Sweet Potato Casserole
Makes 8 to 10 servings
You can use canned sweet potato chunks, drained and mashed, for this recipe or you can use whole sweet potatoes or yams: Prick and bake them, then scoop out the flesh. Or, peel and cut them into chunks and cook as you would potatoes; drain and mash.
3 cups mashed, cooked sweet potato
3 T. butter, softened
1 egg
pinch salt
2/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained
Topping:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
5 T. butter, cut into small pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using an electric mixer, beat together sweet potato, butter, egg and salt. Fold in pineapple and spread into a buttered 8- by 8-inch glass dish.
For the topping, stir dry ingredients together until well-combined. Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in butter until topping is coarse and crumbly. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture. Bake until topping browns, about 45 minutes. To serve, let cool slightly and cut into squares.
Harvest Pumpkin and Ham Stew
Serves 8 to 12
You can use canned, plain pumpkin in this recipe, or you can use fresh pumpkin: Cut a whole pumpkin into quarters, scoop out the seed bed, and bake the quarters in the oven. When flesh is easily pierced with a fork, scoop flesh out of rinds and beat with a mixer until smooth. Or, cut pumpkin in half, scoop out the seed bed, then slice each half, paring the rind off each slice. Cut slices into large chunks and cook in water as you would potatoes. Drain and mash.
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
4 T. butter
2 cups cooked pumpkin
4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1-1/2 cups diced ham
1-1/2 cups corn, cut from cob (about 2 to 3 ears) or frozen
1/2 cup red or green bell pepper, diced
In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, cook celery and onion in butter over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften. Add pumpkin, broth, salt and pepper, and bay leaves, stirring to combine well. Add ham, corn and pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are tender.
Maple-Cinnamon Glazed Nuts
Makes 2 cups
2 cups mixed, raw or roasted, unsalted nuts of your choice, such as almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, walnut or pecan halves and Brazil nuts
3 T. butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. maple extract
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Line a baking sheet with foil. Butter the foil; set aside. In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, combine nuts, butter, brown sugar and maple extract. Cook over medium-high heat, shaking skillet occasionally to combine ingredients and coat nuts, until sugar begins to dissolve. Do not stir. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour nuts onto prepared baking sheet and let cool completely. Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a sturdy plastic bag; shake to combine. Break nuts into small clusters. Working in four batches, shake nuts in bag to coat with cinnamon sugar. Store tightly covered.