Throwback Thursday Thanksgiving Style: Candied Yams

So from what I understand on Thursdays it is an instagram thing to post old pictures from the past. AKA "Throwback Thursday" Yes? I'm not very cool right now and am currently living an instagram free lifestyle. But it's okay...I'm still happy :) So instead of instagraming I am throwing back a recipe from Thanksgiving. It was going to be a post on another blog but that has fallen through so here it is: 

(Keep in mind that this post was written right before Thanksgiving...so there are many references to the great holiday to come even though it has already passed. We can still be excited for next year right? And besides who says you can't make candied yams at Christmas too? They are so good!) 

I love Thanksgiving because I love food. My favorites are stuffing smothered in gravy and candied yams. This Thanksgiving I am in a predicament because I can’t eat Dairy or Soy right now. My sweet little guy is allergic. So I had to make a choice. What food am I going to choose to bring to Thanksgiving dinner so I can at least have a smidgen of the experience?? I decided to go with the Candied Yams so I could have some at dinner and then some more while everyone was eating their pumpkin pie.

Here is what you need:

4 Large Sweet Potatoes/Yams peeled and cut into ¼ inch half circles (cut into circles and then cut in half)

2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
2/3 Cup Orange Juice
¼ cup water
2 Tablespoons  Syrup
½ tsp Cinnamon
¼ tsp Nutmeg
¼ tsp Salt

2 Oranges sliced into circles

Pre-Heat oven to 350

Once your Sweet Potatoes/yams are peeled and ready to use boil them for about 10 minutes or until you can just pierce them with a fork. Drain and spread out in a 9x12 baking dish.

Next mix all of the other ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the sweet potatoes. Then because we don’t want any of our little potatoes to feel left out toss them to make sure they are all nice and coated in the syrup. Then place your orange slices over the top of the potatoes.

Bake in your oven at 350 for about 50 minutes. (Take them out after about 30 minutes to toss once again in the pan so they get re-coated in syrup mixture. You will have to remove your orange slices to do this and then just put them back on top)

After 50 minutes you have a choice to make. You can either be done and take them to your thanksgiving dinner looking fancy with the orange slices. They will be delicious and everyone will love you.

Or you can do this: 

Remove orange slices and sprinkle more brown sugar generously over the tops of the potatoes.

The amount is up to you. I like to go a little crazy with brown sugar. Then take a bag of mini marshmallows and spread over the top of the potatoes. Put back into the over for about 10 minutes or until the mallows are nice and golden brown.

I adore these sweet potatoes and they were a big hit with my family! Especially my little cousin Trevor…I think he had 3 platefuls! My baby boy also loved them and will probably never go back to regular unflavored sweet potatoes now…we’re surprised he slept after eating them since he consumed more sugar than he ever has in his short life.

Tips from KJ:
 

You can add ¼ cup butter to this if you want. I just didn’t because of the whole dairy free thing.

These are also yummy if you add 2 cans of fruit cocktail in the mixture. 

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Quinoa Salad

Quinoa...what is that?? That is what I first thought when someone said they had something made with Quinoa. It sounded weird, possibly healthy, and like it could be made of chicken hearts or something. Who knew what it was. Come to find out it is a GRAIN! :) Great. I love grain and rice and everything so I got this recipe from my neighbor and gave it a go. (First she brought me some and it was absolutely delicious...so I just had to make it myself!) And lucky me it was soy and dairy free which is always a bonus! Because, then I can eat it. ha

We had this with Salmon and it was amazing. Stay tuned for my salmon recipe it is coming up next. Also keep your eyes peeled for a GIVEAWAY on Sunday!! I am so excited about it so be sure to check in!

You need:

Salad Mixture-

1 1/2 cups cooked Quinoa
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
1 1/2 Tablespoons Vinegar
1 1/2 cups cooked corn
3/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing-

6 Tablespoons Lime Juice
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/ tsp Cumin
1 1/2 tsp Corriander
1/3 cup olive oil

Pepper to taste

Basically cook the quinoa according to the package directions. Then add the salad mixture ingredients. Mix the dressing in a separate bowl and then add that to the salad mixture. Voila! Now when we got this from her originally we were unsure if it was supposed to be warm or cold. So we tried it both ways. I personally liked it the best when it was warmed up! But you can have it cold too and it is very good!

Did I mention I am posting a giveaway on Sunday? Silly me! I did..but I thought I'd tell you one more time :)

Tips from Kj:

As you might have noticed there were no black beans in my salad. I didn't have any. So neither did my salad. The great thing is that it was still very good!

You also have a lot of freedom with what you add to this salad. Try tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, chicken etc.


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Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

I am in love with sweet potatoes. They really are one of my favorite foods. Slathered with butter and cinnamon sugar and then sprinkled with a little bit of salt. Oh yum! Right now I am banned from butter but I still have my cinnamon so it is okay.

Our little guy had some sweet potatoes for his first solid food experience and we decided to have some right along with him.

 Ours were just a little more delux.

Bake your sweet potatoes (after you wash them of course) in an oven set to 350 for 1 hour. Take your potatoes out, cut them in half, and scoop out the insides into a bowl.

Then you need:

1 Tablespoon Butter
2 Tablespoons Cream Cheese
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 1/2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Milk

Mix all of those things with the sweet potato insides. (You can use a blender or just a potato masher)

Scoop back into the potato skins and bake still at 350 for another 10 minutes. Then take them out and sprinkle a little bit of salt on the top of each potato. I promise the salt makes them so delicious!

Now how did I eat these you ask? Being banned from butter and goodness and all? I just mixed in the cinnamon, milk (rice milk) and brown sugar and scooped that into my potatoes. Then I added the rest of the delicious ingredients to my husbands potatoes. Mine were still VERY good! So if you want your potatoes to be a little more healthy take the dairy free road my friends...it is still a good road. Just maybe like going to Disneyland but not California adventure. My husband on the other hand? He got to go to both parks. haha And if you can go to both parks...well..you should!


Tips from Kj:

If you want these to be more savory instead of sweet add some garlic and sour cream to your potatoes instead!


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