How sweet it is

From time to time, I'll be looking at a specific fruit or vegetable that should be, if not a staple, a key component of my meal plan. This way, I'll share some nutritional values of said fruit/veggie, some links to some healthy recipes and provide plenty of reasons to go out and buy pounds and pounds of said product on your next grocery store visit.

The first profile will be of the sweet potato.

Now, like cooking in general, I didn't realize how much I liked the sweet potato until recently. I've always shown favor towards sweet potatoes but never really considered them an option outside of Thanksgiving. Recently, though, I've been trying to incorporate more vegetables into our meals and I thought of the sweet potato.

Wise choice. Sweet potatoes are loaded with all sorts of good stuff. Some of the more vital stats:

- One cup of cooked sweet potatoes has 50 mg of beta carotene, which is converted into Vitamin A. That's five times the amount you are supposed to take a day.
- One cup also has 6.6 grams of fiber, or one-fourth of what you are supposed to eat a game.
- Sweet potatoes also have loads of potassium - one cup has 950 mg of potassium, about one-fifth the amount you need a day.
- This is probably my favorite stat: one medium sized sweet potato has between 100-120 calories.
- Best of all (not a stat): they really are quite sweet and tasty.

You can find a list of recipes here at All Recipes as well as here at the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, who also provided the valuable stats.