RECIPE: Sweet Potato Fries

Since I’m doing the Whole Life Challenge at the advanced level, I’ve pretty much gone without any starches or grains for nearly eight weeks now (except for on those three, count ‘em three, cheat days). The only starch you are allowed to have at the advanced level: Sweet potatoes. I have to admit I’ve never been a huge fan of this particular root vegetable, but when they’re the only starch you can have? Instant fandom! In fact, I’m not quite sure why I was such a sweet potato basher before. They’re actually pretty damn delicious—when you puree them in soup, bake and butter them (yes! You can have butter on the Whole Life Challenge, even at the advanced level!), or cook them up in the oven as fries (or chips).

I do realize fries and chips are so easy to make, you almost don’t need a recipe, but I’ll walk you through the process anyway. It’s mostly about using the right amount of oil (olive is fine but I recommend coconut—the perfect complement to the sweet potato flavor) and seasonings (I like them with nothing but pink Himalayan salt, but I know others like them with garlic powder, pepper, paprika…and you could also make them more dessert-like with a touch of cinnamon—no sugar though!), and baking them at the right temperature for the right amount of time. On that note, especially if you go the chip route, be sure to keep a super close eye on them. I tried to make a batch the other day and nearly burned the house down! Seriously, I’m surprised the fire department didn’t come with all the smoke I created. Eeep. Also note that the fries don’t really crisp up completely—although chips will, especially if you let them sit and cool for a bit. Alright, then. Here you go!

RECIPE: Clean Banana Nut Muffins

One of the best things about doing The Whole Life Challenge so far has been discovering all the amazing, healthy recipes people share with each other. Yes, the grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning (hey! cleaning!) can be overwhelming at times. But it's worth it when you're putting your health first...and when the results are this ridiculously delicious. Seriously, when I first saw this recipe I thought there was no way they'd taste like real banana-nut muffins. I could not have been more wrong. These babies are moist and every bit as good as (if not better than) the ones I used to make that were loaded with flour, sugar and more sugar. Pretty amazing for baked goods that are Whole Life Challenge compliant at the advanced level, not to mention gluten-free (and Paleo, if that happens to be your dietary preference)!

The sweetness in these comes from nothing more than the bananas and dates, and the moist and buttery taste is courtesy of coconut oil. (Don't complain to me about the saturated fat! I've read a ton of research on coconut oil and will write more about its many health benefits in a future post.) If you want to make these vegan, I've been told you can substitute 1 cup applesauce for the 6 eggs, but I haven't tried that yet. (If you do, please report back with your results!) I have baked eggless cookies using a baking soda-water substitute for the eggs, but I'm not sure if that will work with these since you're using coconut flour instead of death flour (seriously, you know that refined white stuff will kill you, right?). Incidentally, coconut flour has a phenomenal nutritional profile (hello? 3 to 5 grams of fiber per tablespoon, depending on the brand!) and creates a much better bread-like texture than almond flour, in my opinion. ALSO NOTE: I usually halve this recipe and get about 9 muffins out of it, which winds up making the serving size slightly smaller (and therefore each muffin lower in fat and calories). Anyway, here's the recipe. Enjoy!