Name: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Candied Ginger and Nutmeg
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 large sweet potato (just over 300g); 20 g candied ginger; 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg; 1 tsp olive oil (5g)

Over the years, I have really simplified my dinner sides. There’s always a vegetable, of course. Our go-to’s seem to be broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, sugar snap peas, or peas, just roasted or warmed in the microwave with a little salt. All 3 boys pretty much eat any of those without complaint. The toddler is wavering on Brussels sprouts and asparagus, but he’ll come around.

In the “starchy” side department, I normally do brown rice, squash fries, corn or some form of potatoes -- either mashed, baked or roasted. I used to do noodles and things but have slowly weaned us off them in hopes to replace with bulgur or quinoa. But I haven’t been too diligent in that department.

Yesterday, my plan was to bake a ham. My absolute favorite things to serve alongside are sweet potatoes and peas. It’s just a fun, EASY combo for a home-cooked meal. The ham literally just needs to be warmed in the oven, the peas can be popped in the microwave or even thrown in the oven for warming, and the sweet potatoes baked or cut and roasted.

Last night I took some liberty with the sweet potatoes and decided to have a little fun. Inspired by this purchase from Trader Joe’s:

I’ve never bought candied ginger before. When I opened the bag and took a whiff I was already in heaven. It’s sweet and “ginger spicy” with a fun, gummy texture. Totally good match for sweet potatoes, so I decided to marry the

The result was a really simple, easy side dish with a fun twist. I loved it and so did the Husband. Both kids were a bit intimidated for some reason. The toddler put a piece in his mouth, made a face and spit it out. He’s been rejecting more and more veggies but I’m being consistent. The same rules apply to him that apply to the 7-year-old: Try everything on your plate.

Speaking of the 7-year-old, he was in need of a bit of coaxing.

He tried his bite and ate about half the serving I gave him.

Not bad, it’s a whole new flavor he has to get used to.

Anyway, here’s what I did. Like I said, simple idea but I hope it inspires you to think slightly out of the box this week.

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato (just over 300g)
20g candied ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon olive oil (5g)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Instructions

Scrub the sweet potato --I like to leave the skin on -- cut into ½-inch cubes and place them in a small baking dish.

Chop the ginger as small as you can. It’s really sticky but just keep running your knife through it. I added a pinch of salt to help.

Top the potatoes with the ginger.

Add the nutmeg and oil. Toss to coat everything.

Roast for 20-25 minutes, tossing once or twice during cooking.

Serve and enjoy!

I loved getting a bite of ginger with the potatoes and a bit of ham. It’s was a great combo!

I’m listing this as 3 servings as I think it’s realistic. We split it among the 4 of us but the kids only had one serving between them.

Printable Recipe:

📖 Recipe