Aug 30 2018

Sweet Potato Chipotle Tacos

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These Sweet Potato Chipotle Tacos are made with crisp Tanimura & Antle® Artisan Romaine Lettuce leaves filled with sweet & spicy roasted sweet potatoes, corn, and black beans plus carved slices of tender and juicy seasoned chicken.

This post has been sponsored by Tanimura & Antle® through Kitchen PLAY.

Be forewarned y’all – you’re about to drool as you read this post and see these photos. My camera LOVED this recipe to the point I literally took over a 100 photos and had the hardest time ever deciding which ones to narrow it down to. They say we eat with our eyes and people, you’re about to be fed a feast! Today I’m teaming up with my friends from Tanimura & Antle to feature their Artisan Romaine Lettuce.

What I love about this lettuce is that it reminds me of a cross between iceberg and a romaine heart. Iceberg has a very cool, crisp crunch to it while romaine hearts have that sweet flavor. Their Artisan Romaine captures the best of both worlds. These lettuce heads are smaller than traditional iceberg heads or romaine which means there’s less packaging. And for me, fridge/veggie drawer space is a premium in my house.

What you’ll notice about the leaves is that there is more uniformity in the leaves. While small, the leaves are tight, uniform, but certainly not lacking in filling capacity! I could barely eat 3 of these though I did try my hardest! lol What makes the unique shape of these particular leaves versus other types of lettuce more appealing is that you can use this obviously in a salad (wait till I tell you my salad story later down) but also as taco ‘shells’ because they are sturdy, as lettuce wraps, as scoops, and so much more!

And the best part – seriously… YOU CAN EAT THE WHOLE THING! Like think about it! You could totally make a taco bowl only fill up the Artisan Romaine leaves with your fillings and eat the whole thing! No spoons, no forks, no plates! I’m in!

I’ve been a fan of Tanimura & Antle for years as I’m fortunate enough that their produce is sold in many of my local grocery stores. Obviously when it comes to the foods we eat and the foods I cook and use in my recipes, quality is number one but also it’s important to know where my food comes from and what the company is about/their practices. We should all be more informed consumers. Food safety is priority one for them. They are subject to both internal and third-party auditors to ensure that their strict policies and procedures are upheld to produce the safest product possible. They actively participate in programs aimed at industry research and food safety education. They are truly committed. Definitely read more about their commitment to food safety here

Know what I’m also committed to? These tacos! They are crazy delicious and so easy to make! Just chop up some peeled sweet potatoes and cut the corn off the cob (fresh is best but you can use frozen in a pinch – just thaw it out and add it when you add the beans). The seasoning mix is only a few basic ingredients and that’s it. Plus, I also included the addition of cooked chicken in the event you didn’t want a veggie taco.

I’ll be honest I’m not sure which one I liked better – with or without the chicken! The seasoning makes the veggies so full of flavor, and against the crispness of the lettuce, you really don’t need the chicken. But Mr. Fantabulous was home and he kind of crinkles up his nose when I make a vegetarian meal. He loves veggies but he’s a pasta or meat & potatoes type of guy. So for him I made chicken, using the same seasoning mix.

I made these on 2 different sheet pans only because the chicken, truly was an afterthought, but you could totally make this on a large, single sheet pan. I mean if you add chicken to the mix, it all gets mixed together anyway, right?

This summer I had the opportunity to do some traveling to a few farms and what made me fall even more in love with those products were their practices and their consciousness on the environment. Tanimura & Antle are in that same boat. They are committed to not only the highest standards of food safety but also to sustainability. From the very packaging their products are in and the energy used to maintaining soil health or monitoring water usage, they are dedicated to long-term sustainability for our planet and future generations. They practice a conservative farming-type practice. These practices include:

Lab testing soil to confirm nutrients and essential minerals are in place
Rotating among different crops to maintain healthy soil
Applying techniques learned from organic farming
Utilizing a close partnership with their in-house agronomist and growers to interpret lab results
Drip irrigation for targeted application and conservation of water
Investing and maintaining efficient wells and water systems
Leveling land with GPS to make sure water is used efficiently and evenly among crops

I strongly urge to to read about their sustainability practices here.

It’s no wonder Tanimura & Antle takes great pride in their produce. They are a third-generation farming company. They are active and involved in their local communities supporting a variety of organizations and their employees. They are a family and employee-owned grower, shipper and marketer. They recently celebrated their first year anniversary as an employee-owned company by contributing $21.7 million dollars to its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)! That’s absolutely incredible!

Know what else is incredible? This Artisan Romaine lettuce! Seriously, this is the lettuce that literally got Mr. Fantabulous to fall in love with healthy tacos like these BUT also realize that a salad can be an actual meal! You see this specific lettuce is the elite head of lettuce in the lettuce world (IMHO). Tanimura & Antle Artisan® Romaine lettuce is field-packaged for freshness® and is not washed. So naturally, when you open up the package, wash the leaves and dry them (just dab between paper towels) before serving.

Naturally store it in your fridge’s vegetable crisper drawer. And get this! See the package below? That can make 7 side salads or 3 meal salads! And I’m talking HUGE meal salads!

Remember my saying this is the lettuce that made Mr. Fantabulous realize (and love) salad as a meal? So we had eaten these tacos for lunch (after the shoot) and again the next day for lunch. For dinner I asked him what he wanted – pasta, go figure! I made him a side salad while I had a meal salad (with protein and some of this sweet potato filling). All the while he was eating his salad he kept saying, “Wow honey, this lettuce is so good! It’s just so crisp and fresh!” He loved it so much that he actually ate 2 salads that night.

The next day I was making lunch and asked him what he wanted. He said, “Well I really loved that salad last night but salads aren’t “real food”. Can you make me something to go with another salad?”

“Salads aren’t real food.” HA! Sounds like a challenge to me! So I carved up some chicken, sliced an avocado, tomatoes, lots of red onions (he loves those things), sautéed corn, bacon (because everything needs bacon) and put a few crispy fries on it. Yes, fries on the salad. It’s a Pittsburgh thing.

Now normally if I were to give him a ‘salad’ he would wait and look for the ‘real food’ but with this one, he dove straight in all the while saying how much he loved the lettuce. That he couldn’t get over the freshness. Once he was done he said, “My God honey that was awesome. Hey I don’t want anything else. That was more than plenty.”

I just smiled and said “And now you’re all grown up. You now officially had a salad as ‘real food’ and your meal.” He chuckled and said, “Guess I did. So that’s what I’ve been missing out on all these years? Well you need to make this more often!”

He also told me I need to make these tacos more often but ONLY if I had this specific lettuce. This lettuce has a better flavor than normal romaine you get in the stores. It’s sweeter and more full flavored plus it has a smaller rib with tender, sweet leaves. Don’t get me wrong, regular romaine is good but the ribs can be super hard almost stalk-ish and inedible. Not on there! They are firm enough to withstand the filling but tender enough to bite down on!

These tacos are one of the BEST weekly meal prep dishes! Not only is it a sheet pan meal but it makes a ton of filling and it’s so easy to assemble! What I do is once the filling is cooled, I’ll portion out enough for 3-4 leaves, Wash/dry the leaves and place them in an individual container, separate from the filling. If I want, maybe I’ll add a little cup of crispy tortilla chips, some salsa, cheese and sour cream. Those little 1-2 ounce containers work perfectly! Each gets packed neatly into my container and I’m set for lunch. Actually we both are as I’ve been making him the containers too as often I’m on conference calls throughout the day so we don’t always get to eat lunch together.

These are great hot, warm or room temperature. This is a great addition to your kids’ lunches or as a killer post-workout meal! If you wanted to mix it up you could add some jalapeno, red pepper or shrimp. But the one thing you cannot swap out is a different lettuce. It HAS to be Tanimura & Antle Artisan® Romaine! This is the best lettuce out there from a company that cares, is committed to a sustainable future, and follows the strictest guidelines! Know where your food comes from and make sure your produce comes from them!