Yep, I’m still on the sweet potato kick. Remember that I have about 85 pounds of sweet potatoes in the pantry to use this winter. Furthermore, today I spent the two hours hanging around the doctor’s office with the first kiddo who has succumbed to Influenza this year. I was looking for easy, delicious, relatively uncomplicated. So I took a family favorite, Baked Potato Bar, to a new level. YUM!
Sweet Potato Bar
Start with one large sweet potato per person. Scrub the outside and jab with a paring knife a couple of times. Bake at 400° for an hour or so. Sweet potatoes vary in size so you’ll need to stick a fork into the potatoes to determine when they’re done.
Peel a potato and mash it up with a fork on your plate.
Now….for the toppings!
Tonight I started with grated cheese (an Italian mix of mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, asiago, fontina, and romano cheeses), some sausage, some sauteed onions and garlic, some cilantro, and drizzle of homemade balsamic vinaigrette. I mashed all this together a little more and dinner was ready!
That was just MY plate. There were other items on our sweet potato bar and everyone customized their sweet potato dinner to their own personal tastes. Some of the variations were Very Healthy and some…not so much. But everyone agreed that Sweet Potato Bar was a delicious dinner.
Here’s a list of the toppings we had to choose from. You can add your own favorites of course.
- Grated Italian cheeses
- Grated cheddar cheese
- sauteed onions and garlic
- diced green peppers
- cilantro
- pepperoni
- pastrami
- plain yogurt
- balsamic vinegar
- ranch dressing
- sausage
- sliced green onions
- diced tomatoes
Some of our other favorite toppings include:
- diced green peppers
- sour cream
- crumbled bacon
- pineapple chunks
- asparagus tips
- black beans
- ground venison
- chunks of chicken
- curry sauce
- coconut
Now we don’t ever load down those sweet potatoes with EVERYTHING because that would be too many flavors all at once. (Okay, it’s possible that sometimes some young men that are related to me load everything available onto the sweet potato, but I, personally, don’t do that!)
Now, did you notice those beautiful PURPLE potatoes? Any time you have an opportunity to try sweet potatoes that are wild colors, take the chance!
Barb 
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My favorite is butter, brown sugar and marshmallows. But that is more on the not-so-healthy side of things.
I am convinced that God never intended sweet potatoes to be covered in marshmallow. (No offense, marshmallow lovers. It ain’t bad, but that’s dessert, not food.) Those taters are sooooo much better with savory toppings. I love mine with butter and sour cream.
ooh, you could do a breakfast bar too. fresh and dried fruit, diced bacon and ham, sausage, yoghurt, granola, etc. can you tell i haven’t had my breakfast yet? i am salivating just thinking of the possibilites.
Wow, I’ve done a sweet potato bar before, but never like this! I did it for Thanksgiving a few years ago and had mostly sweet stuff: honey butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, marshmallow fluff, caramel sauce, candied orange peel, crystallized ginger, chopped pecans, and I think that’s it. Personally I love them best with just butter and salt, but I never would have thought of some of the toppings you suggested, I can’t wait to try some of them.
What a great idea. I love make-your-own meals like this.