Twice Baked Yams

Last week I decided again to make dinner.  I had found this recipe through Pinterest. I love yams but the normal sweet toppings don't do it for Chuck, or really me either.  I also knew that I was going to need to incorporate some meat into this meal. This meal is very healthy and Chuck told me, "This is the best thing you've ever cooked." Yes!!!!!  Here's what I did.

Twice Baked Yams

Ingredients:

     1            Medium yam
     1/3 c.     Frozen corn
     1/3 c.     Black beans, rinsed and drained
     1 pat      Butter
                   Kosher salt
                   Ground black pepper
     1 pinch  New Mexico Chili Powder
     1 pinch  Crushed red pepper flakes
     2 T         Yellow onion, diced
     1            Canned chipotle pepper, minced
     1 t          Adobo sauce (from the can of chipotle peppers)
     1/2 oz.   Cream cheese, softened
     1 T         Sour cream
     1 T         Plain Greek yogurt
     1 T         Fresh cilantro
     1/4 c.     Shredded cheese, I used sharp cheddar, but Monterrey Jack would be great too!

Directions:

     1:     Heat oven to 350 and bake your yam 45-60 minutes until completely cooked.
     2:     Heat a medium pan to medium heat and roast the corn (resist stirring too much) 
                     with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, the chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes. 
                     While it's roasting, drain and rinse your black beans and put in a small bowl.  
                     Once corn is nicely browned, add it to the bowl.

     3:     Melt the pat of butter in your pan at medium heat and add the diced onion.  Cook 
                     until the onion is soft and translucent.  Add the cooked onion to the corn and 
                     beans, mix in the cilantro, and set aside. 

     4:     In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, and Greek yogurt together. Tip 
                     from Ashley:  I used Greek yogurt because I ran out of sour cream.  Next time I 
                     would skip the sour cream all together.  I kicked myself for not thinking about 
                     that sooner.

     5:     Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper as well as the minced chipotle pepper and adobo 
                     sauce to the mixture and set aside.

 

     6:     Once the yam is cooked, remove from the oven, cut in half length wise and spoon 
                     3/4 of the yam insides into the bowl with the cream cheese mixture.  Throw the 
                     rest of the insides of the yam away.  Save the skin! Tip from Ashley: The original 
                     recipe said a thin layer of yam left on the skin is helpful but mine peeled cleanly 
                     off, still worked out great.    

 
     7:     Mix in the corn, beans, and onions into the yam mixture.

     8:     Spoon this mixture back into your yam skins and pack it in there.  Top with 
                     shredded cheese and pop back in the oven until the cheese is melted and the 
                     filling is nice and hot. 15-25 minutes.

 

Remember, we like spicy.  Leaving out the chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes, and/or the adobo sauce will make it more mild.  I'm going to use the left over ingredients to make a few more of these today for lunches this week.

We grilled chicken breasts to serve with this and I made extra for leftovers.  Pretty easy recipe.  I threw five thawed chicken breasts in a gallon ziplock bag with 1/2 packet of McCormick Grill Mates Mojito Lime marinade mix, juice from 1/2 lemon, and about 1 T of fresh basil, chopped up.  Refrigerated this for about an hour and then allowed to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before grilling!  Easy, huh?