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One of my best strategies for combating the downing effects of winter involves food. Specifically, making food that reminds me of summer, but still uses seasonally-appropriate ingredients. This BBQ pulled sweet potato makes me feel like I’m at a backyard summer barbecue party. The kind where it’s really convenient to be outdoors because the food is all so messy-delicious :).

Last year, one of my winter food strategies was buying frozen tropical fruit. And having been written the day after a race, that old blog post reminds me – I’m running an ultramarathon in less than two days. Yikes. To say that I’m nervous is an understatement. Not least of all because of the projected 30F temperature, the trail conditions created by the 9 inches of snow we got this past weekend (plus more falling while I’m writing this), and the several deep stream crossings on the race course. But I’m even more excited than nervous, especially knowing that all 31 miles will be fueled totally by plants :D. I can’t wait to write about the race afterward and share my experience!

I will, of course, be continuing my tradition of rehydrating afterward with plenty of beer. As for my other tradition of ordering vegan Thai food, I’m not so sure. Thai food was the last thing I ate before I got the flu in January and I still can’t take the thought of eating it. But post-race cravings can be amazing things. So we’ll see!

Though we enjoyed this BBQ pulled sweet potato a couple of weeks ago, I have a feeling it would also be great post-race fuel. I served it up on toasted whole wheat buns with a nice crunchy cabbage slaw, and a generous spread of cultured cashew cream cheese. Finger-licking good comfort food. I absolutely love jackfruit and have nothing against the classic vegan pulled jackfruit – but I’m also super happy to have an alternative version that’s made from a simple produce item found at any grocery store.

This idea was inspired by Vegan Richa’s Pulled Butternut Squash Tacos. I fed those tacos to a group of hungry meat-eaters and everyone LOVED them. The concept, flavor and texture of the butternut squash were all wonderful. It made me realize that a similar thing with sweet potato would work really well and be even easier to make (since you can just shred right through the sweet potato without having to peel or seed anything). In that recipe, the squash is cooked in a Mexican-inspired chipotle pepper seasoning; I chose to go full-on barbecue with these and use up some of my sriracha and roasted garlic BBQ sauce.

I hope you give this simple pulled sweet potato a try, and if you do, please let me know how you like it!