With it being Memorial Day and a short week at work I didn’t want to put too much effort into my meal planning this week. I wanted something that was easy to create, easy to reheat, easy to eat. And microwaved sweet potatoes with a spicy veggie salad was just the ticket. Here is my Spicy Veggie Salad Stuffed Sweet Potatoes totally vegan and totally gluten-free.

I love having microwaved sweet potatoes for dinner, especially when they are super-hot and the sweet juice is spilling out. I especially love them with lots of cinnamon and peanut butter. Oh. Yum. Heavenly, and a perfect way to end a day. For lunches this week I figured I would share the sweet potato wealth and make something a little different, but still easy. Nothing easier than microwaving a potato.

For the yummy spicy salad, I figured the innards of an awesome casserole would work great for this too. This is super simple and the cooking of the veg went really fast. The only long part was roasting the garlic, but you can just use minced garlic if you want. Corn on the cob was obviously on a great sale last weekend, 6 for $1, so I bought the six and cut the corn off four of them for this salad. The other two I cut the corn off and snacked on the rest of the day.

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Start by roasting your garlic at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Once it’s done take it out to cool. Cut your onion, peppers, and carrots into small chunks then add to a little olive oil in a large skillet (I used an electric skillet this time). Add your garlic, taco seasoning and about 1/2 cup water; stir all together then put lid on to sweat out veggies. Mince your jalapeno very small then add it to the skillet and mix, then add salsa. Once everything is heated through add the black beans (mine were defrosted from my freezer but you can use canned, just rinse well) and your corn. Leave off lid and mix until liquid is almost gone. Don’t overcook your veggies, you want the crunch left in them. Turn off and let cool.

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To assemble for lunches for the week, I bought medium-sized sweet potatoes and will wash them each night. I keep a knife and fork at work so I will poke lots of holes in it before microwaving and use the knife to cut open. Store the veg in either one large ziplock bag or 5 individual baggies. I did the large baggie then each night will fill one small baggie after rinsing it out from the last use. To hold the sweet potato take a microwaveable safe bowl to hold it, then microwave until soft. Once soft cut open then pour veggies into middle and microwave two more minutes to warm veggies. Enjoy!

Spicy Salad Stuffed Sweet Potatoes,

1 Garlic Bulb, roasted
1 Medium Red Onion, chopped small
1 Red Pepper, washed and chopped small
1 Green Pepper, washed and chopped small
4 Small Carrots, washed and chopped small
1 1/2 Tbsp Homemade Taco Seasoning
1/2 C Water
1 Jalapeno, washed, deseeded and minced
8oz Pace Mild Salsa
1 1/2 C Defrosted Black Beans
4 Small Corn Cobs, kernels sliced off
Sweet Potatoes

1. Roast garlic at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Take out and let cool until you can carefully squeeze out garlic.
2. Chop onion, peppers, and carrots and add to skillet with a little olive oil.
3. Add garlic, taco seasoning and water. Mix well and put lid on.
4. Mince jalapeno then add to veggies. Mix well then add salsa and mix, put lid back on.
5. Once veggies are just softened add black beans and corn. Mix then let cook through.
6. Turn skillet off once veggies are just done – you want them to still have a bite to them.
7. Pour veggies into baggies for lunches.
8. Wash and poke holes in sweet potato. Once fork tender cut in half then use your fork to break up insides. Pour salad over potato then microwave for two more minutes.
9. Enjoy!

Stats: (salad only)

Calories: 196
Total Fat: 1g
Sodium: 577mg
Carbs: 43g
Protein: 7g