We had a busy, fun day in the kitchen doing one of my favorite activities—making yummy food! Here’s what we had:

• Smoked turkey breast (David’s the “smoker” in this house, and he’s great at it!)
• Cornbread dressing
• Orange Sweet Potato Casserole
• Green Beans with Orange Essence and Toasted Maple Pecans
• Best American Dinner Rolls
• Apple-Cranberry Pie
• Praline Pumpkin Pie

Want a couple of recipes? Here you go…

Orange Sweet Potato Casserole (Cook’s Illustrated)

This is not your grandma’s sweet potato casserole. I would have called this “Orange Glazed Sweet Potatoes” instead of calling it a casserole, since the potatoes are in chunks rather than all mashed up. This was a new dish for us, and it was sooooo good. It says it serves 8-12, but I think that must be referring to people who don’t like sweet potatoes very much. :) I’d say 5-6.

• 3 pounds sweet potatoes (about 6 medium potatoes), peeled, halved lengthwise, and halves cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 4 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375°. In large pot or Dutch oven of boiling water, parboil sweet potato slices over high heat until they are bright orange and the point of a paring knife easily pierces but does not break apart a few slices, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain potatoes well and turn into buttered 13-x 9-inch baking dish.

Whisk melted butter, honey, molasses, ginger, salt, orange zest, and cayenne in small bowl; set aside. Mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water in small bowl until totally smooth, then whisk into butter mixture; pour over sweet potatoes and toss to coat well.

Cover dish tightly with foil and bake until liquid is bubbly, about 50 minutes. Remove foil, stir potatoes gently, and bake until liquid thickens to glaze potatoes, about 20 minutes longer. Cool slightly and serve hot or at room temperature.

Praline Pumpkin Pie (Paula Deen, with a couple of modifications by David)

• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 9-inch unbaked pie shell
• 3 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 can pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400°. Blend pecans with 1/3 cup brown sugar and butter. Press gently into bottom of pie shell. Blend all remaining ingredients; pour into pie shell. Bake for about 50 minutes. (Note: we use a food processor both for the praline mixture and the pie filling.)

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