Sweet Potato Apple Bake

I love baked apples. LOVE them. I'm not a pie person at all, but I will devour a piece of apple pie just for the gooey delicious-ness that is baked apples. There will probably be crust left but never apples. I don't even need vanilla ice cream (though I won't turn it down).

Now, since I am currently 9 days into a Whole30, dousing apples in sugar and baking them (even without an nice topping of vanilla ice cream) isn't exactly going to fly. But that doesn't mean I can't still bake something delicious and whole30 with apples.

That brings me to a super tasty, anytime of day dish:

Sweet Potato Apple Bake

Before baking.

I'm still new to the sweet potato train, but I've been eating them more lately, with the BF loving them and being a nice partner with eggs for breakfast.

So last night, I'm lounging on the couch, reading The Crown by Kiera Cass that had just come in the mail that day, and I realize I don't have anything prepared for breakfast in the morning. I don't have a ton of time to make anything before work so I knew I needed something quick to throw together, since it was already almost 9 and I just didn't want to spend the rest of my evening in the kitchen - especially after having to rewash all the dishes that had been in the dishwasher the night before because my two month old dishwasher decided to stop working. But I'm not bitter.

(It is being looked at today - thank god for factory warranties.)

Anyway, I had seen apples and sweet potatoes together before and thought it sounded like a great combo so I marched into the kitchen without much planning other than sweet potatoes, apples, and cinnamon.

And this is what happened.

Ingredients (minus pink Himalayan salt - added later)

Sweet Potato Apple Bake

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 apple (I used Pink Lady but any kind would work - I'm partial to Honeycrisp as well)
• 2 tbsp ghee; melted (coconut oil, olive oil, or regular butter [not whole30] would all work too)
• 1 tbsp ghee (not melted)
• 2 tbsp cinnamon (more or less to your taste. we love cinnamon in our house so we tend to do more than most)
• 1/4 tsp-ish pink Himalayan salt (or whatever kind of salt you like - I just bought Trader Joe's and wanted to try it out)

Directions

Hot, out of the oven.

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Wash and peel sweet potatoes. Cut into bit-sized cubes and place in an oven-safe 8x8 dish (or 9x9 - whatever you have that will hold everything).
3. Wash apple (I left the skin on because I like them but feel free to peel the apple too if you want) and cut into cubes a little smaller than the potatoes (I did this because I wanted the potatoes to be dominant and the apples as an added taste and texture - not overpowering the dish). Add to the potatoes.
4. Pour your melted ghee over the potatoes and apples and mix them all together. Hands or spoons work for this.
5. Sprinkle the potato/apple mix generously with cinnamon and a little salt. Mix again.
6. Leave dish uncovered and put in the oven. Cook for 40-45 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.
   
   Optional: If you want to crisp the potatoes and apples a little more, put them under the broiler for a few minutes, making sure to check them so they don't burn. I did this for a little, but was impatient and ready to be done in the kitchen so they didn't crisp as much as I would have liked.
   
7. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving or let cool completely and reheat for breakfast the next morning :) Or lunch. Whatever.

What's your favorite sweet potato dish to make? What about apples? I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time,
Claire