Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Casserole

Last night I had the blessing of attending our 2nd Annual Family Thanksgiving Dinner of Friends. I have some quality people in my life and although I am in the process of moving I am so blessed to continue to share life's blessings with these people in small town Kansas. We enjoyed a great feast and have so much to be thankful for during this season of fall and abundance. Although our after dinner viewing of the K-State football game was less than ideal we are proud KSU supporters. EMAW!

I've decided that if I could only have one thing on my plate at Thanksgiving it would have to be something the color orange. I really can't decide whether I like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, or pumpkin the best so as long as I have something orange on the table I am satisfied. I've been eating a lot of pumpkin recently so I decided to go with a sweet potato casserole last night.

Ingredients:

Several large sweet potatoes, baked

Butter

Milk

Pure maple syrup

Salt

Pecans

Unsweetened Coconut

Brown Sugar

More butter

Cinnamon

Candied Ginger pieces

Bake your sweet potatoes until fork tender in the oven. I used a random collection of small and large potatoes so I would guess them to be equivalent of about 4 large potatoes and baked them at 350 for about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly and then peel. Alternately, if you are in a rush you can just microwave them for several minutes although I recommend using the oven over a microwave any day. Mash the sweet potatoes with several tablespoons of butter. Add a splash of whole milk, about a 1/4 cup, and a couple tablespoons of pure maple syrup. I honestly just direct poured about a tablespoon into the bowl. Sprinkle in about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and taste. Obviously you can tell that I rarely measure while cooking but the measure comes from the taste. It will all depend on the sweetness of your potatoes and don't forget some salt as that also helps bring out the sweetness. If you like it more creamy add more milk or butter or if you like plain and pure sweet potatoes keep it simple with less. Spread this into your greased dish.

For the topping combine 1 cup chopped pecans, or you could use walnuts as well, with 1/2 cup coconut flakes with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Combine  about 3 tablespoons of softened butter into this mixture. Then I added an extra special addition of about 1/4 cup of candied ginger pieces. This is totally optional as I found them in the cupboard and decided they would be a great addition, but it would be great without as well. Add the topping and bake in 350 oven for another 30-45 minutes just until brown on top.

Yum!

Sweet potatoes are rich in Vitamin C and E for healthy skin and hair. They are also rich in manganese which helps regulate blood sugar. They are a super food of beta-carotene, an important antioxidant that can help prevent your skin from sun-damage and is excellent for eye health. They have good fiber content as well. Just eat them!