Mashed Sweet Potatoe (Recipe Monday)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  As I promised, I will be sharing some of my Thanksgiving recipes with you starting now.  First up is my all-time favorite, Mashed Sweet Potatoes (sometimes referred to as Sweet Potato Casserole).  Starting about 10 years ago I tried to find the perfect recipe to use, but after never finding exactly what I wanted in a recipe I developed my own using things I like from a variety of others.  A traditional Sweet Potato Casserole has eggs which doesn't fit in with my prep the night before but cook the day of approach and most mashed recipes are just that, mashed sweet potatoes and not much to be added.

Mashed Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients (Serves 8-12): 

8 Sweet Potatoes
1/2 c Margarine
1/2 c Orange Juice (the secret ingredient)
1/2 c Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 c Marshmallows (optional)

Directions:

1. There are 2 ways to prepare the sweet potatoes, the quicker easier way and the slightly better tasting, less easy way. Here's how respectively:
1. Place potatoes in large pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and then boil for 20-30 min until soft OR 
2. Place potatoes on a baking sheet in oven set to 425 degrees and bake for 75 minutes.
2. Remove skins from potatoes and place in large bowl.  If you boil the potatoes the skins will slid right off.
3. Add margarine, OJ, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon to bowl with potatoes.
4. Mash mixture with fork or masher
5. Transfer mixture to baking pan and cook in oven at 350 degrees for 1 hr prior to serving.  
6. Optional - with 15 minutes left in the oven add marshmallows to top of sweet potatoes (sometimes I put on half of the dish since some people don't like the marshmallows).  In the picture above, I also added a cornflake/brown sugar mixture for a crunchy topping.  This Thanksgiving it was just served straight up in a serving bowl like this:

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

If you enjoy sweet potatoes you Shariously have to try this recipe!