Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes

Thanksgiving was great this year (as I blogged already:)! We had the best food with the least amount of stress. I decided to cook sweet potatoes. I was a little nervous because I have NEVER cooked them before. We has a couple of finicky eaters in our family and I don't mean just the kids! LMBO! I found a great recipe in the Good Housekeeping (GH) Nov. 2008 issue. Maple-Cranberry Sweet Potatoes. I combined a recipe I saw Emeril a few days before that looked much like a cranberry salsa without the kick. What resulted was a not too sweet best food of our Thanksgiving! Even the little kids liked it.

Here is the recipe as found in GH (my added ingredients are in red):

Here is what I did to save some time on the day of Thanksgiving. You can prepare the sweet potatoes (even arrange them in a casserole) and syrup up to 1 day ahead and refrigerate separately. Allow both to come to room temperature before baking. I chose to bake the potatoes with the 1 1/2 jars of Jet Puffed Marshmallow cream topping in the oven for about 20 mins to brown the puff. Top potatoes with hot syrup (or salsa mixture), and pop in the oven when the turkey comes out. Select sweet potatoes of the same size so they cook evenly.

4lbs. of sweet potatoes, peeled
salt
1 c. (I used 1 1/2 c.) pure maple syrup (I didn't have this so I substituted reg. pancake syrup)
1 1/2 c. cranberries (1/2 of a 12 oz. bag)
Salsa mixture: 2 diced apples, 2 diced pears, 1 diced orange with skin on, juice of one lemon
3 Tbsp. butter (no subs. but I didn't use butter at all:)
1 1/2 jars of Jet Puffed Marshmallow cream topping is optional

1. In covered 6-quart saucepan, heat whole sweet potatoes with 1 teaspoon salt and enough water to cover to boiling on high. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, about 30 minutes or just until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
2. Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, heat maple syrup to boiling on high. Reduce heat to medium, and boil gently 10 to 15 minutes or until reduced to 1/2 cup. Add 2 diced apples, 2 diced pears, 1 orange diced with skin on, juice of one lemon cook for 10 mins. Stir in cranberries, butter(I didn't use butter), and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook just until cranberries pop, about 5 minutes longer.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cooled sweet potatoes crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices and arrange in shallow 3-quart ceramic or glass baking dish, overlapping slices if necessary. Spoon maple-cranberry syrup evenly over potatoes. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes or until hot.

To make Ginger-Almond Sweet Potatoes: Prepare sweet potatoes as above in step 1. In step 2, instead of maple-cranberry syrup, prepare ginger syrup: In 1-quart saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon margarine or butter on medium. Add 2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger; cook 1 minute, stirring. Stir in 1/2 cup apricot preserves, 1/4 cup orange juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; heat to boiling, stirring. Complete recipe as in steps 3 and 4, spooning ginger syrup over potatoes and sprinkling with 1/2 cup toasted sliced natural (with brown skin still on) almonds before baking.

Each serving is About 230 calories, 4 g protein, 45 g carbohydrate, 4 g total fat (1 g saturated), 5 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 210 mg sodium.

To make Butterscotch-Spice Sweet Potatoes: Prepare sweet potatoes as above in step 1. In step 2, instead of maple-cranberry syrup, prepare butterscotch-spice syrup: In 1-quart saucepan, heat 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 3 tablespoons butter (no substitutions), 2 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne) to boiling, stirring until smooth; remove from heat. Complete recipe as in steps 3 and 4, spooning butterscotch-spice syrup over potatoes before baking.

Each serving: About 210 calories, 2 g protein, 43 g carbohydrate, 4 g total fat (2 g saturated), 4 g fiber, 10 mg cholesterol, 175 mg sodium.