Special Occassion Food

Although it may sound boring to some, my family and I celebrate the holidays with the typical American menu. This Thursday, I'll be making the turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, bread, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, pies, etc. Of course there are the sweet potatoes, and that's where I veer only slightly from the norm.

I think it's common for the Thanksgiving and Christmas sweet potatoes to be the ones from the can, with marshmallows melted on top. For a long time, that's even what my mother made. Then along came my grandmother's recipe for Sweet Potatoe Souffle...wow, my mouth is already watering! Although I didn't really have any sort of relationship with my grandmother, I definitely have a relationship with her recipe for sweet potatoes!

I won't write the whole recipe out here (if anyone wants it, I'm happy to share it since it's what Thanksgiving is REALLY about! :D), I will mention that I use real sweet potatoes -- anything else is a waste of tummy space. And I do not use marshmallows, whatsoever. The topping is more like a struedel topping, with brown sugar, butter, chopped pecans, a little flour, and coconut. In the end, it's like a dessert before the actual dessert!

On the occasions that we go to my husband's house or my Mom's house for Thanksgiving, I am always in charge of the sweet potatoes. Everyone loves them, and the recipe has even converted non-sweet-potato-people. A couple of years ago, I got a great compliment. It wasn't that they tasted good (I already knew that!), but it was two different people that said mine tasted better than my grandmother's. Like I said, I didn't really have a connection with her, but everyone knew that she could cook like a fiend. I felt pretty amazing when I heard how good they were, and I was super-happy that my family enjoyed my cooking.

So in a couple of days, I'll be making up a 9x13 pan of those sweet potatoes, and then I'll do it again at Christmas. I'm pretty sure I'll make them twice a year, until the role is called Up Yonder. It'll be pretty thrilling when my own daughters ask me to show them how to make them, and the tradition will live on.