Gut-Healthy Recipe: Baked Sausage and Sweet Potatoes

While both sweet and regular potatoes are great sources of vitamins and minerals, and often tolerated by those on a variety of diets, sweet potatoes contain the full recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. As an added bonus, they provide a sweet flavor and consistent smooth texture to help balance more complex spicy and bitter flavors. In this recipe, these flavors are found in andouille sausage and kale, but substitute smoked sausage, chorizo, spiced chickpeas, and any leafy green like swiss chard, spinach, or radicchio for a variety of fall flavors. As a bonus for shorter, darker days, this cozy recipe can be prepared as a batch bake ahead of time, providing an easy way to have ready-to-eat meals throughout the busy work week.

Ingredients:

4 medium sweet potatoes
4 tsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. onion powder
1 c. cooked farro, or brown or white rice
1 c. of kale, stems removed and sliced thin
4 andouille chicken sausage links
1/2 c. goat cheese, crumbled, optional
1/4 c. pepitas (pumpkin seeds), optional

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Poke eat sweet potato with a fork 6-8 times each, and bake for 45 minutes. To expedite, microwave the potatoes for 10-12 minutes or until slightly soft, and then transfer to oven while preparing the remaining ingredients.
3. While potatoes cook: In a sauté pan, cook the chicken sausage according to the package directions, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 185 degrees.
4. Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven, and slice open from the root end to tip, vertically.
5. Using a fork, fluff the interior of the sweet potato, and drizzle each potato with one teaspoon of olive oil.
6. Sprinkle each potato with an equal amount of salt, pepper, paprika, and onion powder.
7. Slice the chicken sausage into thin coins.
8. In a small bowl, mix sausage, farro, and greens. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Fill each sweet potato with grains and sausage mixture.
10. Garnish each potato with goat cheese and pepitas (optional) and serve.

Note: If batch baking, wrap each cooked, stuffed sweet potato in food wrap, reserving garnish until ready to serve. When ready to eat, remove food wrap, and microwave each potato on high for 2-3 minutes, and let stand for 1 minute, or reheat in a warm oven until heated through.