Busy busy busy- no time to prepare! That is one of the main reasons we all sometimes fail to eat as nutritiously as possible to support our performance. The hours we mean to set aside for our weekly meal prep get swallowed up easily by the latest blockbuster series on Netflix or just the overall need to just do nothing on a Sunday afternoon! I know the feeling, believe me!

Here is a nutritious recipe packed with taste which can triple up as a lunch, dinner or even a snack. I am not suggesting that you eat this tart full of goodness for every meal on consecutive days but what I am suggesting is that you may have it for lunch one day, a snack the next and so on. These tarts last in the fridge for up to 3-4 days, retain their flavour if reheated from frozen and can even be eaten cold.

Each tart provides a great balance of protein and carbohydrate with, 20g of protein and 28g of carbs respectively, perfect for a training day bite to boost fuelling and/or recovery. Sweet potato is the performance staring food of this dish and is touted to be one of the most nutritious foods to replenish muscle glycogen stores while providing your body with immune protecting nutrients. Research suggests that the athlete’s immune system is transiently depressed after exercise particularly if it is intense or prolonged due to an increase in the immunosuppressive hormones adrenaline and cortisol. The loss of training days to athletes can be detrimental to training progression, therefore it is vital that athletes consume adequate protein and immune boosting nutrients such as Vitamin A, C and B 12 to ensure optimal immune function. Research has also found that athletes training in a low carbohydrate state have higher levels of adrenaline and cortisol after training and may be at a higher risk of illness. Ensuring your post training meal is packed full of nutritious carbohydrate loaded sweet potato will help combat any nasty illnesses.

Sweet Potato & Chicken Tarts

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 4 tarts

• Serving size: 2
• Calories: 222

• Fat: 2.9g
• Carbohydrates: 28g
• Protein: 20g

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  25 mins

Total time:  35 mins

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Ingredients

• 250g chicken breast (2 fillets)
• 450g sweet potatoes
• 160g chopped red pepper (1 large red pepper)
• 1 beaten egg
• 30g of chopped onion (1/2 an onion)
• 1-2 crushed cloves of garlic
• A pinch of salt & pepper

Instructions

1. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into cubes and boil or steam until soft. Wash the sweet peppers and cut in to little pieces.
2. Cut up the onion and garlic.
3. Heat up a pan and fry the sweet peppers, onions and garlic for 2 minutes.
4. Then add the chilli flakes.
5. Put the uncooked chicken breasts into a blender (I use a nutribullet), along with the other ingredients including the cooked sweet potato.
6. Blend.
7. Shape the mixture into 4 tarts on a baking sheet.
8. Bake for 25 minutes at 180°C

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