Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts (AIP, Paleo, Vegan)

Though I did not grow up eating many sweet potatoes, I’ve been a big fan ever since tasting sweet potato casserole for the first time while visiting my grandparents who wintered in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Traditional sweet potato casserole, with its delicious sweet filling & nutty topping doesn’t work well for my body anymore, but with Thanksgiving & other holiday gatherings on the horizon, I wanted to develop an AIP-compliant sweet potato casserole that I could still eat.

Today, I usually prefer white sweet potatoes (Hannah or Japanese varieties), because they’re a little less sweet and a little more reminiscent of regular white potatoes. However, since traditional sweet potato casserole is almost a dessert masquerading as a side dish, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are necessary. Orange sweet potatoes provide naturally sweet flavors, needing only minimal additions of real maple syrup (or other AIP-complaint sweetener).

Tingernuts work as a wonderful substitution for pecans when making the topping. If you haven’t worked with tigernuts before, know that they aren’t actually a nut, but a tuber. I’ve worked with them in several forms: whole, ground into flour, and most recently “sliced.” The tigernut flour is a bit gritty, but I think that texture works well in this case where it is replacing actual nuts. The whole tigernuts can be really hard on your jaw, unless they’re soaked ahead of time. Organic Gemini, my favorite tigernut company, has recently released sliced tigernuts, & I find they work just perfectly in this recipe. Sliced tigernuts keep some of the crunch of whole tigernuts, but they are not nearly as tough to chew.

Aside from this sweet potato casserole containing ingredients that are AIP-compliant, I also appreciate that it can be made ahead of time. AIP advocates not only dietary changes, but also stress reduction, and typically holidays can be stressful!! With this year being my second holiday season on AIP, I know from experience that often AIP holiday meals require much more preparation (and many fewer convenience foods) than my previous “standard” holiday meals. I like having AIP-variations of my traditional holiday favorites, but often that means I have to make them entirely from scratch myself.  Thankfully, both this sweet potato casserole and the green beans I posted last week can be prepared ahead of time & reheated just before serving. Also, this recipe is vegan, just in case you have any vegan guests.

I would encourage anyone thinking ahead to Thanksgiving and other holiday meal preparations to plan ahead as much as possible, & to make things a couple days in advance if you can. Turkey & gravy (here’s a link to my favorite AIP gravy from last year) are often best made the day of, but many side dishes can be prepared a couple days in advance.

If you’re looking for holiday dessert inspiration, stay tuned for my next post & a very exciting announcement! 

In the mean time, here are some other resources:

• My friend Bre’anna at “He Won’t Know It’s Paleo” has a new holiday e-book "AIP Holiday"  
• Holidays on the Autoimmune Protocol : compiled by "Autoimmune Paleo"
• The Paleo Mom has a new e-book available: Thanksgiving Feast
• Paleo Magazine's 2014 AIP Thanksgiving Meal Plan

Sweet Potato Casserole with Tigernuts

yields 6-8 servings as a side dish

For the Sweet Potato Filling

3 pounds orange sweet potatoes

1025 g (4 1/3 c) sweet potato flesh (from the 3# of sweet potatoes above), room temperature

42 g (3 Tbl) Coconut Oil, melted

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 to 2 Tbl Real Maple Syrup (Grade A dark amber/Grade B preferred), depending on sweetness preferences 

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/4 tsp Vanilla Bean Powder

For the Tigernut Topping

60 g (1/2 c) Tigernut Flour

40 g (5 Tbl) Arrowroot Starch

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

39 g (2 Tbl) Real Maple Syrup (Grade A dark amber/Grade B preferred)

28 g (2 Tbl) Coconut Oil, melted

25 g (1/3 c) Sliced Tigernuts

1. Prepare the sweet potatoes for the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 F. the sweet potato filling: Wash the 3 pounds of sweet potatoes. Prick them with the tip of a sharp knife & place on a parchment lined sheet pan. Bake for 1-2 hours, or until very soft. Cool at room temperature & peel off the skin. Note: this roasting process can be done 1 to 2 days in advance of assembling the casserole. Store the baked/peeled sweet potatoes in the refrigerator
2. Make the filling by mashing the room temperature baked sweet potatoes with the remaining ingredients. Spread evenly in a baking dish. I used a 24 oz (2.3"x 9.8"x 6.3") Le Creuset Oval Gratin Dish but you could use another baking dish of comparable size. 
3. Make the tigernut topping by stirring together the tigernut flour, arrowroot, cinnamon and sea salt. Drizzle in the maple syrup and coconut oil. Mix until combined, but still a little clumpy. Stir in the slivered tigernuts. 
4. Sprinkle the tigernut topping evenly over the sweet potato filling. Bake in a 350 F oven for 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are warmed & the topping begins to brown. 
5. Serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers. 

This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Sweet Treats. 

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Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Whole30)

Perhaps never have I been so excited about a vegetable as I was about reintroducing green beans after my AIP Reset this past summer, especially since I was doing AIP + low FODMAP (and green beans are low FODMAP). Now that we’ve reached November, with important holidays, like Thanksgiving & Christmas, on the horizon, I’ve got green beans back on the brain. Oh, and that sweet potato casserole you see in some of the images? It's completely AIP & I'm sharing the recipe for it in next week’s post ;)

Because I spent a decade eating a mostly vegetarian diet, I ate a lot of side dishes at major holiday dinners. Green bean casserole was usually a staple (and one of my favorites). I’d love to concoct my own paleo/AIP reintroduction version of a green bean casserole, and perhaps someday I will, but for now, I’m way way more of a fan of speedy side dishes. A meal like Thanksgiving requires much more preparation than a “normal” meal & there are precious few shortcuts available. These green beans have almost zero hands-on preparation time (dump, drizzle, toss, sprinkle, & roast), though they still look and taste quite fancy when they’re finished.

One of my secrets when it comes to making side dishes, holiday or just regular dinner, is to embrace frozen organic vegetables. They require less hands-on preparation, I don’t have to worry about their shelf life like fresh veggies, and they’re delicious if prepared correctly. I still can’t stomach frozen-then-microwaved Normandy vegetable blend, due to poor childhood memories (sorry, Mom!), so most often, I roast frozen veggies. Something magical happens when vegetables are roasted: the flavor mellows & becomes more toasty/caramelized with such minimal effort. Usually, husband and I stand over the pan of freshly roasted vegetables & fight over eating the most crispy (what some might call “burnt”) pieces.

I’ve been roasting green beans with oil & coconut aminos for a while, but I only recently started adding some bacon to them. No, bacon does not make *everything* better, but somehow, adding a little chopped bacon to the pan of green beans helps make them feel a little more special. Please feel free to leave the bacon off if you want this dish to also appeal to any vegetarian/vegan guests you may have.

Additionally, most roasted vegetables, including these green beans, can be prepared in advance & reheated just before serving. They won’t be quite as crispy as freshly roasted but nevertheless delicious. When making these beans for a crowd, make more than you’ll think you may need. All vegetable shrink pretty dramatically during roasting! In fact, husband and I usually split a 16 oz bag (pre-roasted) of beans between the two of us as side dish for dinner.

A note on reintroducing green beans: green beans were once a “gray area” food, but since the publication of “The Paleo Approach” by Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, it is now recommended that legumes with edible pods, such as green beans and green peas, be eliminated for at least 30 days.  Once the 30 days are complete & you see significant reduction (better yet elimination) of any symptoms, green beans are considered a stage 1 reintroduction. If you’re interested in reintroducing green beans to hopefully include on a  Thanksgiving menu, I recommend trying them out a couple weeks before the holiday itself. Just in case you’d happen to have a reaction to them, it’s better to know before a major holiday! If you’re interested in more in depth information about reintroductions, check out these resources (here and here).

Roasted Green Beans with Bacon (AIP Stage 1 Reintroduction, Paleo, Low FODMAP)
Yields 4 servings for a regular meal, or 6-8 holiday meal servings (if there are other side dishes) 

2-16 oz Organic French-style Green Beans
1/4 c Avocado Oil (or other melted fat of choice)
2 Tbl Coconut Aminos
2 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces
Smoked Sea Salt, optional for serving.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet (Half Sheet Pan size), with a little of the avocado oil. 
2. Open both bags of green beans & dump them onto the sheet pan. Drizzle with the remaining oil & coconut aminos  Toss lightly to combine. Sprinkle the bacon over the top (I usually use kitchen scissors to cut the bacon right over the sheet pan). 
3. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven & stir. Return to the oven for an additional 20-30 minutes, or until well caramelized. 
4. Serve with a sprinkle of smoked salt, if desired, though the bacon & coconut aminos do have a good amount of salt already. 
5. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator. 

Notes:

• Remove the bacon to make the dish vegetarian/vegan & make sure to use a vegetarian/vegan oil. 
• To make coconut free, omit the coconut aminos, though the flavor will change slightly. 
• I have only tried this dish with frozen green beans, not with fresh, mostly because I rarely have the time to prepare fresh green beans. 
• I prefer to use french-style green beans because their smaller surface area allows them to roast faster. You can also use regular cut green beans or haricot verts, but the roasting process may take longer. 

This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Sweet Treats. 

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Roasted Broccoli (AIP, Paleo & Vegan)

So, this roasted broccoli is one of those recipes that I hesitate in sharing because it is SO easy. Does it actually need a recipe?!?  But its also one of my favorite side dishes and I’d hate for someone to go through life not experiencing the wonderfully delicious & easy dish that this roasted broccoli is. 

Cooking things completely from scratch isn’t always easy. There’s often lots of chopping and prepping of ingredients, and then there’s also the cooking part, and of course, the cleaning up.  But this broccoli is different. It’s easy. No chopping. It requires only one pan & almost no hands on time. Did I mention also that it’s economical because it turns out better with the cheaper broccoli cuts, rather than the more expensive florets. I like to roast mine until it’s almost burned. And then husband and I fight over the crispy, caramelized, charred bits on the pan.

Before and after roasting; it will shrink quite a bit

One word of caution.... once you start eating roasted broccoli, it is very difficult to go back to eating any other form. Steamed broccoli has NOTHING on roasted ;)

Roasted Broccoli

makes 2 servings 

2 lbs of frozen broccoli cuts, organic preferred 

4 Tbl Avocado Oil, divided into 1 Tbl and 3 Tbls

           (or substitute another liquid fat of choice, such as olive, or melted lard/bacon grease/duck fat) 

1 tsp Sea Salt or Himalayan salt (we like things a little on the salty side, so use less if you aren’t a big salt fan). 

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F (or 375 F on a convection oven). 
2. Grease a rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of oil.
3. Open the frozen broccoli cuts & spread onto  the baking sheet. Drizzle on the remaining 3 Tbl of oil & the salt. Toss to combine.
4. Roast in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven, toss the broccoli to ensure it isn’t sticking and that it isn’t getting too dark. Return the pan to the oven to roast an additional 20 to 25 minutes. 
5. Serve immediately.  

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