calls them Fudge Babies.  We just call them date balls around my house.  I adapted the recipe to use cashews instead of walnuts, but walnuts are even better for you.  We only have cashews and it works well.  If you haven't looked through Katie's recipes before, you really should browse around.  She's great.  Below the recipe, I will write a little about why this treat is soooo good for you.

What you will need:

• 1 cup of cashews (or nut of your choice)
• 1 and 1/3 cups of pitted dates (I think adding 1 or 2 dates to this measurement might be best)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 tbsp cocoa or cacao powder 
• 1/8 plus 1/16 tsp salt (optional)

None of my foods have added sugar.  You may want to check your ingredients to be sure.

I used medjool dates with pits.  They don't dry out as quickly if they still contain the pits.  If you haven't pitted a date before, it's easy.  The way I do it, and there may be a better way, is to slice lengthwise and pop that pit right out.

Measure out your ingredients and place everything in your food processor.  

Blend it until the ingredients are fine and well mixed.  I've had it come out like this, pretty grainy, and I've added too many dates before and it came out very sticky.  Both will work and it will taste yummy.  You just have to work a bit more to form balls when it is grainy, but the dates will be sticky enough to form balls when enough pressure is applied.

Form into little balls and chill in the fridge if you can stand it.  Everyone in my family (beside Audrey, my non-nut eater) starts eating them before I even finish rolling them.  I personally think that the flavors really come together after chilling them.  

Now let's talk about how good these bites of goodness are for you!  Dates are a whole food.  Yes, they are mostly sugar, but the fiber and perhaps other nutrients balance it all out.  Dr. Michael Gregor at NutritionFacts.org even goes so far to report that dates are perhaps an ideal food based on a study done in Israel!  Watch his video here.  

Also, Dr. Gregor reports that cashews help suppress cancer cells.  If you have walnuts like Katie's original recipe included, use those, because walnuts REALLY suppress cancer cells.  His article can be found here.  If you haven't heard of Dr. Gregor, go to his website now!  He gathers all of the science and gives you the information in a short and often entertaining way.

Enjoy your guiltless sweet treat!