Sweet Potato Wedges & Kale Chips
Welcome new year, hey 2015! I think I’m not alone when I say how fast this past year has gone by. 2014 was an incredible year for myself and it started just about normal.
I was the girl who liked eating healthy and always took photos of her food before consuming it. Only few people knew about it and followed me on Instagram. Still, I was so happy about the few thousand people that liked my work and I still remember the little dance parties my flatmates and I threw every time I had reached a new thousand. Five thousand people were so many; I could hardly get my head around it. Wasn’t I only a normal girl who discovered this new way of eating, sneaking off with her plate of food in order to take a picture of it in the quiet of her room?
Then the new year came around and more and more people came by my little and beloved account. I found new friends, who already had a voice online and who loved what I was doing. They became my close friends, with whom I share such passion for healthy food, photography and film making.
The more the year proceeded, the more people were discovering LTHC, leaving me lovely comments and telling me how inspired they were by my work. Numbers rose so high, I couldn’t imagine so and so many people anymore.
With the numbers rising, came the constant fear. Fear of not being good enough, fear of sharing too much or too little information, it even got to a point where it took me an hour to decide how to phrase my latest Instagram description. It took time and some good conversations with friends who had experienced similar. You worry too much, a good friend of mine just recently pointed out. You started all of this for you, sharing what YOU like, don’t start thinking what other people would want you to do. And he’s completely right. I am so grateful and happy for everyone who comes along and likes my work, but it shouldn’t frighten me, but encouraging me. Sharing my knowledge, ideas and creations about healthy eating is what I want to do. And so will I continue. This year will bring a lot of changes, so much I know already. I want to focus on Living The Healthy Choice, sharing even more recipes and adding my love for photography and film making to the project.
Thank you so much, all of you, for being here, for your equal passion for food and photos. Even if you still get me a bit nervous sometimes, I am here for and because of you.
And now, drink up your green juices and finish that yoga lesson – we’ve got a lot to do this year!
Love,
Pauline
On we go with the first recipe I want to share with you this year – my favourite main dish: Sweet Potato Wedges with Kale Chips and Guacamole! All three ingredients taste pretty good on their own, but when you combine them they make an incredible meal. Sweet potato is quite a cool and pretty coloured vegetable, full of Vitamin A and fibre. Kale is one of the most healthy and nutritious vegetables on earth and actually very affordable. It’s a winter vegetable, so it’s usually not available all through the year, so do enjoy it while you can! Kale can be prepared in many different ways and one thing I love to do is roast it in the oven until it gets all crunchy. Most healthy chips you will ever find! And guacamole, is as usual one very delicious dip. I have shared the recipe already, have a look over here.
Follow
Sweet Potato Wedges & Kale Chips Recipe
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Servings: 2
Ingredients
for the sweet potato wedges
- 1 large sweet potato
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- ½ branch of rosemary (or 1 tsp of dried rosemary)
- salt & pepper
for the kale chips
- 4 handful of kale
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch of sea salt
for the guacamole
- 2 avocados
- 1 larger tomato
- 1 small onion
- 1 handful of parsley
- ½ clove of garlic
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 handful of sunflower seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400F.
- First prepare the wedges: Wash the sweet potato and scrub it well to clean off the dirt. Cut them lengthways several times in wedges. Place them in a bowl and drizzle 2 tbsp of olive oil, chilli flakes, rosemary, salt and pepper. Mix it well until all wedges are coated in olive oil and spices.
- Place them on a baking sheet on a baking tray and let them roast in the oven for about 40 – 45 or/and until tender and gold brown.
- Meanwhile wash the kale and dry it with a paper towel. Remove the leaves off the stem and break it into smaller pieces. Put them in a bowl, drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt and massage the kale until it’s coated with olive oil and the leaves are softened.
- Place them on a baking sheet on a second baking tray and add it to the oven when the wedges have approx. another 15 minutes to bake. Check on the chips regularly, as they tend to burn very quickly.
- While kale and sweet potato are roasting in the oven, finally prepare the guacamole. In a bowl mix the peeled avocado and tomato and mash with a fork. (In case that your tomato is too solid to mash, you can blend it with an immersion blender for a short amount of time.)
- Cut the onion in small cubes, and either cut the garlic in super small pieces or use a garlic press; add both and the juice of the lemon to the mix. Rinse the parsley and generously chop it, combining it with the guacamole.
- In a small pan roast the sunflower seeds on medium heat until they are crispy, but not burned. Add two thirds of the seeds to your freshly made guacamole and use the rest to garnish. Spice the guacamole with enough salt and pepper.
- Take the sweet potato wedges, kale chips out of the oven and serve together with the guacamole.
