One week from today, I’ll be at my mom’s house, surrounded by family, enjoying turkey, dressing, candied yams, cranberry sauce, and all the other wonderful dinner trimmings that go along with Thanksgiving.
Besides all the usual things that I am thankful for, I wanted to take a moment to extend a special thank you to readers. Whether you read my books or not, I thank you for being a lover of the printed word. Without you, there would be no reason to write. So thank you!
As a way to say thank you in a slightly more practical manner, I’d like to offer two (hopefully fun) little gifts. The first is a recipe, and the second is a chance to win a giant reader-focused giveaway.
Usually at Thanksgiving, I make my mother’s candied yams, but sometimes I want the sweet potato fix without the extensive time commitment. So for those occasions (and for the church potluck last Sunday), I make a simple sweet potato casserole. I prefer red garnet yams over the classic sweet potato, but either will work. For potluck Sunday, I baked the potatoes the night before, spread them in the pan, placed it in the fridge, then whipped up the topping in the morning for the final baking. If you do this, cook it a little longer to make sure it heats all the way through.
Sweet Potato Casserole
Bake 4-5 yams/sweet potatoes until soft (about 1.5 hours at 400). Remove skins and place in large mixing bowl. Add salt, 1/2 cup of butter, and about 1/2 cup brown sugar. Blend until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Spread in large casserole dish (I prefer a rectangular dish over the bowl pictured at the right).
Topping:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Mix first four ingredients using either a fork or your fingers to blend until it is a consistency of coarse crumbs. Add pecans and mix through. Sprinkle topping over yam mixture, covering completely. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until heated through.
Now for the second attempt to show my appreciation. A chance to win a Kindle Fire and over 55 Inspirational Historical Romance Novels by some of your favorite Christian novelists! My latest release, No Other Will Do, is among the books being given away.
Click on the graphic above to be taken to the contest site. One winner will receive the grand prize of a Kindle Fire and digital copies of all the books pictured above. A second winner will receive the full collection of e-books. The contest is open until November 21 and is available to readers in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
To enter, you must click on the graphic to visit the contest site. Entering a comment here will not enter you into the contest. However, I would love to hear your thoughts.
- What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?
- Besides the usual gratitude for family, friends, and our marvelous Lord, what else are you thankful for this year?
May you have a blessed holiday full of reasons to give thanks and plenty of time to read to your heart’s content!
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Wow! I would love to win this. 55 books on a kindle!!!! My favorite dish is a toss up between the sweet potatoes or turkey with gravy.
I am most thankful for being born in the USA where we can worship God freely!!
Amen, Leann. We are so blessed here. And I love those sweet potatoes!
My favorite Thanksgiving dish is mashed sweet potatoes mixed with lots of butter and brown sugar, spread in a 9×13 pan topped with marshmallows and browned in the oven.
My daughter is diabetic and so pregnancy can be worrisome. But she was able to take really good care with her diabetes while pregnant this year and had a fairly easy delivery of a 7’11” healthy baby boy. What a wonderful blessing for our family.
A safe pregnancy and delivery is a wonderful thing to be thankful for. So happy for your family!
I am excited to try your recipe this year. Sounds delicious!
Oh, good! I hope you like it. I enjoy the sweet crunch of the streusel topping with the pecans. Your casserole with the marshmallows sounds like a delicious one, too. Yummy!
Southern cornbread dressing and sweet potato casserole (my recipe is close to yours.) are my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. This year I am most thankful for our new micro preemie granddaughter born in September. She only weighed 1 lb 2.7 oz at birth and is now 2 months old weighting 3 lbs 6 oz. She is still in the NICU and will be at least another month I am sure. She has truly shown us the power of prayer and how God is still in the miracle business. Thanks for chance to win.
What a miracle that your sweet grandbaby is alive and growing stronger every day. I got chills just reading your post. A definite blessing this year!
Karen, our family makes a sweet potato casserole recipe every Thanksgiving that looks exactly like the one you posted! Unlike my husband, I’m not usually a huge sweet potato fan. But that casserole, I LOVE! It’s my favorite of all the Thankgiving dishes.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Thanks, Becky. Hope you have a wonderful time with that sweet potato fella of yours. A man who loves yams is a special treat. Mine won’t touch them with a ten-foot fork, but I’ve convinced 2 out of 3 offspring to come to the orange side with me. 🙂
Corn bread dressing is my favorite, I would love to try your recipe.
That is my husband’s favorite, too. I love a good dressing. Hope you get a chance to try to sweet potatoes, Juanita. 🙂
Mashed potatoes with turnips. Yummy! I am thankful for good books to read and that I love in the USA.
I’ve never had mashed potatoes with turnips, Vickie. I’m intrigued. Do the turnips change the flavor? I’m thankful for good books, too. And for the time to read them – which is in incredibly short supply, so what I can scrape together is truly appreciated. 🙂
My favorite for Thanksgiving is turkey & ham roasted in the oven with mustard & brown sugar. Chocolate cream pie & always baked rolls. Remember to be thankful for ALl things!!!
Yum! Mustard and brown sugar. That sounds like a fabulous glaze. My husband doesn’t like mustard in any form. One of his greatest flaws. Ha! But those baked rolls? Oh, we would all be scarfing those down. 🙂
Thank you so much Karen for the sweet potato casserole recipe and the fun giveaway! As far as Thanksgiving recipes go two of my favorites are stuffing and green bean casserole. One of the things I’m grateful for, along with the major things is having a computer. I’ve been able to discover new books ,websites,and wonderful authors and friends like you! Hope you and your family have a Happy,Blessed Thanksgiving!!