Cinnamony Smashed Sweet Potato and Roasted Apple Flautas

So what do you do when a fine lady brings you a bunch of apples and a nice looking sweet potato? Well, you go all out and make something super tasty like this! Brett and I actually came up with this idea before we got the apples and sweet potatoes - last week, we had baked sweet potatoes with Earth Balance and cinnamon and sugar. We liked those so much that we spent a good portion of the rest of the evening throwing around ideas for sweet - sweet potato and winter squash dishes, this was one of them.

These flautas would make an excellent addition to a Thanksgiving or Christmas buffet - I think they will make an appearance at ours. We made our "normal" number of flautas when we had these for dinner (I eat three, Brett eats four - though we both have a hard time making it through this amount), but we way overestimated our appetites - these are quite filling (I also think I am going to have to start making less food!). They are also incredibly yummy and even healthy! What more could you ask for?

This recipe is, of course, dedicated to the one and only Vern!

Note: This recipe does take awhile to make. I would in no way classify this as a "weeknight" meal - unless of course you don't have a job.

For today, the local food legend includes only food from Vern, which is denoted with an *.















You may notice that I left the skins on the apples, but the recipe calls for peeled apples - this is because we think these would have been even better with peeled apples! Wahoo!















The cinnamon-sugar coated tortillas take these over the top. Super yummy!

Cinnamony Smashed Sweet Potato and Roasted Apple Flautas

Note: This is a process. I first roasted the sweet potato (I didn't use any oil, just poked holes in the 'tater) and got the apple "glaze" simmering, prepped the rest of the apples, and then I got the apples going in the oven. While the apples were roasting, I smashed the sweet potato and got everything all together for rolling the flautas.

Cinnamony Smashed Sweet Potatoes:
1 large sweet potato, roasted and mashed *
2-3 tbsp organic sugar
2-3 tsp ground cinnamon
a few splashes of rice milk

Combine ingredients well with a fork.

Roasted Apples:
4 Vernalicious apples (or other red apple), peeled, cored, and sliced into half inch pieces *
1 Vernalicious, peeled, cored and grated with a microplane grater *
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425.

In a small sauce pan, combine the microplaned apples and remaining ingredients. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

Toss mixture with sliced apples and place in a single layer in a baking dish.

Roast, uncovered for 20 minutes or until soft.

After apples have been removed, turn oven down to 400.

Cinnamon-Sugar Crusted Tortillas:
1 tbsp Earth Balance
1 tbsp organic sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
7 small ("fajita sized") tortillas

Melt Earth Balance in a small bowl.

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Brush one side of the tortilla with the Earth Balance. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over tortilla.

Layer smashed sweet potatoes and roasted apples in the tortillas.

Roll up and secure with a toothpick.

Bake, uncovered for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

We haven't quite figured out our "rating system" just yet - as frequency eating the meal is just as important as our initial feelings about it - but for now, I'd have to give this one 3 out of 5 chiles.

I cannot describe to you how yummy these were. I imagine this will get a lot of thumbs up from our omni families over the holidays!

'Til next time.