Weight Loss and Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes

  You may have noticed I haven't made any new blog posts in over a month. I have been on a brief hiatus to focus on my health. I am proud to say after 15 months I am finally at my pre-pregnancy weight! Getting healthy has been quite a journey for me. My weight has yo-yoed for years and I have always struggled to lose weight and keep it off. I lost 30 lbs before getting pregnant, only to gain close to 50 throughout my pregnancy with Ethan. Diabetes and heart disease are serious issues in my family so I knew how important it was for me to start living a healthy lifestyle now, before I started having issues of my own.
   I have begrudgingly tried so many diets and forms of exercise in the past; some worked, some didn't. But I never once enjoyed it enough to turn it into a lifestyle. This time has been different. I am enjoying eating clean, healthy foods and I am loving the way exercising makes me feel. I worked with a weight loss clinic for the first month, doing a complete overhaul of my diet and taking HCG injections to help me along. I drank a gallon of water everyday and lived off of only chicken breast, green veggies, and a handful of fruits. It was tough, but I felt better and better everyday knowing I was becoming healthier and cleaning all of the toxins, from the junk I had been eating the past 26 years, out of my body. Now, I am on my own, but remain eating a low calorie diet made up of lean protein, vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. I love the way real food tastes now. I love feeling satisfied after a small portion without feeling like I'm going to burst because I ate so much food. I love my body again and I love having nothing to wear because all of my clothes are falling off of me!
   Of course, eating nothing but plain chicken and steamed vegetables, I had nothing interesting to add to the blogosphere last month. But fear not, I have started cooking again and look forward to sharing some delicious, healthy recipes with you!

   Tonight for dinner we had a turkey breast tenderloin I rubbed with a salt-free blackening seasoning from a local company, Dak's Bistro. I served it with a green bean salad and Crash hot sweet potatoes. I have made these sweet potatoes several times, I just changed the recipe up a little bit to lower the calories per serving. They weren't really unhealthy before, so I only made a few small changes. You can find the original recipe here .

Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes
Serves 4 (110 calories per serving)

2 small to medium sweet potatoes, peeled
cooking spray
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut peeled potatoes about 1- 1 1/2 inches thick. Cook in boiling water for about 10 minutes, until just tender. Drain potatoes and let cool about 10 minutes. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Use a fork to slightly smash each potato disk. Spray tops with cooking spray.
Combine sugar, salt, and spices. Distribute spice  mixture evenly amongst potato slices.
Bake on 375 for about 20 minutes. Broil last few minutes for sugars to caramelize.

In the original recipe, both sides are coated with sugar/spices and a butter/olive oil mixture is used to aid in caramelization. These have much less fat and sugar, but still taste delicious.

Enjoy!