Menu Monday: S is for Sweet Potato Casserole

I mentioned last week this weekend...wait.  What day is it again?

We are on DAY 5 of being snowed/iced in, and it continues tomorrow.  (They've already called off finals for Tuesday, too.  We were supposed to open at noon today, but thankfully, they went ahead and closed campus ALL day.)  I know what the day it is; I just have no frame of reference for the past as the days seem to melt into one another quite unlike the snow outside our doors.

(I really do love snow and winter and the magic it brings.  I'm just bummed we didn't get to go see Theatre Squared's production of A Christmas Carol this past weekend.  And we're out of bread and low on eggs.  No more French toast pour moi.)

Anyhooooo, I mentioned sometime recently that Zach and I do a Fall Feast every year.  Usually, we get a rotisserie chicken, I make the sides (green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and Stove Top, which my husband prefers to actual cornbread dressing...weirdo), and we do the dessert up right.  We eat and watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Garfield's Thanksgiving.  It's something we started when we were dating: We decided to do our own "Thanksgiving" since we wouldn't be together for the holiday.  (That first year, I don't really remember.  I'm actually now not even sure if we did what we would call a Fall Feast now.  But our second year, when we were married, we actually watched the Halloween specials and had Halloween Funfetti cake...but I don't remember if it was before or after Halloween.  We do things in our own time.)  And it is a glorious tradition!  "The more you eat, the more grateful you're gonna feel..."  That song kinda irks me, and I don't think it's true for commercialized America, but I also find it stuck in my head for days after, so it does what it is supposed to do, I think.

Anyhooooo, this year, we did it much later this year than usual because we've been so busy and traveling on the weekends...and then when I ordered two chickens from my co-worker's son, I knew we just HAD to wait until they came in, so I could roast one for Fall Feast.

They finally were ready the week of Thanksgiving, and so I brought them home for Fall Feast...the first week in December.

It was my first time to roast a chicken, and it was a ROARING success!  The crowds went wild for the citrusy, herby, golden-skinned chicken!  (By crowds, I mean Zach and Amy.)  But I was very proud of my bird.  :)

I realize this is a terrifying angle.  It looks like a fish face.

I made some "Texas Roadhouse" (copycat) rolls along with the usual green bean casserole, but I decided to do more of a sweet potato casserole than just candied "yams."  I combined two recipes, and it was delish!

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

3 cans of sweet potatoes, drained

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

dash of ginger

dash of pepper

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

4 Tbsp. melted butter (1/2 stick)

1+ Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

mini marshmallows

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8x8 pan.

-Mash sweet potatoes by hand until mostly smooth.

-Add all ingredients except marshmallows, and combine until well blended.

-Spread half of sweet potato mixture into pan and top with marshmallows as desired.  Spread remaining sweet potato mixture on top.

-Bake for 30 minutes.  Top with marshmallows as desired and bake for 10 additional minutes until marshmallows are brown and bubbly.

I know this is one of those dishes that is more like candy, but we only have it at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I think we get a pass.  And I forgot to make the Stove Top, so it was one less dish.  :)

For dessert, we had a homemade chocolate cake made by a coworker's husband.  Holy YUM!

What are some traditions you have this time of year?

Weekend Update

Friday night, we stayed home, made appetizers for dinner, and got terrified by this movie Zach picked out (Upstream Color).  He ended up falling asleep on the couch when I went to change the sheets, and if you know my husband, he is IMPOSSIBLE to wake up when he falls asleep on the couch.  So I went ahead and got in bed, and Dinah-cat snuggled with me while I watched 19 Kids and Counting and read blogs.  (If you know me, you know I am OBSESSED with shows about big families, and now all the seasons of the Duggars are on Netflix!  I really like following them because they live in my area.  I've seen Jim Bob twice now and Michelle once.)

Saturday, I made raspberry pancakes and hash browns for breakfast--yummy!  (My recipe will likely be coming tomorrow.)

I made some more laundry detergent because we were out, and then I helped our friend Amy move and unpack some stuff.  (She just rented an apartment two duplexes down from us!)  After she and I got back from TJMaxx and Target, I got ready, so we could head to the lighting of the Fayetteville Square.  We left at 5 to run by Toys 'R Us and Starbucks beforehand, and we made good time, but there was absolutely NO PARKING.  The town was overrun with folks!  And we only has THREE DOLLARS in cash, so we couldn't park in any of the paid spots.  We thought we could park in the metered spots that let you pay with a card, but those had been turned off because they were charging extra, cash only.  ARGH!  WE tried to park in the Municipal Parking Lot, but it was full.  Then we tried the Chancellor Hotel's, and it was only for hotel guests that night.  As we backed out and headed past, one of the Hotel employees waved us down and said there was one spot left in the employee parking lot for THREE DOLLARS.  A pre-Thanksgiving miracle!  We zoomed up, and I got centered because this whole thing stressed me out to no end.

We made it to the Square in front of Tiny Tim's Pizza where we were meeting our friends.  The lights had already been turned on and the parade had started, but we still got to see quite a bit, and I even caught a CFA elf-cow (that I gave to a passing kid later).  It was packed, yet that was a good thing because it was sooooo cold.  However, I can't say that body heat made much of a difference.  I had my scarf wrapped around my face, so when I breathed, it flew upward, fogging my glasses.  I was a quite a frigid and funny sight!  After the festivities, we planned to eat at Tim's, but it was still a two hour wait.  So we grabbed gyros from Nomad's and went to Maxine's for drinks.  Both were AMAZING.  My beef-lamb gyro was so yummy, and we all enjoyed our grub as we crowded around the last available table and couch in Maxine's.  Then we ordered some hot drinks, and they were delicious.  Zach had a hot toddy, and he got me a spiked chai tea, which was so delightful.  The atmosphere of the bar was very neat, too, and you have to love any place that serves seasoned popcorn and nuts.  Apparently, it used to a sleazy dive bar, but they redid it earlier this year, and now it is way classy, and every drink exceeded our expectations at the right price.  We will definitely be back!

Photo here

Today, we cleaned around the house and then went to see Catching Fire!!!  It was so touching--I laughed and cried throughout it--and while it was a long movie (previews started at 12:45 and we got out at 3:30), the hours seemed to fly by.  Also, I must say that I wish Caesar Flickerman was a real talk show host.  This movie was better than the first, and I liked that one a lot; it was also very faithful to the book.  I want to go see it again!

Photo here

I love when the marketing mimics what could happen if the events of the book/movie were real.

Tonight, we cleaned some more, and I went grocery shopping.  "Pancake," our homeless kitten visitor, has been staying in our bathroom all weekend, and tonight I let her out.  (We have determined that she is a she, and not a he.)  Hobie caught me holding her, and he looked like I had stabbed him in the heart.  And Dinah has been hissing in such a ladylike fashion each time she sees "Pancake."  Poor kitty--she just wants to be part of our family, and our two spoiled cats don't want to share!