This sweet potato casserole was alllmost my favorite food of the day…which will surprise nobody since it’s basically a dessert. The actual number one spot is (and will always be) reserved for chocolate pecan pie.
We had a nice low key morning at home, watching the parade football while doing puzzles and eating but ended up going to my parents’ house in the afternoon for a very small and safe gathering.
It was good for the kids to have a change of scenery and play the same games in a different backyard 🙂
Ok, so about this dish. I made it the day before and then heated it up in the oven right before we ate.
To start, I steamed the sweet potatoes in the instant pot.
Then I pureed them with soy milk, coconut oil, and a pinch of salt.
Then I topped them with crushed walnuts, maple syrup, sugar, coconut oil, oats, and salt.
It was mostly walnuts and sugar, so I essentially candied nuts on top of a sweet potato casserole.
Then I baked it until the top of the nuts were golden brown.
Any questions?
Sweet potato casserole
Ingredients:
- 6 large sweet potatoes
- 1/4 cup soy milk (or milk of choice)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil + 2 tbsp coconut oil (divided)
- 1 1/2 cups walnuts, crushed
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt (divided)
Directions:
First cook the sweet potatoes in the instant pot. Set them in a steamer over 1 cup water and set the pressure cooker for 15 minutes on high pressure. Once it’s done, let it do a natural release.
Pre-heat the oven for 350 degrees F.
Once the sweet potatoes are cooled enough to handle, peel the skins off and add the flesh to a mixing bowl with 1/4 cup of coconut oil and soy milk, plus a pinch of salt. The skins will separate super easily and the flesh will be so soft, you should be able to mash it with a fork.
Next, make the nut topping by combining the remaining portions of coconut oil and salt with the crushed nuts, oats, sugar, and maple syrup.
Scoop the sweet potatoes into a greased baking dish, then top with the nut mix and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees (until the nuts start to toast and turn golden brown).
Ta-da!! A thanksgiving delight!
The rest of the meal included all the usual fare…
But first! A cheeseboard or two. I didn’t take a pic of the veggie one until it well into the day so it’s not exactly the most impressive, but we all preferred the cheese and crackers anyway. There were three kinds of goat cheese and many kinds of crackers, but the plain chevre with fig jam and Mary’s crackers was my favorite.
FOOD
I will be honest and admit, I didn’t even have 50% of the items shown because I just wasn’t feeling them.
Normally I would try a bit of everything anyway because Thanksgiving comes once a year, but I already made so many yummy holiday dishes over the week, I didn’t really feel like I needed to eat things just for the sake of it. That scarcity mindset is what diet culture wants us to feel. Luckily I’m so removed from that, it isn’t even a blip on my radar anymore.
Most of the recipes for these can be found on old blog posts here and here.
This was Mr. P’s plate…mine had 75% roasted veggies, 15% sweet potato casserole, and 10% salad. Ok, that’s probably not true. I did have one piece of turkey. But somehow his was the only plated photo on my camera so I guess I forgot to take any others.
Are you a pumpkin pie person?
The dairy free version is on the left (made with oat milk), and the “normal” version is on the right. I don’t like pumpkin pie so I didn’t try either one, but the kids and Kyle gave both lots of thumbs up.
There was an apple cranberry cobbler too, which my mom accidentally over-broiled, but nobody even cared. Pattycakes actually preferred the charred pieces the most.
Thankful for these cute kiddos 🙂
