Three Beautiful Things 10-11-2022: Preparing Sweet Potato Casserole, Fixing the Maple Walnut Topping, Debbie and Christy Debrief

1.  At family dinner Monday night, just briefly, the subject of sweet potato casserole came up. It intrigued me, so, this morning, I started clicking around on the World Wide Web, looking for a savory sweet potato casserole recipe. 

I found one.

After a quick trip to Yoke's to buy four pounds of sweet potatoes (and a couple acorn squash), I got to work on the recipe.

First, I peeled the sweet potatoes and cut them into chunks about an inch thick and boiled them.

I also cut a small acorn squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and, on a second burner, boiled the two halves. I had decided to add this squash to the sweet potatoes.

Once boiled, I drained the sweet potatoes, peeled the squash halves, and put them all in the Dutch oven and let them cool before mashing them.

On a separate burner, I melted butter with minced garlic, added some Trader Joe's Ajika Georgian seasoning blend (instead of smoked paprika), and a cup of milk.

When this butter/milk mixture was warm, I mashed the sweet potatoes/squash and then poured the butter/milk over the mashed ingredients and blended it all together. 

I greased a baking pan and transferred what I'd just fixed into the pan, creating as even a layer as possible.

2. This casserole has a topping. Very simple. I mixed together chopped walnuts, real maple syrup, rosemary, and salt in a small bowl and spread it over the top of the casserole.

Whenever Debbie and I were about twenty minutes away from being ready to eat, I just had to pop the casserole in the oven (at 350 degrees) and, in twenty minutes, we'd have dinner.

By the way, earlier in the day I made a salad of chopped Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, chopped English cucumber, orange pepper, and chopped carrot. I blended fresh lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil with a dash of salt and pepper to make a vinaigrette for the salad.

3. Debbie arrived home, ready for a cocktail, and I mixed her a Gold Rush with a variation. Debbie asked for fresh squeezed orange juice to add to the honey syrup, rye whisky, and fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Debbie took her cocktail next door to debrief with Christy. 

Christy returned to Debbie's classroom today as a volunteer and they talked about how superbly things had gone today. 

And, then, Debbie and I enjoyed the casserole and salad. 

I had a blast making this dinner and it made me happy that it hit the spot for Debbie.