Thanksgiving for Two Continued

This is part two of my thanksgiving recipes. Sweet potato casserole, cranberry relish, and green beans. 

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

I was a little concerned that sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes would be overkill. However, I did not make a desert for this meal and sweet potato casserole is as good as sweet potato pie (to me). So why not? I think sweet potatoes are pretty sweet on their own so I did not use as much sugar as some recipes. I was also able to use some leftover pumpkin pie spiced sugar, from an earlier post of Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread.

3 large sweet potatoes, mashed
1/2 stick butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin pie spiced sugar

Crumble topping:

1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp brown sugar

Cook sweet potatoes (you could boil or steam them; but, I baked them, at 350 degrees, in a toaster oven for 1.5 hours then scooped out the flesh when cool) and mash with butter, eggs, milk, and sugar.  Pour into a greased 8 by 8 inch baking pan.  Then, make the crumble.  Chop the pecans, by pulsing, in a food processor (or by hand) until evenly chopped.  Switch to the plastic pastry blade and add the rest of the ingredients.  pulse until evenly mixed, then pour over potato mixture.  Spread evenly and cover with foil.  Refrigerate until ready to bake.  Bake at 350 degrees, covered, for 30 minutes.  Then uncover and bake for 15 minutes more or until nicely browned.

These turned out great, sweet but not too sweet, and the crumble added a nice crunch.  Leftovers make a great breakfast.

CRANBERRY RELISH

This recipe I adapted from No Cook Cranberry Orange Relish that I found on Foodista.  I did not use fresh cranberries I used Craisins, because I had them, and I changed a few other things, but the No Cook Relish was my inspiration.

1 cup craisins (dried cranberries), chopped
1 orange, the zest and juice
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger

I pulsed the Craisins, in two batches, in a food processor until chopped.  Then I also chopped the pecans.  I mixed the two in a medium mixing bowl then added the grated zest and juice from 1 orange and the grated ginger (a last second inspiration because I had some on hand).  I mixed thoroughly and refrigerated for a day before serving.

This was amazing.  The flavors were so great together, and it was so easy to make.  I highly recommend this recipe.

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE (sort of)

I picked up some fresh green beans for a vegetable side.  This dish was made up on the fly.  Some bacon was cooked, to flavor the green beans, then flour added to the drippings (making a roux).  There was about 1/2 of a can of chicken broth left over so that was dumped in along with a dash of cream and cooked until slightly thickened.  Then the cleaned and snapped green beans were added to the bacon gravy and simmered for about 15 minutes.

This made a kind of green bean casserole.  That wasn't the goal at the outset, but things were just added as they were thought about and that was the result.  It turned out very good and the beans were still crunchy, which is how I like them. 

Enjoy.