I’m counting on this easy, super-healthy dessert or side dish to sweeten my journey back to Fit Linda. This casserole has only six ingredients, no added sugar or oil, and loads of flavor. Weighing in at only 201 calories, a serving of Baked Apples and Sweet Potatoes brings you loads of vitamins A and C, fiber, and iron with only a half gram of fat.
Baked Apples and Sweet Potatoes costs just 92 cents a serving using organic ingredients.
A casserole for dessert? Yes, and it’s also good for breakfast, brunch, or as a side dish. I like to serve this in Pyrex custard cups for no-brainer portion control and quick heating in the microwave.
Serve this easy fragrant casserole any time of day. The tender baked apples and sweet potatoes with cinnamon are good for dessert, as a side dish, or as part of a healthy breakfast. No added sugar, very low fat, dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan.
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| Prep Time | 25 minutes |
| Cook Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
servings
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Ingredients
- 4 medium sweet potatoes with red flesh, such as Carolina Ruby, Beauregard, or Garnet
- 4 medium apples sweet apples suitable for baking, such as Fuji or Gala
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon orange zest optional. (From one or two large organic oranges.)
- shortening for the baking dish
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Heat oven to 400°F (or 375°F for a convection oven) with a rack in the center of the oven and another rack below it. Make sure your baking dish will fit on the bottom rack with a little room above it for air flow.
- Scrub sweet potatoes and poke several times with a fork all over so steam can escape through the holes as they bake. Wrap each sweet potato in foil. (I use my cheap thin foil for this or thicker foil that is near the end of its reuse period. The foil is hard to clean afterward.) Put sweet potatoes on a cookie sheet to catch any extra drips.
- Bake sweet potatoes on the middle rack for 1 hour (45 minutes if using convection) until they are soft when you squeeze them. Use a hot pad to check -- they are hot! If you meet any resistance, bake 5 to 10 minutes longer and test again.
- While sweet potatoes bake, quarter and core apples without peeling. Cut each quarter into about 16 pieces, making 3 slices lengthwise and 3 across. Leaving the peel on helps the apple pieces hold their shapes, adds nutrition, and saves you time. Put apples in the greased baking dish, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and then toss to coat apples with spices. Spread into an even layer, add water, cover with foil, and bake on the bottom shelf for 30 minutes (22 minutes if using convection).
- When sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them into pieces about the same size as the apples, skin and all. Add chopped sweet potatoes and any juice captured in the foil wrappers to the apples. Sprinkle with orange zest if using and stir to mingle. Taste and adjust spices as needed.
- Serve Baked Apples and Sweet Potatoes hot or at room temperature. Keeps refrigerated for a week and frozen for a year.
Recipe Notes
- No-skin option. For a fancier dish, perhaps to serve relatives who are a bit nervous about eating vegetables and fruit at all, rub poked sweet potatoes with a little olive oil and bake unwrapped on a foil-lined cookie sheet. The peels will pull away from the potato flesh during baking. As soon as they come out of the oven, cut an X into the top to let steam escape for fluffier results. Chop and mingle as described above. This option is less sweet because some of the sweet juices wind up on the foil instead of in the casserole.
- Luxury option. Serve warm with a small scoop of nice cream. I'd choose So Delicious Cream Cashew or Very Vanilla Cashewmilk Frozen Dessert.
- Use organic ingredients if you can. If you can't, please know that any fruit or vegetable contributes to a healthy diet.
Nutrition Facts
Baked Apples and Sweet Potatoes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 201
Calories from Fat 5
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.5g
1%
Saturated Fat 0.2g
1%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.02g
Sodium 465mg
19%
Potassium 782mg
22%
Total Carbohydrates 48g
16%
Dietary Fiber 8g
32%
Sugars 17g
Protein 4g
8%
Vitamin A
423%
Vitamin C
49%
Calcium
7%
Iron
20%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
