Today was my first day on the elimination diet. It went well for the most part. I woke up early (but later than I had planned) to make our turkey-sage sausages and sweet potatoes. The plan was to bake the sweet potatoes, but I got so caught up in making the sausages that I sort of forgot about the baking. I improvised and made sweet potato hashed browns (hashed oranges? No, that doesn’t work.) instead.

And speaking of sweet potatoes, I would be remiss if I continued without letting you know that I am actually talking about sweet potatoes and NOT yams. I am not sure where in produce nomenclature the identity theft occurred, but there is a difference between sweet potatoes and yams. In America, we are more likely to purchase one of the many variety of sweet potatoes that more commonly exist as opposed to yams which are often found in Asia and Africa. The two are different. We get confused, but I can understand why. For instance, check out this display at Sprouts. I thought they had it right, but after doing some research, I learned that they are just perpetuating the sweet potato/yam paradox. What we are looking at there is a display of firm (light tan skin) and soft (reddish skin) sweet potatoes—a sweet potato variety display.

Sweet Potato Party!

So, where does this confusion originate? I grew up with “yams” on the Thanksgiving table. But, we were being guided down the wrong tuber path. They were actually sweet potatoes with that lovely marshmallow topping. (Oh, you know what conversation we are having at Thanksgiving this year.)

My friend and I were having this “what is a sweet potato/what the is a yam” discussion over dinner the other day. And we brought up the bag of organic sweet potatoes that we both buy at Trader Joe’s. And it turns out that TJ’s has got it right. These are correctly labeled as a bag of sweet potatoes. (So relieved.)

PC: How Sweet It Is

And it turns out that sweet potatoes and the yams also differ in their anti-inflammatory properties. Sweet potatoes outrank the yam when it comes to anti-inflammatory compounds. This is a major plus for someone like me with lupus who wants to bring down as much inflammation in my system as possible. And let’s not forget their lovely (sometimes subtle, sometimes not) sweet factor, which is another plus in my book.

Well, I am glad to have got that cleared up because Sweet Potato Hashed Browns sounds better to me than Yam Hashed Browns. Right?

Well, my forgetfulness while making breakfast turned out to work in our favor. I made our food before heading out to get my labs done. I needed to fast for my labs, so I was quite ready to eat when I got back. Everything tasted good. I am particularly fond of these sweet potato hashed browns since I am not able to eat potatoes right now.  I can tell it’s going to be a “interesting” ride to have my DH on; each time we sat down to eat today, my DH, (jokingly/not jokingly) asked for something we couldn’t have. At breakfast, it was “where’s the ketchup?”, and at dinner, it was “where’s the ketchup?” Yeah, he has a slight (term used lightly) addiction to ketchup. He once asked for ketchup for his pasta while in Italy. Yup, he nearly got thrown out of the restaurant. I am happy to report that he really liked these sweet potatoes sans ketchup. I hope you will enjoy them too!

Sweet Potato Hashed Browns

2014-11-14 14:10:49

These hashed browns are great as a side with any meal. They work really well as a snack too!

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Ingredients

1. 5 tablespoons unsalted butter or ghee
2. 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and 1/2-inch diced
3. 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (about 2 onions)
4. 1 teaspoons kosher salt
5. 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6. 2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
7. 2 tablespoons minced scallions (white and green parts)

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large (10 to 12-inch) nonstick saute pan at medium heat.
2. Add the sweet potatoes, onions, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally with a flat spatula, until the sweet potatoes are evenly browned and cooked through. (Allow the sweet potatoes to cook for 5 minutes before turning.)
3. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and scallions. Serve hot.

Adapted from Ina Garten

Adapted from Ina Garten

Moons & Spoons https://www.moonsandspoons.com/

Note: This entry is part of my food elimination diet series. These posts are based on my personal journal entries during this period. Subsequent related entries will be posted chronologically but may not be posted on the same dates they occurred.