Sweet Potato Mandarin Orange Mousse Cups + The Benefits of Canned Foods

These light and luscious Sweet Potato Mandarin Orange Mousse Cups are easy to make, nutritious, and feature two convenient pantry ingredients: canned cut sweet potatoes in pear juice or light syrup (AKA yams) and canned Mandarin orange segments. There’s more to sweet potatoes than casseroles and pies! {Fun fact: When you see canned “yams” at the supermarket, they’re actually sweet potatoes. Feel free to use canned cut sweet potatoes and yams interchangeably in this recipe.}

Serve this healthier sweet potato mousse as an elegant holiday dessert for family and friends or a tea party treat for your kids.

I partnered with Cans Get You Cooking to create this recipe and post. All opinions are my own.

During the hectic holiday season, I crave fall flavors and simplicity, and this dessert recipe satisfies both. My better-for-you mousse recipe starts with a can of cut sweet potatoes (look for sweet potatoes packed in juice or light syrup), a can of Mandarin oranges (ditto on the juice or light syrup), vanilla Greek yogurt, orange zest, frozen banana, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, Graham crackers, and toasted pecans. And the best part is, these ingredients are available year round so you can replicate what is sure to be a newfound holiday favorite at any time.

The first mousse dessert layer is a mixture of Graham crackers, pecans, orange zest, and maple syrup.

The second layer is a creamy mixture of sweet potatoes, frozen banana, Greek yogurt, orange zest, a splash of orange or Mandarin orange juice, and pumpkin pie spice. The bananas give the mousse a beautiful creamy consistency … without the cream.

The secret to making this dessert recipe really special is the presentation.

I used lovely little glass bowls that I found at Crate & Barrel (Tulip Ice Cream Dish; $1.95 each) to show off the Graham cracker, mousse, and Mandarin orange layers. I’m a big believer that kids (and adults) eat with their eyes, so the prettier and cuter you can make a recipe look, the more excited everyone will be to take that first bite! And don’t you think the mousse cups are perfect for a kids’ tea party?

Back in August, I was invited by Cans Get You Cooking (a program affiliated with the Can Manufacturers Institute) to attend an interactive culinary workshop with a group of fellow registered dietitians in New York City. I jumped at the opportunity, because canned foods are a big part of my culinary repertoire.

With Kristina from Love and Zest and Deanna from Teaspoon of Spice

When it comes to planning meals, snacks and desserts for my family, I tend to fly by the seat of my pants, which is where canned foods and a well-stocked “cantry” (AKA pantry) fit in. Canned foods are convenient and always at the ready; I tend to use them for bean-based soups and chili, salmon cakes and tuna sandwiches, tropical pineapple smoothies, and gooey chocolate brownies made with black beans! (Get my black bean brownies here.)

Check out these interesting canned foods factoids:

Canned foods make meal planning easier: Cooking with canned foods cuts down on prep time, which means you get to spend less time in the kitchen and more time playing and relaxing with your family. There are more than 1,500 varieties of canned foods available year-round, providing a world of interesting ingredients, flavors, and recipe possibilities. And who knew you could use canned sweet potatoes to make a decadent and wholesome mousse?

Canned foods bring good nutrition to the table: Research shows that kids and adults who use six or more canned foods a week are more likely to have diets higher in 17 essential nutrients, including potassium, calcium and fiber. That’s important, because American diets tend to be low in those nutrients, so canned foods can fill in the nutrient gaps in your day. And get this: Of the top 50 BEST food sources of potassium, eight are canned foods, including tomato paste and sauce, white beans, chili with beans, spinach, and refried beans.

The canning process seals in flavor and nutrition: Fresh fruits and vegetables are harvested at the peak of ripeness and canned within a few hours, sealing in their nutrition and flavor. Cans provide access to seasonal fruits and vegetables all year long and keep food fresh and flavorful without the need for preservatives and additives. You can feel good just knowing that the people who create the canned foods sold at your local supermarket use essentially the same method as home canning to preserve farm-fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and seafood.

Canned foods lead to less food waste: Are you sitting down? Most Americans throw away 15 to 20% of the fresh fruits and vegetables they purchase every year. This resource from Cans Get You Cooking does a terrific job of visually depicting this startling statistic. Fortunately, canned foods come to the rescue! Canned foods help home cooks reduce the amount of perishable fruits and vegetables they purchase and then potentially toss. Here’s a fun fact: During the canning process, waste, such as peels, cores and other inedible plant matter, is removed and re-used as agricultural feed or compost.

 I hope that after reading this post you are inspired to use canned foods in your own cooking more often. For more culinary inspiration with cans, be sure to check out the recipe page of the Cans Get You Cooking website for a variety of sweet and savory “can”tastic dishes.

Sweet Potato Mandarin Orange Mousse Cups

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 4

• Serving size: (1 mousse dessert cup):
• Calories: 245

• Fat: 6g
• Saturated fat: 1g
• Carbohydrates: 47g
• Sodium: 95mg
• Fiber: 5g
• Protein: 3g

Recipe type: Dessert

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When I think about canned sweet potatoes, casseroles and pies come to mind. But after attending the culinary workshop sponsored by Cans Get You Cooking and after being challenged to use canned foods in new and novel ways, I decided to use canned sweet potatoes for this light and luscious, better-for-you mousse. How did I do it? I replaced the usual heavy cream with vanilla Greek yogurt, swapped added sugar with naturally-sweet banana, and created two additional layers with Graham crackers and pecans and canned Mandarin orange sections. This dessert is festive, fun, and perfect for the holiday season. (For the orange zest, use an orange, clementine, or Mandarin orange.)

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Layer

• ¼ cup lightly toasted pecan pieces
• 4 Graham crackers, broken into pieces
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon orange zest

Sweet Potato Mousse Layer

• One 15-ounce can cut sweet potatoes or yams in pear juice or light syrup, drained
• One 11-ounce can whole Mandarin orange segments in pear juice or light syrup, drained (reserve 1 tablespoon of the liquid) * set segments aside
• 1 large banana, sliced and frozen
• 2 tablespoons vanilla Greek yogurt (use full or low-fat)
• ½ teaspoon orange zest
• ⅛ teaspoon dried pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

Graham Cracker Pecan Layer

1. Place the pecans in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Add the Graham crackers, maple syrup, and zest and pulse until finely ground. Set aside in a bowl. Wash and dry the blade and bowl of the food processor.

Mousse

1. Place the sweet potatoes, banana slices, yogurt, orange zest, and pumpkin pie spice in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth and well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

To Assemble

1. Remove 1 tablespoon of the Graham cracker mixture and set aside (you'll use this for the topping). Place the Graham cracker mixture evenly on the bottom of four 5- or 6-ounce glass bowls or cups. Press down with the back of a spoon. Top evenly with the sweet potato mousse mixture (about ⅓ cup per serving). Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon Graham cracker crumbs. Place 3 Mandarin orange segments decoratively on top.
2. Serve the remaining orange segments on the side as an extra optional topping.

Notes

Other nutrients: 165% Daily Value for vitamin A; 38% Daily Value for vitamin C; and 11% Daily Value for potassium

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Research References:

Cans Get You Cooking: The Role of Canned Produce in Increasing Children and Families’ Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables –Moms’ Fruit & Vegetable Challenges Survey

Can Central: Everything You Need To Know About Cans. (2017). Retrieved July 2, 2018, from http://www.cancentral.com/foodcans/Accessible-Affordable

Comerford, K. B. (2015). Frequent Canned Food Use is Positively Associated with Nutrient-Dense Food Group Consumption and Higher Nutrient Intakes in US Children and Adults. Nutrients, 7(7), 5586–5600. http://doi.org/10.3390/nu7075240

Freedman MR, Fulgoni VL 3rd. Canned Vegetable and Fruit Consumption Is Associated with Changes in Nutrient Intake and Higher Diet Quality in Children and Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2010. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016 Jun;116(6):940-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2015.10.013. Epub 2015 Nov 24. PubMed PMID: 26617186.

Miller, S. R., & Knudson, W. A. (2014). Nutrition and Cost Comparisons of Select Canned, Frozen, and Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 8(6), 430-437. doi:10.1177/1559827614522942

Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020. 8th Edition, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 2016.

Length of Time Qualitative Audit – Duration and Steps in Processing Canned and Fresh Produce. Can Manufacturers Institute, May 2014.

Length of Time Qualitative Audit – Duration and Steps in Processing Canned and Fresh Produce. Can Manufacturers Institute, May 2014.

Buzby, Jean C., Hodan F. Wells, and Jeffrey Hyman. The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States, EIB-121, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, February 2014. Accessed at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/43833/43680_eib121.pdf?v=41817