Crustless Sweet Potato Pie

Mini Crustless Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet potatoes might be the state vegetable of North Carolina. They grow abundantly all over our state and all the varieties taste absolutely delicious.

Sweet potato pie is a great use for leftover sweet potatoes - if you ever have that problem. I have been trying to make a sweet potato pie for weeks, but every time I bake some sweet potatoes, they are promptly devoured by the children, leaving me no extras for pie.

Thankfully, over the course of a few days of sweet potato snacking, I was able to scrounge together about 2 cups of sweet potatoes so I could make this delicious pie.

To begin ... Bake up some sweet potatoes. I have been getting most of my sweet potatoes from Puzzle Peace Farm in Rutherford County, NC. I have tested out every type they grow ... finally, last week, I just bought a bushel of assorted sweet potatoes to be divided among any interested friends. That 50 pound bag of potatoes was emptied in a flash. (Click here to read the Puzzle Peace Farm blog post all about sweet potatoes...)

Sweet Potatoes From Puzzle Peace Farm

Wash your potatoes to get all of that good dirt off of them and then stab them a few times with a fork. Lay them on a cookie sheet and let them bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 2 hours depending on their size. As soon as your house starts to smell like delicious caramelized sugars, you know your sweet potatoes are probably done. Squeeze them a bit to see if they are sufficiently soft and remove them from the oven to cool.

To make this pie, you will need 2 cups of sweet potatoes - any type will work. Remove them from their skins and mash them into a measuring cup. I had to accumulate my potatoes over a few days - sneaking them away from the kiddos one at a time.

2 cups packed, mashed, cooked sweet potatoes

And now for the recipe ... I found a couple of sweet potato pie recipes in the Charlotte Observer a few weeks ago and it inspired me to try to create a crustless version. The major changes I made (aside from not having a crust!) were that I only used brown sugar, no white sugar, and I substituted buttermilk for regular milk, and I added 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and completely took out the flour.

Sweet Potato Pie (recipe modified from the Charlotte Observer)

Ingredients:

2 cups of packed, mashed, cooked sweet potatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon, vanilla extract

Directions:

The beautiful color of sweet potatoes!

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Beat the sweet potatoes, brown sugar, and other dry ingredients until the ingredients are gently combined. Turn mixer to high and continue beating for another minute or so, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

3. Beat in eggs one at a time.

4. Add in buttermilk, butter, and vanilla.

5. Put your pan (or pans) on a cookie tray. Pour the filling into your pie pan (or pans - I used 2 mini deep dish pizza pans from Williams Sonoma and 1 small ramekin) and bake at 325 degrees for at least an hour.

6. Check the doneness of the pie with a cake tester or a fork. The tester should come out clean - if it still looks like it has not cooked all the way through, put it in for an additional 10 minutes or more.

Enjoy! This was intended to be served as a dessert but it turned out to be a really convenient side dish - especially paired with leftover turkey sandwiches. Yum.

Chicken with Fennel and Cranberry Sauce

Chicken with Fennel and Cranberry Sauce

Another super easy weeknight meal - and another recipe-that's not really a recipe...

Years ago, I found a recipe in the Mayo Clinic cookbook that involved chicken, tomatoes, and fennel. I was new to fennel at the time and was a little bit skeptical about the flavor. I had been told that fennel tastes like a combination of celery, cabbage, and licorice. Hmmm... How odd. However, the first time I combined those ingredients into a casserole and tossed it in the oven, I was sold. The combination was delicious!

Recently, my friend left me a beautiful bulb of fennel from her garden and another friend had given me some delicious spicy whole-berry cranberry sauce that she picked up at the farmers market. I had two chicken breasts from C-Saw Hill Farm waiting to be cooked so I decided to combine these three ingredients together and cross my fingers. The results were amazing! You certainly don't need to use a zesty cranberry sauce, any whole berry sauce will do, but I liked the little extra kick and the kids didn't seem to mind at all.

Ingredients: 

1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
2 chicken breasts, cut into 3 pieces each
1 1/2 to 2 cups of whole berry cranberry sauce

Directions:

Chicken with fennel and onions
Waiting for the cranberry sauce ... 

Slice the onion and fennel so that they are comparably sized. You can use almost the entire bulb of fennel - even the fronds - just cut away any tough parts.

Layer the onion and the fennel in the bottom of a baking pan and arrange the chicken around the veggies. Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt and pepper.

Spoon the cranberry sauce evenly over the chicken and smooth it out so that most of the chicken and fennel and onions are covered.

Cook at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. 

We served our chicken with cranberry sauce and fennel beside some garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed brussel sprouts. Delicious! Enjoy!

Chuck Roast with Caramelized Onions and Baby Bella Mushrooms

Chuck Roast with Caramelized Onions
and Baby Bella Mushrooms

I recently mentioned to my husband that I could probably devote an entire blog to meals I make just using food that friends drop off at my house. Truly, this is an amazingly frequent occurrence. I know that I have some awesome friends here in Charlotte but I also think that when an errant bulb of fennel or container of peppermint is left at my front door, the giver KNOWS for certain that I will put his or her gift to good use. And I do. Always.

Hash Browns

My bushel of potatoes

On a lark, I recently ordered a bushel of potatoes from Beach Garden Farm to split with my friends. They grow all sorts of veggies in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Rutherford County, North Carolina and the potatoes grown in North Carolina are definitely the best I have ever tasted. I speak from experience. Since I am Irish, I must feed my family potatoes weekly, at least!

Crockpot Chickpea and Sausage Bolognese Sauce

Crockpot Bolognese Sauce

This recipe is a great way to get a hearty meal with limited effort on any day of the week. I started out thinking that I was going to make a ratatouille. I had the peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants all ready to go. And then, as the day progressed, I checked on the progress of my ratatouille and realized that I might not have made enough to feed the masses that were going to be at dinner. Admittedly, the masses involved six children - three of whom are 6 years old and three of whom are younger - but still, I was worried.

Apples, Goat Cheese, and Toasted Walnuts Salad

We have a salad almost every night with dinner - usually made with arugula. We love arugula and it is such a great local, fall green! For this easy salad, I topped our arugula with spoonfuls of goat cheese, thinly sliced Pink Lady Apples and toasted walnuts.

Apples, Goat Cheese, and Toasted Walnuts Salad

Roasted Potatoes and Parsley

Roasted potatoes and parsley

Roasting vegetables is such an easy side-dish for dinner or a great after-school snack!

How-to ... Lightly toss chopped potatoes (I combined local sweet potatoes with white kennebec potatoes - 3 cups total) with a little bit of olive oil (1 - 2 tablespoons or so), coarse sea salt and fresh chopped parsley. Roast for about 45 minutes at 400 degrees.  Turn the veggies halfway through the cooking time. Enjoy!!

Options ... You can use a variety of vegetables and spices. Substitute rosemary for the parsley or add in carrots and beets to your potatoes for a delicious combination. If your vegetable pieces are bigger, you will need to add more time to your cooking. You want your vegetables crispy, but not burnt, so don't cut your pieces too small... (I speak from experience!)

Carrots are great for roasting

Chopped beets, carrots, and potatoes