Taco Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins with Homemade Guac

I've been trying to get around to making these for the past couple of weeks. It took awhile because this was a time consuming recipe, it had so many parts to it. But it was wonderful. I took sweet potatoes and stuffed them with a vegetarian taco filling (mainly quinoa) then roasted them and topped them with homemade guacamole! I'm really proud of this dish because I was able to juggle a lot of components and it came out really really well!!!

The first thing that I did was start on the quinoa filling. I made some of the black quinoa that is cheaper here, but I boiled it in water seasoned with taco mix! One thing about this is that it took less time to cook and then got kinda dried out, so I added more water and seasoning and eventually got the texture I was looking for. While I was cooking the quinoa I was sautéing red capsicum for the final mix. Once both these were started. I popped my sweet potato in the microwave for about 5 minutes to soften it. I Found that this actually works better if you completely cook it in the microwave so more like 7 minutes is what I would do next time. Then I took the potato out, sliced it in half, and and scooped out the insides, hollowing them into bowls. 

When those were done I added a couple of handfuls of spinach to the quinoa to steam it. As that was happening I seasoned the skins of the potatoes with olive oil mixed with some of the left over taco seasoning. The skins were prepped. My last step of combining all of the filling ingredients. I mixed the seasoned quinoa and spinach with the cooked capsicum, and a small can of strained kidney beans, as well as 1/2 cup of salsa. Lastly I mixed it with a handful of mozzarella cheese. The filling was good enough to eat on it's own (see first pic below) but I didn't stop there. I then scooped the filling into the prepped sweet potatoes, and finally topped them with more mozzarella cheese (second pic below). I then baked them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  

While those were cooking I set about making some guacamole. I learned how to do this over the summer. The way I make guac is that I take one whole avocado, I take out all of the meat, then I add chopped up red onion and a little garlic salt. I smash it all together with a fork until it is fairly creamy (see below) (if you like it chunkier than stop smashing sooner). You can also add diced tomatoes or a bit of line/lemon juice. I tend to like it simpler so I don't add those. Also it's really easy to over add the lime/lemon juice and then not be able to taste the avocado. For those of you that think the juice is necessary to keep the guac from turning brown I have a pro tip for you! If you leave the seed in the guac it won't go brown, trust me it works for days after the guac is made :) Always keep the seed!

Finally the potatoes were done and I took them out of the oven. They looked crazy good with the melted cheese and the crispy and flavorful quinoa (see top pic below). They also smelled awesome! I ate one of the halves for dinner and also the extra filling, one is not enough for a meal, but two is way to much food, bit of a conundrum. Anyway I topped with the guac and some low fat sour cream and dug in (bottom pic below). It was a wonderful dinner, and I really like using quinoa as a replacement for taco meat! This is a great veggie dish that is really healthy, but tastes like junk food. Perfect when you're craving tacos.

Thoughts on this Dish:

• I really need to make sure the potatoes are fully cooked before they go in the oven, there were parts that were still a bit hard. Also I'd cook them an hour once they're in because I like crispy skins.
• The potato filling is great to eat later. You can use it as stuffing for something else. Or just eat plain. I ate it with some canned fruit and it was really really yummy, a super healthy dessert!
• I want to make this quinoa again and you it to make tacos/enchiladas! 
• make sure not to mix too much salsa in, or the filling is too watery!!
• I used 2/3 a bag of seasoning but I would just use the whole thing next time :)
• I don't like spicy so I used mild salsa and didn't put jalapeños in the guac, but if you love spicy you can easily make modifications to make it spicier. Buy the spicy taco seasoning, spicy salsa, and add the jalapeños and you're all set!

Even though this was a bit of a patchkie, it was well worth it! Super yummy, healthy, and flavorful vegetarian meal!