As October starts and the weather becomes colder and colder my body is starting to crave hot, filling dishes to keep it going through the day. And this warming, slightly spicy, sweet potato mushroom and spinach salad is just perfect for that. I love it. It tastes like real comfort food.

I spent most of my life with a strange aversion to mushrooms, they really freaked me out. It was very bizarre, I’ll never understand this irrational phobia! However, once I got past my weirdness and learnt to love all things plant-based I became totally obsessed with these beautiful little veggies. They’re an amazing addition to any dish as they add a fantastically filling, almost meaty, texture to everything. I also love how juicy and tender they become after they’re stir fried with salt and olive oil. Yummmm. They’re great at absorbing extra flavours too, which means here they pick up on the subtly spicy tastes given of by the slices of jalapeño pepper which they’re cooked with. Their spicy, meatiness combines perfectly with the sweet, tender nature of the sweet potato cubes, the soft lime infused spinach and the ver-so-slightly crunchy quarters of juicy cherry tomatoes to create an amazingly simple but insanely delicious plate of goodness.

Everything on this plate will make your body love you, from the iron rich spinach to the B vitamin filled mushrooms, the anti-oxidant loaded tomatoes and the antibacterial jalapeño peppers. All the ingredients are just amazing. Although it’s the sweet potatoes that get me most excited. I love that they’re so amazingly filling like normal white potatoes but then they have these extra specially awesome health benefits as they’re bursting with all kinds of goodness. Not only are they one of nature’s richest sources of beta-carroteine (super important for your body to…., but they’re also fantastic providers of Vitamins A and C, antioxidants, fibre, potassium, manganese and B6. As a result they have awesome anti-inflammatory properties and help to control your blood sugar. So there really are too many reasons to tuck into a huge plate of these deliciously sweet beauties!

Serves 2:

- 1 large sweet potato (orange)

- a dozen chestnut mushrooms

- 2 bowls of (cooked) spinach

- 2 jalenpeno peppers

- a dozen cherry tomatoes

- apple cider vinegar

- cinnamon

- paprika

- salt

- olive oil

Slice the sweet potatoes into bite-seized cubes and place them on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 190C, until they’re deliciously soft.

While these cook slice the mushrooms into pieces and gently stir fry them with olive oil, salt, two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and the chopped jalapeño pepper (remember to discard the seeds before chopping). This should take about 7 minutes. Just before the end add the spinach and allow it to wilt. This is a very quick process, it will only take 2 or three minutes to become perfectly soft.

Slice the cherry tomatoes into quarters.

Once everything is cooking mix it all together and serve. Enjoy!