Homemade Healthy Snacks Series - #18 Savoury Sweet-Potato Bread wit...

I wanted to create a savoury snack packed full of goodness that can be enjoyed by both adult and child alike. You know what I say, you can never have too many vegetables, so this recipes uses lots of different kinds! If you don't quite have these exact vegetables it doesn't matter, just substitute with things you do have. It doesn't have to be 'green', I just had green things in so I thought, why not?

Peanut butter - the good pure kind without sugar and other rubbish - is very nutritious, taken in sensible amounts. It contains vitmain E (antioxidant, skin), magnesium (bones), potassium (muscles), vitamin B6 (immune system), vitamin B3 (heart, brain, skin), folate (cell & tissue growth), protein, and an abundance of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats (source). It is also a good satiating food which helps keep you fuller for longer, and can actually aid in weight loss despite the high calorie content.

You don't need me to say this, but I will anyway (!) the more vegetables you can consume and the greater the variety, the more your body enjoys the health benefits. Each different vegetable and fruit has different nutritional qualities, all important for different things within the body. Even if we don't like certain vegetables on their own, there's usually a way of incorporating them into a recipe where the flavour is hidden but you still get the nutritional benefits. Many of you will already have figured out this trick for getting all sorts of good food into your children, who we all know can vehemently stand their ground and clamp their mouths tightly shut if they don't want to eat something!

What you will need:

500g (approx) or 2 medium sweet potatoes

100g fine wholewheat flour

100g strong wholewheat bread flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Seeds to top (I used golden linseed but any would be lovely)

2 cups mixed beans*

1/2 avocado

1 green pepper

4 tblsp organic peanut butter (100% peanuts - no sugar or palm oil)

4 tblsp cooked amaranth grain (see here how to cook it)

2 inch chunk of raw courgette

2 cloves garlic

3 tblsp natural yoghurt

The pulp from 1/2 a lime

1 tblsp olive oil

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp nutmeg

* I always have my own stash of cooked-from-dried beans in the freezer, which is super handy if you prepare a lot of vegetarian foods. Please see my previous post on the easiest way to batch cook beans. In this hummus recipe I used pinto and black turtle beans, but any type will work just as well as it's the texture of them that is most important. Traditionally hummus is made with chickpeas, but I see no reason why we shouldn't use others if we don't happen to have the 'correct' type!

Method:

For the bread: Peel and dice the sweet potatoes into small pieces. Steam for about 15 minutes until soft. In a large bowl puree with a stick blender or spud masher and leave to cool.

Once the puree has cooled, add both the flours, baking soda and salt, and using your hand mix to form the dough.

In your hand roll a piece of dough into a small round, and press into the seeds. Place onto a lightly floured baking tray and repeat until you run out of dough. This mixture will make about 8 small bread rounds.

Pop into a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack

For the hummous: Empty the beans into a blender jug. These are my beans defrosted from frozen - I just took them out the freezer last night and allowed to defrost in the fridge overnight. It saves using BPA-lined canned beans or having the lengthy process of cooking from dried each time you want to use beans in your meals.

Dice the green pepper and courgette finely. I diced them very very finely as my 14 month old can eating this too but he doesn't have enough teeth to cope with large chunks just yet!

Put half of each of the green pepper and courgette, along with all the other ingredients into the blended jug and blitz on full power for a minute until smooth.

Spoon into a container suitable for refrigeration, then add the remaining halves of the diced green pepper and courgette, and mix in.

Slice the sweet potato breads in half and dollop a teaspoon of the hummus onto each half. Make it look fancy with left-over veg if you want to impress your family/friends!