Sweet Potato Casserole

I had intended to post this one after Thanksgiving but I'm always putting things off. Now I'm typing this on a shiny new laptop so perhaps it will inspire me to blog more often. This recipe came from a church cookbook my mom bought years ago. Here's the original recipe...

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 c. mashed cooked sweet potatoes
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 stick margarine, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients. Put in a 7x12 inch casserole dish.

topping:
1 c. brown sugar
1c. nuts
1/2 c. flour
1/2 stick margerine

Put on top of the potatoes. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.
Top with mini marshmallows and put under the broiler until brown and melty. Keep a close eye on it, I think I remember my sister catching the marshmallows on fire when she got distracted.

I have made some changes to the recipe. My sister and I aren't big fans of nuts, but we like pecan pie, go figure! So my mom always made it with out nuts in the topping. The last few years we've been buying 20 lb. boxes of sweet potatoes. These sweet potatoes have been really sweet and buttery so I've been cutting back on the butter and sugar in the recipe. I also use about 4 c. of sweet potatoes. It would work fine to cut back on the topping as well if you're watching your sugar.

I actually made a larger one for Christmas because we had a couple of extra people and most of the people who come take some leftovers. 7 c. potatoes and one and a half times the amount of other ingredients and the original amount of topping. There were way more leftovers than I figured there would be. It turns out one of the people who came was allergic to sweet potatoes and I'm not sure if the other person had any or not. Next year I will not be doubling it.

Ravioli Lasagna

Quick, easy and good! I used the frozen spinach which may have been a mistake as I actually had someone refuse to eat it it, no this someone was not a child even if they acted like it. "What's that icky green stuff? I'm not eating this." I personally didn't even taste the spinach except where it was clumped up in a few places. I would try this one again, without the spinach to accommodate my family.

I found this recipe over at Dinner With Julie.

Ravioli Lasagna

1 large jar good-quality tomato sauce
2 16-18 oz. bags fresh or frozen large ravioli – any kind
1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 cup grated part-skim mozzarella (or as much as you like)
½ cup grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spray a 9”x13” baking dish with nonstick spray, and spread about a third of the tomato sauce over the bottom. Lay half the ravioli in a single layer overtop. Sprinkle with the spinach and half the cheese, another third of the sauce and then the remaining ravioli, sauce and cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes, then uncover and bake another 10 minutes, until golden and bubbly.

Serves 6.

Buttermilk Cornbread

I completely forgot to take pictures of this but since I wasn't crazy about it I'm not gonna worry.

We had some buttermilk in the fridge so I decided to try out a new recipe for cornbread. The recipe came from this blog. It was moist but it was way too sweet. The crust was also a little soggy and tough. The only changes I made was to half it and I cooked it in a cast iron skillet. I wouldn't make it again.