Candied Sweet Potato Recipe

This candied sweet potato recipe is one of the best I've ever put in my mouth! Being a southerner from birth and having had the pleasure of eating some of the finest southern recipes and soul food produced by some of the finest southern cooks who ever fired up a stove; I feel that my opinion should stand for something. This is an easy recipe with the most time consuming part of the preparation being the peeling and cutting of the sweet potatoes into thick slices.

MY GRANDMOTHER'S SOUTHERN CANDIED SWEET POTATO RECIPE
one(1) 12 inch cast iron skillet full of peeled sweet potato cut into slices about 1 inch thick (about 3 or 4 medium sweet potatoes should do it)

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of Blackburn syrup, dark Caro syrup or the pancake syrup of your choice
1/2 cup of vegetable oil

Combine the granulated sugar, the syrup and the oil and pour over the sliced sweet potatoes that you have layered in a well seasoned iron skillet. There should be enough liquid to eventually cover the potatoes after they "cook down" a little.

Cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid and cook over low to low medium heat until the potatoes are tender. Check from time to time to be sure that the liquid is simmering and not bubbling at a full boil.

I apologize for not having more detailed instructions for this Candied Sweet Potato recipe but that's all I have at the moment. This is an OLD southern recipe that I just transcribed off of a piece of cardboard cereal box that was in my great-grandmother's recipe box...I suppose it would be more accurate to say I got it out of her recipe can since she kept all of her recipes inside an old blue and white lard can. This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes even though my grandmother says that the candied sweet potato recipe was more for an everyday meal than a special holiday recipe like her famous sweet potato pie recipe.

That being said, there are many more old southern recipes to come since I've just skimmed the surface of all the handwritten "receipts" that are in the can. Everyday or not, I plan for candied sweet potatoes to be part of my Thanksgiving menu. After making it myself, I should be able to give better instructions after the holidays which should eliminate some of the guesswork making it more suitable for beginners.

Sweet Potato Rice Pudding

I prefer to use brown rice in the following sweet potato rice pudding recipe because that's all that I ever cook. However, if I found myself with some white rice leftover for one reason or another I would not hesitate to use it as a substitute even though it's less healthy than brown.

The same goes for using pumpkin rather than sweet potato puree. I'm a big fan of pumpkin bread, but sweet potato puree works better with this recipe PLUS I seem to always have enough homemade sweet potato puree in the refrigerator especially around the holidays. This is one of my favorite healthy holiday dessert recipes because it not only tastes and looks amazing but the cinnamon in it makes the house smell like Christmas! Oh...and it's EASY TO MAKE!

SWEET POTATO RICE PUDDING RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
2 Cups cooked brown rice (warm is better so nuke your leftovers a second or two)
3 Cups 2% or less evaporated milk (plain 2% milks works but it's not as creamy)
1 Cup of Pumpkin or Sweet Potato Puree
3/4 Cup Honey
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all dry ingredients including salt if nobody at your house is on a low-sodium diet. Stir milk, honey and dry ingredients into the sweet potato or pumpkin puree brown rice mixing well. Bake in an oven set at 375 degrees for approximately 45 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from the oven, stir well and then refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving. Stay tuned for more healthy holiday recipes including some traditional favorites with a fresh, new spin!

PUMPKIN BREAD RECIPE with CANNED PUMPKIN

I would rather use pumpkin that I process myself but I have kept a pumpkin bread recipe with canned pumpkin handy for those times when I need to whip up a batch and don't have any pumpkins around.

J CLAIRE'S PUNKIN BREAD
3 cups of sifted plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or allspice
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 cup Crisco or 2 sticks of margarine
1 tsp of baking soda
2 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
(1) 1 pound can of pumpkin

Line two small coffee cans with waxed paper without poking holes in the paper or leaving seams where your bread batter can leak through.

Sift the flower, salt, baking power, baking soda and spices together.

Cream Crisco or your softened sticks of margarine gradually adding sugar as you cream till fluffy.

Add one egg at a time to sugar mixture beating well after each.

Stir in vanilla flavoring.

Add dry ingredients to the creamed sugar mixture alternately with dollops of canned pumpkin beating after each addition.

Stir in chopped nuts. You can use pecans or walnuts in your pumpkin bread recipe but I can't have either because of baby's allergy to tree nuts.

Pour equal amounts into each wax paper lined coffee can or a wax paper lined bundt cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours.


I might catch some flack from my visitors for posting this recipe for several reasons, like the fact that my bread has LOTS of calories, using canned pumpkin instead of fresh and for saying that I use a coffee can as a cake pan. I will address these issues in order:

1. I already explained why this easy bread recipe calls for canned pumpkin. It's handy and a timesaver and I believe the vitamin benefits are the same as fresh but don't quote me on that.
   
   
2. This bread is not low calorie and I'm not trying to pass it off as such. It's a guilty pleasure that should be limited unless you want to move up to the next clothing size.
   
   
3. My mom always made her pumpkin bread recipe with canned pumpkin baked in two small coffee cans that had been greased and lined with wax paper. It was fun and I don't believe it presents any possible health problems.
   

MUSCADINE PIE RECIPE

My grandmother's muscadine pie recipe may be the most delicious way I know to get your daily allotment of the trendy, anti-aging flavonoid known as resveratrol. Who would have dreamed that muscadines, or scuppernongs as we always called them, are supposed to be loaded with the same stuff that has red wine flying off the shelves of your local liquor store! Another added benefit of this pie is that I know that the muscadines I pick myself have never been treated with any pesticides!

MUSCADINE PIE

4 pounds ripe scuppernongs (muscadine grapes)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch (or plain white flour)
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Teaspoon of Lemon Juice

1 Recipe of your favorite double crust pie crust

Wash the scuppernongs then pull the hulls off off the pulp over a bowl to save the juice.

Pour the hulls, half of the saved juice in a heavy boiler and cook till tender. If the hulls are tough, it could take a while.

In a separate container, combine the remaining juice and the pulp until the seeds come loose, stirring constantly. Then run this mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds.

In a large pot, combine pulp mixture and hull mixture and stir until mixed.

Remove 2 cups (freeze leftovers for later or make another pie) with sugar, cornstarch, butter and lemon juice stirring well.

Pour into a pie plate lined with crust, top with remaining portion of crust. Trim and seal the edges. Flute the edges and cut slits in the top of the crust to allow steam to escape.

Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees or until crust is brown.


As for me, I don’t like the taste of wine. Fermented beverages of any kind have never held much appeal for me. I’ve tried it and not only did I fail to appreciate the bouquet and flavor; the stuff makes me sleepy and gives me a headache. Dessert has yet to produce those side effects so I think I’ll stick with getting my flavonoids the old fashioned way.

Lucky for me that this old, southern muscadine pie recipe has (reportedly) many times the amount of resveratrol than is supposed to be packed in a bottle of Bordeaux. And I can cook it for a fraction of the price unless you count the time that I spend picking them off the vine and the time I’ll be scratching the redbug bites after the fact. Why do I always forget to spray before I head out the door to the woods with bucket in hand?

Return to Muscadine Pie Recipes to find more easy dessert recipes using old fashioned ingredients.

MAMA'S QUICK RECIPE FOR PEAR COBBLER

I call this Mama’s Quick recipe for pear cobbler because this was the dessert that was served when fresh pears were coming in by the bushel basket full and quick family meals were to be expected. After the crops were in and jars of canned fruit were lining the shelves, when a more relaxed pace fell in place we could look forward to pastries that took more time to produce. Another good thing about these pears is that I know they have never been treated with pesticide.

MAMA’S QUICK RECIPE FOR PEAR COBBLER


2 cups of peeled, sliced fresh pears 2 cups of sugar (1 ½ if using canned pears)
4 ounces of unsalted butter
¾ cup of plain flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sweet milk
1 whole egg

Pour 1 cup of sugar over sliced pears in a bowl and set aside (if using canned pears, half the sugar and use a little syrup out of the jar). Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Melt your butter in a 2 qt oven proof baking dish either by placing dish in the oven or microwaving for a few seconds.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining sugar with the rest of your dry ingredients including spices and salt (less a half cup of sugar if you chose to use canned pears) and mix well.

Beat the egg and sweet milk together with a spoon, pour over the dry ingredients and blend until a batter forms. Pour this batter over the butter that you melted WITHOUT STIRRING. Then pour your pears including syrup on top of your butter and batter, AGAIN WITHOUT STIRRING.

Bake your preheated oven for about an hour at 325 watching to see when batter (which has now miraculously risen to form the top crust) begins to brown.

Most cooks would leave it at this, but Mama would brush the top of the crust lightly with butter and sprinkle it with sugar which gave it better flavor. In my traditional southern home, more butter and sugar were added to practically every recipe.

Pies with rolled pastry were more time consuming than Mama’s quick recipe for pear cobbler and more visually showy but it would be impossible to find fault with the sweet, buttery filling of this easy pear dessert no matter whether what!

Return to Oooh Baby Parenting, Family and Environmental Issues to find more frugal southern recipes that include fresh fruit and produce.