Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

Some Kind of Herb…

By

Hello hello! How are you on this lovely day?

I had so much fun reading everyone’s guesses to the mystery side dish! Pretty much everyone guessed that it was either butternut squash or sweet potato. Everyone guessed the spinach 🙂 Most people saw the wild rice, but no one guessed the secret herb!

I would have to say that the reader, Molly, guessed the closest with her guess of:

“i’ll have to go with roasted sweet potato, wild rice, spinach, thyme, white pepper perhaps, and some kind of oil”

What is the Secret Herb?

Rosemary!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Wild Rice

~This dish is extremely easy to make, but it is very delicious. I make it a lot for Thanksgiving, or for a quick lunch. Vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, and, of course, sugar-free!

Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 4 medium-sized sweet potatoes
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/3 cup fresh rosemary, or 2 Tablespoons dried
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 3/4 cup wild rice
  • optional: spinach, lemon juice

I don’t really measure when I make this dish, but I simply drizzle as much olive oil as I need, chop as many sweet potatoes I need, and  sprinkle as many herbs as I need. However, here are the measurements if you need them.

Preheat oven to 450*. Scrub the sweet potatoes’ skins until clean, and keep the skins on. The skin gives the potatoes a nice chewy edge when roasted, not to mention a good amount of healthy fiber. Chop into bite-sized pieces, and lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil on the potatoes and sprinkle the herbs. Lightly stir so they are evenly coated. Bake for 40 minutes or until they are slightly browned.

In the meantime, cook the wild rice. In a large saucepan, boil 1 1/2 cups water. Add the rice, and turn down the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes. For this dish, I like the wild rice a bit crunchier than usual, and not completely cooked.

When the rice and sweet potatoes are done, toss them together until evenly mixed. Either serve plain or on top of a bed of spinach drizzled with lemon juice.

Health Benefits

  • Sweet Potatoes: Click HERE for a post about the benefits of sweet potatoes.
  • Wild Rice: This rich, nutty short grain rice has 5x more flavonoids than regular white rice, and is a great source of anthocyanin antioxidants. It is also an anti-aging agent, and has 7g protein and 3g fiber per cup.
  • Rosemary: Rosemary is rich in calcium, magnesium and potassium. It has good amount of phosphorus, sodium and iron with small amount of zinc, copper, manganese and selenium. It is also useful in increasing blood circulation, improving concentration and digestion. It stimulates the immune system, reduces the severity of asthma attacks and helps prevent breast cancer.
  • Olive Oil: Full of monounsaturated fats and antioxidant, olive oil can protect against heart disease by controlling LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels while raising HDL (the “good” cholesterol) levels. Make sure you buy Extra Virgin Olive Oil because it is least processed. Also, don’t keep your oil too long because it can go bad quickly, and keep it in a cool, dark place.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

What is your favorite board game as a kid?

When I was little I LOVED Shoots and Latters, and Sorry! I have two younger siblings, so I always had someone to play with. I was also a big fan of Monopoly and Clue because I loved gathering the money and being the “Banker” or solving mysteries.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Rosemerry! Of course! So that was that herb!!!! I just couldn’t find the name for it! 😀

    I love this!!! You should totally do another mystery dish! It was so much fun trying to figure out what you had put in it! 😀

    xoxox
    Kathleen

  3. Ooh, this looks great!

    We had the Disney version of Sorry!, I loved that game. I also always loved playing Scrabble, still do!

  4. Today I was thinking about how often “sugar free’ means something is all sweetned with nasty artificial sweetners and stuff. And then I thought of your blog and I was like “Now THAT is how you eat sugar free!” I always love your posts because they’re so creative and healthy! This dish is no exception, I’ll have to try it!

    • I know exactly what you mean. It is disgusting! When ever something says “sugar -free” I put it down immediately because I know it isn’t actually. Thanks for the nice compliment!

  5. This is awesome- I’m always looking for new stuff to do with sweet potatoes- they’re so good for us and we just adore them. Thanks for sharing- and btw- Chutes and Ladders all the way!

  10. Candyland ( sorry ), Lie Detector; Monopoly, Battleship, Clue, Dominos, Ouiji board until it scared the heck out of us – when the Exorcist movie came out, I put mine outside with the garbage, The Dating Game, Barbie Queen of the Prom – loved that one, Shoots & Ladders, Chinese Checkers; sometimes chess. Oh the best one of all, Operation.

  14. i love rosemary!! its so great, and so is sage and thyme.. mmm
    hey in reference to the comments above i got something last weekend in the form of a sorbet and it was apparently sugar free – – – but it was not! and was disgusting! straight to the trash – so I am really learning that people have no idea what they are doing when they make these claims on products.
    xx
    (just glad I am not the only one…) ah! so much to learn…