Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Sweet Potatoes and Stress

We moved to Colorado a year ago (November 10) and we love it! Last year, we had our first Thanksgiving on our own. I made my first turkey and it came out spectacular!

This year, when we were discussing Thanksgiving plans with Dave's parents (who moved into their own apartment on September 15 and y'all were all correct - we could not have lived together!) Dave said, "Ruth will make the turkey, she made it last year and it came out perfect!"

OK. That's so sweet of him to say and all but here's the thing...
Dave's mom cooks. Really well. It's kind of her thing, ya know? I could see right away, as soon as he said it, that she was all butt-hurt. So she's going to make the duck (did I ever mention that she's Two Meat Woman? She can never make a family meal unless there's at least 2 meats to be had) and the mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. I'm making the turkey, and dessert (cooking the frozen pie that she's going to bring) and this sweet potato recipe which is a family favorite (for the 4 out of 6 of us who like sweet potatoes - Dave hates 'em and the kids go back and forth about 'em)...


Sweet Potatoes with Apples
3 to 3-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
2 tart apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch rings
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat;cover and cook for 30 minutes or until just tender. Drain and cool slightly. Peel and cut into 1/4-in. slices.
In a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish, alternately layer potatoes and apples. Pour orange juice over top. Combine the brown sugar, ginger and cinnamon; sprinkle over potatoes and apples. Dot with butter.
Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-45 minutes or until apples and tender and heated through. Yield: 8 servings.

So now there's this pressure that the turkey has to be all perfect. Damn! If I screw it up, I really don't care. I'll just throw it into turkey enchiladas after Thanksgiving anyway (I'll try to remember to give the recipe for that sometime).

It's just a stupid bird, Ruth!

8 comments:

sophanne said...

mmm turkey enchiladas...

Anonymous said...

Your Sweet Potatoe recipe sounds really yummy - I think I'm going to have to try that!

Don't stress about the turkey; if you made a good one last year, you'll make another good one this year!

Chris said...

Oh, stress!! You can do it, though. :)

Throws Like A Girl said...

Hee hee! I always screw up the turkey. My MIL's way of not telling me I suck at turkey cooking is to preemptively invite us over about 2 months ahead of time. I have to admit though, just being in charge of the pie is fine with me. There will be a day where I will HAVE to be the turkey cooker, so I've decided to bask in my non-turkeyness while I can. BTW, I LOVE sweet potatoes and I will have to try your recipe!

Olga said...

Try deep frying the turkey in a paper bag- thats the way I'm going to do it this year. Just like Gramma use to make.....before the nice men in white coats took her away...

Me7of11 said...

You forgot to about the cranberry chutney! Or are you hiding the chutney in your closet?

Mark's going to cook the turkey in his new smoker. So if you hear a knock at your door...

Unknown said...

I love sweet potatoes. Thanks for the recipe. I'll have to try that!

ellipsisknits said...

Such a man.

'should we have thanksgiving at my mom's or my grandmother's?'

'your grandmother's turkey was dry last year'

No other issues to even consider.