Thanksgiving!!! My FAVORITE holiday all year long! I do admit to having my Christmas tree up, and all the trimmings and decorations that are associated with Christmas, but for me it just adds to the Thanksgiving spirit. It brings in more light to my home. It creates a buzz in all the kids. An excitement that you can feel. And for me it feels good to have the Christmas and Thanksgiving Season all start with being Thankful. Tons of great food, family traditions, family, friends and GRATITUDE. Nothing expected or required on the day in forms of gifts and presents. Everyone is happy with just BEING. Being together, being safe, being fed, being loved. Just loads of gratitude for all our many blessing. And I have tons. Don’t you? We all have oodles of blessings, and I love that Thanksgiving is all about recognizing those blessings. Could we do a redo on Dec. 25th? Just another day of being grateful. Grateful for a savior, and grateful for his birth and maybe just a big old feast with a huge chocolate birthday cake! That would be my perfect Christmas.
Well the Thanksgiving feast for me is all about the side dishes. I love turkey. I think I do at least. I don’t eat more than a tiny little sliver of a slice, but when turkey is involved all my other foods are included so because of that I love the turkey:) These yams/sweet potatoes are mighty tasty. My sister in law Susan brought this delicacy to Thanksgiving a few years ago. She stepped out of the family comfort zone, and tried a new dish. It was such a hit. I love the toasty coconut topping. That is what made this dish such a winner in my book. Incredible is the only way to describe it. I’ve served Sweet Potato Pie for years now, and it is always a hit. I give the recipe out a lot, but I have a feeling THIS recipe is going to be taking over:) If you’re in charge of an orange veggie for Thanksgiving, this is a good one. Enjoy it, and savor it, and count your many blessings! Happy Thanksgiving friends!! This recipe is adapted from this one from Real Simple.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sweet potatoes Baked for approximately 1 hours until completely tender.
- Topping Ingredients-
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- Sweet Potato Souffle Ingredients-
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Heat oven to 350° F. In a small bowl, combine the coconut, brown sugar, pecans, and ½ teaspoon salt. Set aside and make the sweet potato mash.
I roast 1 or 2 large yams in a 375'F oven for about an hour or until tender. You can peel and use immediately, or wait until they've cooled slightly. Add the granulated sugar, milk, butter, eggs, vanilla, and ½ teaspoon salt to the potatoes and mash until smooth.
Transfer the mixture to an 8-inch square or I like to use a 9 inch deep dish pie pan and sprinkle with the coconut mixture. Bake until heated through 30 to 35 minutes. The top will be browned nicely. Cover lightly with foil and let bake until the sweet potatoes have puffed up. I usually bake 15-20 longer. Good Luck!!
http://abakerswife.com/2014/11/coconut-crusted-sweet-potato-pie.html
Oh my gosh, that looks amazing, Lisa! And I’m not actually a sweet potato casserole fan but I’m going to try this for sure because I trust you.
Thanks Mel!! And I must share, but I think almost everything we had at Thanksgiving this year was a “Mel’s” recipe:) And of course, everything was fantastic!