I’m just really into comfort food this week. Obviously. Like yesterday’s french toast. Uhhhh yeah, that’s comfort food at it’s max. This recipe is pretty comforting as well. Like a blanket of happiness wrapped around meats. Ha. And since we don’t eat tortillas in this little paleo community of ours, I had to turn to the next best thing. Sweet potatoes. BOOM. This meal would be a wicked good post wod meal. I did it. I ate it on the couch in pain after a thruster and handstand push up workout. Worst.Combination.EVER.
OMG guess what? I’m going to L.A. soon! Yes, I’m going to California. Really just for fun. I need to get the hell out of Colorado for at least a weekend. See other people. See other gyms. Yep, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m going to visit friends in California with my friend Sergio and we are hitting up his old gym, CrossFit South Bay. Have you ever checked out their website? It’s wicked cool. And they have people that are cool as hell there. Especially my friend Ashley. She’s another Paleo blogger at PaleoMadeline. And hilarious. She’s may be as weird as I am so I, of course, love her. I can’t wait until our weirdness explodes together in the L.A. area. Sh*t is gonna get real.
And since I will be in the gym or at a restaurant most of the time while I’m in Cali, it will be difficult to make a cooking video. SO, I’m going to video everything I eat and do. Minus going to the bathroom. That just is way too personal. And I’m not a person that shares my personal business. HA, I got jokes!! Anywho, instead I will be showing everything I eat when I go to different restaurants (paleo or not), hoping to video my CrossFit Open wod at CFSB, as well as any weird sh*t Sergio does. Hopefully it’s at least PG-13. Knowing him, it won’t be, and a lot of editing will have to occur.
Ooo, guess what I got to do! I got to write a guest post for an amazing woman named Kim on her website Trainer Kim. She has an incredible story and looks absolutely fantastic! Her site is all about becoming the best you through understanding what you are putting in your body as well as how you are taking care of your body. She has some great information ranging from diet, to how to decrease your stress levels, to easy ways to eat out at restaurants. Awesome information, be sure to check her out!
PS-This is probably the most time consuming recipe I have ever made. But it’s worth it. If you don’t make it, I pity you. Seriously.
Sweet Potato Enchiladas
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
For the enchiladas
- 3 sweet potatoes, sliced thin lengthwise with a mandoline
- 1lb grass fed ground beef
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (4oz) can diced green chiles
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3–4 tablespoons Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil
For the sauce
- 1 (14oz) can tomato sauce
- 1/4 yellow onion, minced
- 1/3 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Now to make our “tortillas” from our sweet potatoes. Use a mandoline to thinly slice your sweet potatoes lengthwise. (You can use a knife but I found I couldn’t get the thinness I wanted or consistency with each slice with using a knife)
- Heat up a large skillet or griddle and place 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in it. When skillet is very hot and coconut oil has melted, add your sweet potatoes. Cook your sliced sweet potatoes for 3-5 minutes per side or until sweet potatoes are soft. You DO NOT want them crispy. (You may have to do this a couple of batches so keep coconut oil on hand.) Do as many batches as you need to and place sweet potato slices on a paper towel to remove excess oil and cool while you cook your meat.
- Once your sweet potatoes are cooling, use the same skillet to cook your meat. Add in a bit of oil then add your minced garlic cloves along with your onion.
- When the onion becomes translucent, add in your ground beef along with your green chiles and spices. Let that cook down until cook completely through, using a wooden spoon to break up the ground beef and incorporate all the flavors.
- While the meat cooks, place a saucepan over medium heat for your sauce. Add your tablespoon of oil along with your minced onion.
- When the onion becomes translucent, add your tomato sauce and vegetable broth, as well as all your seasonings. Let that cook down until it thickens just a bit.
- Now once everything is done cooking, it’s time to use your fingers!
- Pull out an 8×8 or 9×9 glass baking dish, add a spoonful of enchilada sauce on the bottom and start building your enchiladas.
- Each enchilada should take 3 slices of a sweet potato. Place a slice down in the dish, then another half way on top, then another half on top of the second slice. It should be a feathering or fan effect. Now place a spoonful or two of your meat mixture in the center of your sweet potatoes, then wrap your sweet potatoes over the meat, tucking the ends underneath the other ends of the sweet potatoes (like a tortilla).-see first picture for an example
- Repeat until all your sweet potatoes are gone. If you are have leftover meat, place that around your enchiladas.
- Pour your enchilada sauce on top.
- Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- Cool then eat your heart out!
This goes into my queue of “Formerly-carby-foods-that-now-have-low-carb-versions.” What a great idea to sub sweet potatoes for tortillas.
Question: What kind of mandoline do you use?
Oh Debra, I really have no idea. Nothing fancy, just one I got at Target or something. The cheapest I could find
Holy smokes these are AMAZING! Even my Paleo-skeptic husband loved them. Thanks!!
Yay!! Glad you both liked them Nicolette!
Ummm, yum. I didn’t make them like you said to. I threw a pork tenderloin in the crockpot with some delicious stuff and shredded the hell out of it to stuff my enchiladas with. And, I’m happy. Thanks for being a culinary genius and inspiration! 🙂
I think you should go on The Next Food Network Star or some similar show and spread the Paleo diet everywhere! 🙂
Lol I don’t know what I’m doing in the kitchen though Angela so me on the food network would just be silly
Looks delicious! However, I am a vegetarian and I also stay away from pastas and breads. Do you think this recipe will be good with cheese instead of meat?
I’m sure it would be! Cheese is great with anything really
Yowza! These are awesome! Made a double batch tonight. I’m excited for the leftovers. Made your creamy chicken chili today too – plan to eat that tomorrow.
Glad you liked it Meghan!!
Made these tonight – Delish!!! My sweet potatoes were small and I don’t have a mandolin so after attempting to wrap the first one – I decided to just layer the potatoes, meat and sauce. Same cooking time and it turned out great! Thanks!
More like an enchilada lasagna? Still sounds awesome!
It totally was – was even more delicious today for lunch with a bit of guacamole on top!
This is going into the weekend mix…for certain…Question…Could I possibly bake or steam/parboil the mandolined sweet potatoes instead of frying them (to limit a bit of the fat?)…or would this totally denature/alter the “yum” factor or texture of your exquisite recipe? I just signed in as a follower to your amazing blog and go-to reference for Paleo Cuisine…Your creativity is bottomless…thank you for sharing with us.
Thanks so much Donna!! I think steaming would work!!
Made these tonight for the kiddies and they practically licked the plate. That’s saying a lot in my house where they usually leave at least half their food uneaten. Thanks for another great recipe!
Haha that’s so cool!! Glad you all liked it 🙂
I love your blog, and every recipe I have made of yours is delicious. I plan to make this for dinner tomorrow, but I was wondering if you think the sweet potatoes could be cooked in the oven on a cookie sheet instead of in the pan? Maybe if I tossed them in some oil first? It might make it a little faster so I could make the meat and sauce at the same time.
Hey Rachel!! I’m thinking that could work, you would just need to be careful that they didn’t crisp up too much, you still want the sweet potatoes soft so you can wrap them like tortillas!
I couldn’t wait until tomorrow and made them today. Oh my goodness! Those are amazing! So glad my hubs is traveling and I can eat them all myself. I did bake the sweet potato slices in the oven. I just sprayed them and the pans with oil and baked for about 7 minutes each side at 375. It worked great. More dishes, but less time at the stove. Thanks for such a great recipe and fast response to my question!
Perfect! Glad it worked out!! Thanks for commenting about it because I’m sure others have the same question!
This was such a fantastic idea! We used ground pork instead of beef because it was what we had left from the butcher. Nevertheless, it was delicious.
I even successfully used the mandoline this time without needing stitches.
Our success failed when it came to wrapping the meat mixture with the sweet potato slices, so instead we cooked it like a lasagna/casserole. So great–thanks again!
Ground pork sounds awesome! Good work not cutting your finger off!