A healthy Christmas recipe!

This Sweet Potato, Sage & Tofu Bake (Gluten Free) was created as a quick and easy oven bake meal that can be used for dinners or lunch leftovers with ease.

I’ve spoken often to clients over the years at The JCN Clinic to use existing recipes like the Sweet Potato Satay Bake or the Creamy Mustard Silverbeet & Potato Bake and layer in tofu or an alternative protein to make an all in one meal. Therefore, I thought it was time to turn my words into action and actually make the recipe happen.

This Sweet Potato, Sage & Tofu Bake also echos some serious Christmas vibes. I can easily imagine it as a shared dish on the Christmas table with some slow roasted lamb and a lovely crisp green salad.

Another reason I wanted to make this recipe was to have a lovely carbolicious dish for myself. With such an increase in weekly running volume this past year (and especially these last months) I’m seeking ways to make my carbohydrate consumption more varied. I’ve been going hard on the roasted potatoes and rice with less frequency these days in pseudo-grains, as I find they just don’t fill the hunger hole anymore.

Its fascinating (to a nerdy clinical nutritionist) how much the body innately craves what it needs when you are in tune with it. The fuel your body requires when weight lifting alone compared to a lightened load of weight lifting and loads of running is quite chalk and cheese. I can see very clearly how if you lack a good foundation of wholefood eating, adapting your dietary intake intuitively would be a very muddy and confusing area. It would be so easy to fall into cravings driven from a poor dietary foundation leading to frustrations with training and performance outcomes.

Carbohydrates are such a critical macronutrient when it comes to endurance sports. Not just complex carbohydrates for longer lasting fuel (think potatoes, sweet potato, grains, wholegrain breads) but also simple carbohydrates like honey, dried fruit, maple syrup, fruit juices and even sugar in the appropriate amounts. Without the right intake of these carbohydrates throughout the day and around training endurance output will suffer.

The other macronutrient also underrated in endurance running is protein. Protein intake is critical to help maintain muscle mass, repair muscle damage, provide the backbone of hormones – the list goes on. Combining adequate protein intake with carbohydrate intake helps provide a very hungry athlete, or any high volume endurance training person with satiety, reducing swinging cravings and fatigue. I’ve also found protein intake critical to maintain a muscle mass with dialled back weight training these past months. As a female in her 40s this is a priority (you can hear more about this topic in this episode of The JCN Clinic Podcast Show).

Coming up with ways to tick the protein and carbohydrate intake boxes in new facets is where my recipe developer mind kicks in. I also wanted a dish that echoed Christmas vibes as mentioned above. When I think of Christmas (savoury) food, I always think of roasted dishes with herbs and nuts muddled together in the perfect union.

Gut health wise (because gut health is like a friendly neighbour always at the fence for a chat), I wanted to highlight and celebrate plant based protein. Its been a while, as my carnivore palette will generally choose a good marbled steak over some legumes.

Plant based meals like this one provide so much beneficial fuel for our microbiome. Ingredients like onion and garlic are rich in the prebiotic inulin, a wonderful fuel for our microbiome. The plant based protein of this recipe – tofu, is rich in the prebiotic galactoligosaccharides, which not only feeds beneficial bacteria but helps drive down numbers of microbes that can become overgrown and cause gut issues.

That really does present a slightly schizophrenic but well rounded explanation as to why this Sweet Potato, Sage & Tofu Bake is so good for you. Most importantly, lets not forget that it does taste delicious! The sweet potato soaks up the creamy sauce and the onion becomes gloriously sweet. The tofu also soaks up the flavours of the dish and crisps up on the top layer with the crunch of the hazelnuts. So good.

Recipe adaptions for low FODMAP

As always, here are some suggestions for common modifications:

Garlic alternative – Simply swap the garlic clove for garlic infused olive oil.
Onion alternative – ideally use the same amount in quantity of diced fennel. You could also swap the onion for another vegetable like sliced eggplant or zucchini.
Nutritional yeast swaps – if you can tolerate regular dairy swap the nutritional yeast for grated tasty cheese or parmesan. If you can’t tolerate cows cheese but can do goat or sheep, you can use pecorino or a grated hard goats cheese instead of the nutritional yeast. Soft goats cheese would also be amazing.

If you have any more questions abut modifying this recipe, be sure to leave a comment below. I am always happy to help out and find a ingredient sub or tweak to make it work for you. Did you know our clinic specialises in gut health nutrition? Learn more here.

Enjoy! x

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