Thanksgiving – Page 3 – The Pajama Chef

Streuseled Cran-Apple Sweet Potato Casserole

December 10, 2012December 14, 2015 Sarah

Christmas is coming, faster than we know. And I didn’t want to let the season go by without sharing this awesome roasted sweet potato dish. Even though it’s a sweet potato casserole, it bears little resemblance to the typical marshmallow-y sugar concoctions that are ever so traditional.

I made this recipe for my family Thanksgiving dinner. I love roasted sweet potatoes as a side dish or light meal any time of year, so I thought that they would be the perfect basis for a new sort of sweet potato casserole! To make them a little more special than normal, I roasted the sweet potatoes in a lovely spiced maple syrup sauce. After they were nice and roasted, I added in some crisp apples and tart cranberries. A sweet oat streusel topped off the dish, and boy was it good! Even Ben, who usually passes on sweet potato casseroles, went back for seconds. That’s a success if I do say so myself!

Plus, as with all good Thanksgiving or Christmas special side dishes, most of this can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until it is ready to be baked and served. It is absolutely delicious and would be a great addition to your Christmas table! I would love to make it again soon. Enjoy! 🙂

Streuseled Cran-Apple Sweet Potato Casserole [adapted from Cooking Light]
click to print

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks–about 6 cups, [peeled or unpeeled, your choice]
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon maple syrup, divided
1 3/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, divided
1/2 of a large granny smith apple, diced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup half and half [I used fat free]
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place diced sweet potatoes on a large baking sheet, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Whisk together olive oil, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, then pour over sweet potatoes. Using your hands, coat sweet potatoes with olive oil mixture. Roast for 25-35 minutes, turning occasionally, or until fork-tender.

After sweet potatoes are done, transfer to a 10 inch round casserole dish [a 9×9 square dish should work too]. Mix in apples and cranberries.

Next, whisk together half and half, the egg, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Pour over sweet potato mixture, then bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

***Casserole can be made ahead up until this point and refrigerated until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, prepare the streusel. Stir together oats, brown sugar, flour, and pumpkin pie spice. Add melted butter and toss to form coarse crumbs.

Before serving, sprinkle streusel topping over sweet potatoes. Return to oven and bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until topping is browned.

Time: 75 minutes [15 minutes active]

Yield: 4-6 servings.

Fruit, Sides

Crock Pot Cran-Apple Sauce

January 4, 2012November 22, 2013 Sarah

Cranberries don’t have to be just served just on Thanksgiving and Christmas. They make a tasty addition to your table throughout the winter too. This post-holiday period is a great time to stock up on cranberries to freeze, and some grocery stores even carry them in the freezer section year-round.

Recently, I had some leftover cranberries to use up, so I decided to improvise on my own Crock Pot Chunky Applesauce recipe. Ben and I love the normal version, and make it quite often, so I thought the addition of cranberries would be a welcome alternative to the norm. And it was! Like my normal version, Crock Pot Cran-Apple Sauce is an easy chop-it, mix-it, and forget-about-it recipe that looks and tastes gourmet–with minimal effort. The tartness and bite of the cranberries paired perfectly with the sweet, chewy apples and also provided some naturally festive food coloring. Pretty food is always better, in my opinion, so whether you need a simple yet fancy side or a use for excess cranberries, give Crock Pot Cran-Apple Sauce a shot today!

Crock Pot Cran-Apple Sauce [adapted from my own Crock Pot Chunky Applesauce]
printable version

Ingredients:

12 ounces cranberries [fresh or frozen], rinsed
12 cups apples, roughly peeled and chopped [I used Gala and McIntosh]
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger

Directions:

Place all ingredients in crock pot and stir well to combine. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Don’t yield to the temptation to open the lid at all… it adds to the cooking time by releasing the heat. At the end of cooking, use a potato masher to crush apples and cranberries to desired texture, stir thoroughly and enjoy!

Note:

Feel free to add extra brown sugar at the end if it isn’t sweet enough for you.

Time: 8 hours and 15 minutes [15 minutes active].

Yield: about 12 cups.

Fruit, Recipes, Sides

Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce

December 19, 2011November 22, 2013 Sarah

So, for a long time, I thought there was only one kind of acceptable cranberry sauce. And let me give you a hint: the stuff in the can is most definitely not it. See, I like it sweet and tart… like a cranberry, ya know, not all gelatinous, uber sweet, and shaped-like-a-can. However, over the past few years, I’ve tried some other varieties besides the traditional cranberry relish… and guess what? Some of them are pretty fabulous. I still like the original, but trying new things is fun.

My latest try combines sweet pineapple and tart cranberries and is nothing short of fabulous. It was on our Thanksgiving table, and I wanted to share it before Christmas so it can be on your table in a mere six days!! It was delicious atop turkey and with the traditional holiday spread, but it was the leftovers that really made this Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce stand out. I enjoyed it stirred into vanilla yogurt and as a dipping sauce for apples, and I hope you’ll try it too!

Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce [from Skinnytaste]
printable version

Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh cranberries
20 ounce can crushed pineapple in pineapple juice
1/3 cup sugar

Directions:

Drain liquid from pineapple into a measuring cup. Add water so that there is a a total of 1 cup of liquid. Pour liquid into a saucepan, stir in sugar, and bring to a boil.

Next, rinse cranberries and place in a food processor and pulse several times until roughly chopped. Stir into sugar mixture, then cook over medium heat until thick, approximately 10 minutes. Then fold in pineapples and cook for another minute. Cool then store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Time: 20 minutes.

Yield: 4 cups.

Recipes, Sides, Vegetables

Whipped Sweet Potatoes

November 22, 2011November 22, 2013 Sarah

I have another recipe to share with the Healthy Holidays series, hosted by Carly at Createlive. I’ve been so inspired by her series to cook up delicious but healthful treats for the holiday season. I just can’t wait for Christmastime when I can do this apart from a school schedule!

Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods of all time. While working at home during the day, it’s not uncommon for me to whip up a batch of baked sweet potato fries for a quick lunch [that was one of the first recipes I posted here on the blog! haha!] and I often incorporate them into random, thrown-together leftover dinners, to the chagrin of my husband. While family tradition often finds this root vegetable to be served in a delicious brown-sugar and nut topped casserole, last year we tried a new dish: Whipped Sweet Potatoes.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes are sweetened with apple, spiced with cinnamon and allspice, and made richer with butter. Don’t leave that out for health reasons–studies have shown that the addition of some fat to sweet potato dishes increase the amount of beta-carotene that our bodies can absorb. Pretty cool, huh? Regardless of the nutritional benefits of sweet potatoes over their white counterparts, I’m happy to munch away on them instead because to me, the taste is far superior. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

They are also delicious sprinkled with pomegranate arils for a little crunch of sweetness!

Whipped Sweet Potatoes
printable version

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1″ cubes [about 7-8 cups]
1 large Granny Smith apple, cut into 1″ cubes
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash allspice

Directions:

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, combine sweet potatoes and apples. Cover mixture with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce for a simmer, cooking for 20-25 minutes or until soft. Remove from heat. Reserve about 1 cup of cooking liquid, then drain well. Return mixture to pan and add butter, cinnamon, and allspice. Stir and then blend with an immersion blender until smooth, adding reserved liquid by the tablespoon as necessary. [I added about 2 tablespoons.] Alternatively, you can mash with a potato masher or blend in a blender/food processor. Enjoy!

Time: 45 minutes [20 minutes active].

Yield: 6 servings [can be doubled].

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]

Recipes, Sides, Vegetables

KC’s Dilled Carrots

November 17, 2011November 24, 2015 Sarah

I am so excited to be participating today in the Healthy Holidays series, hosted by Carly at Createlive. I love going to Carly’s blog for her great photography, creative ideas, and amazing recipes, so when I saw this series, I knew I wanted to join in.

Today, I’ll be sharing one of my favorite vegetable side dishes of all time: KC’s Dilled Carrots. Normally, I’m not a fan of cooked vegetables [at my house, we eat a. lot. of salads, cut up raw veggies, etc. instead], but I make an exception for this one. I think one of the reasons I’m not a fan of cooked vegetables is because they are either a) mushy [I like the CRUNCH!], b) slathered in a lot of other ingredients that change the flavor from fresh and light to heavy, or c) all of the above. My mom got this recipe from a family friend, whose initials happen to be KC, after eating at their house one year over spring break about four and a half years ago, and it has made an appearance on our table many times since then.

Oftentimes, cooked carrots are served with buttery, sugary, bacon-y glaze that is, of course, delicious, but also high in fat and calories. For a vegetable dish, this is problematic. KC’s Dilled Carrots solves the problem by significantly cutting down on the butter and sugar, adding a ton of flavor with a generous amount of dill, and incorporating just a bit of creaminess via sour cream or yogurt for a rich taste with more of the good stuff and less of the bad. Note, this of course translates to more pie, stuffing, or whatever is your cup of tea. I mean, in the name of health you could just cook up some carrots and call it a day–but wouldn’t you rather add a bit of pizzazz in a healthier way? I know I do. Enjoy, and be sure to check out the rest of the series here. It will be continuing for the next three weeks so there’s still time to contribute if you want!

KC's Dilled Carrots

Servings: 6-8
Time: 15 minutes
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Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
2 pounds carrots, cut in coins or julienned
2 teaspoons dill
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon honey
3 tablespoons sour cream or plain Greek yogurt

Directions:

Melt butter in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add carrots and stir to coat, sauteing and constantly stirring for about 3 minutes. Stir together dill, chicken stock, and honey in a measuring cup. Pour over carrots and stir to coat. Cover and cook for 4-7 minutes, until carrots are just barely tender. Remove from heat. Take carrots from the pan with a slotted spoon and place into a serving dish. Return skillet to the stove and cook over high heat for 1-2 minutes, reducing liquid until syrupy. Stir in sour cream or yogurt, pour over carrots, stir together, and serve.

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]