Food & Recipes - grace grits and gardening

Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie

November 20, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Happy Thursday! In case you haven’t noticed, we are exactly one week away from Thanksgiving. (Just thought I’d throw that into this Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie post.)

Guess what? Williams-Sonoma asked me to help promote Smoothie Week. (Disclosure: As always, recipes and opinions are my own.) The idea behind Williams-Sonoma’s Smoothie Week is to highlight unusual smoothie recipes, maybe those with an ingredient twist or an odd blend. I thought my Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie fit the bill. Not only is it loaded with flavor, it’s an easy way to sneak an amazing amount of healthiness into your day before breakfast. (Hello beta-carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and fiber.)

So here we are facing another holiday season filled with tempting pumpkin spice lattes and sweet potato pie.

Yummy, right?

But we all know those are calorie laden and who needs that? Not me, and probably not you either. Instead, I offer you this substitute—rich and creamy yet low in calories—a perfect holiday treat.

My sweet potato pie smoothie is made from local, seasonal ingredients (sweet potato and apple), basic pantry spices (cinnamon and allspice) and an ingredient you might not expect—blackstrap molasses. When you spoon out a teaspoon for this recipe, you will understand the phrase “slow as molasses”. IT IS THICK, that’s for sure, but unlike refined white sugar or corn syrup, blackstrap molasses is a natural sweetener that is actually good for us. This dark, syrupy byproduct made from the crystallization of sucrose is impressively high in vitamins and minerals including iron, calcium, manganese, copper, potassium, magnesium, selenium, vitamin B-6 and niacin.

Now, let’s get started. First, grab your blender. Here’s mine.

It may not look very exciting, but the mere fact that I’ve had this Waring blender (purchased at Williams-Sonoma) my entire adult life, makes it pretty special. The blender still works like new, and I use it several times a week.

An excellent blender is a kitchen necessity, don’t you agree? If you’re in the market for a new blender or juicer or smoothie machine, add one of THESE to your Christmas list now, and you’ll probably never need another one, at least that’s been my experience.

Okay, moving along. Gather and measure your ingredients. I always do this no matter what I’m making. This makes me feel organized even when I’m not.

I bet you thought we’d never get to the recipe. Here it is.

Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie

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Servings: 2

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

3/4 cup 2% milk I used Lactaid
1/2 cup cooked sweet potato smashed and cooled
1/2 medium apple cubed (I used Honeycrisp)
1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
1/8 teaspoon allspice
2 dashes of cinnamon
pinch of brown sugar optional
5-6 ice cubes
1 teaspoon chopped pecans optional

Method

Blend together milk, sweet potato, apple, cinnamon, allspice, molasses, and vanilla.
Add ice and blend again until smooth. Taste. Add additional milk or ice for consistency preference. Add pinch of brown sugar if more sweetness is desired.
Serve in your favorite glass and top with chopped pecans and a sprinkle of cinnamon. You can add a dollop of whipped cream too.

Topped with chopped pecans (from our farm) and cinnamon. I was heavy handed on the cinnamon…

Two final notes. If you don’t have vanilla bean paste, buy some before you begin your holiday baking. I love it not only because it adds richness and an extra depth of flavor to your creations but also because of the tiny vanilla bean specks visible in whatever you are making. Also, I used two dashes of cinnamon in this recipe. I’m not exactly sure how much a dash is but I have a tiny little spoon that says dash. Probably close to 1/8 teaspoon?

Vanilla Bean Paste and the cutest measuring spoons ever.

Seriously, are these not the cutest measuring spoons ever? (A housewarming gift from my friend, Judy!) A smidgen, pinch and dash (top of picture).

For a different spin on the presentation, pour your sweet potato smoothie into shot glasses. Shots make every gathering a party!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie made with #Blackstrap #Molasses. Shut my mouth! #SmoothieWeek @WilliamsSonoma #healthy[/tweetthis]

“Song, song of the south, sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.” – Alabama, Song of the South

Milky Way Cake

November 4, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

If you are following along, you may remember I am recreating recipes from Keiser’s Kitchen, a recipe book created by the Keiser Elementary School PTA moms in 1969. A few weeks ago, I made the Yum Yum Cake. It was delicious. If you missed it, you’ll want to go back and check it out. This week’s dish is the Milky Way Cake. With company coming for Halloween weekend, it sounded like the perfect choice. Plus, I had a bag of those fun-sized Milky Ways. What a great way to use up leftover Halloween candy…

After having made only two of these vintage recipes, here’s the thing I’ve realized—the art of cooking has drastically changed. In only forty years, ingredients have evolved. Recipes are written differently. Like everything, there are trends in cooking. Foods go in and out of style, and the language of food changes.

I was reminded of the importance in handing down recipes. These recipes are part of our family stories.

I experienced this first-hand while making the Milky Way Cake, mainly because this recipe was contributed to the Keiser cookbook by my Aunt Lavern. For those of you who never knew her, Aunt Lavern had a sweet, generous spirit, loved family, friends and God, and was a fabulous cook. She even owned a little restaurant one time—her southern, down-home cooking was that good.

As I began making this cake, I imagined Aunt Lavern mixing the batter. I remembered the smells of her comfy kitchen. Several times I wanted to ask her questions, especially while trying to get the icing to “soft ball stage”. Even though my icing boiled over onto my stove and made a huge sticky mess, the cake turned out amazing. I think she was helping me.

The ingredients were basic.

I am no baker, but I truly believe this is the most beautiful icing I have ever made. It was smooth and creamy and rich like fudge.

Ummmmm.

Look at my lovely, giddy taste testers!

So you want the recipe, right?

Here it is…

Milky Way Cake

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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

4 Milky Way candy bars
1 stick oleo I used unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Milky Way Icing

2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup marshmallow cream
1 stick oleo I only used 1/2 stick in the icing

Method

Melt candy bars and 1/2 stick butter. Set aside.
Cream sugar and 1/2 stick butter in large bowl.
Add eggs.
To the sugar/egg mixture, alternatively add flour and buttermilk until mixed together.
Add melted chocolate/butter mixture and mix well.
Add pecans.
Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes or until done.

Milky Way Icing

Mix sugar and milk and cook in a double boiler until soft ball stage. Add chocolate chips, marshmallow cream and butter. Stir until melted.

Notes

Candy bars in general are much larger these days. Be sure to buy "regular" sized Milky Way bars. Or two "fun-sized" bars = one regular candy bar.
In the icing, I couldn't bring myself to add an entire stick of butter so I reduced the butter to 1/2 stick. This may be why my icing was fudge-like, but I thought this was the best part!

Here’s a helpful YouTube video that explains soft ball stage…

Aunt Lavern (left), Nana (right)

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

The Church – Under the Milky Way

Butternut Squash Apple Bisque

October 29, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Butternut squash is as popular this time of year as pumpkin spice everything. Am I right? And if you love butternut squash bisque as much as I do, you are gonna be happyhappyhappy about the deliciousness I have for you today. The only thing better would be a real live taste, which sadly I can’t provide via my blog. WordPress needs a plug-in for taste samples.

Look at these perfect fall ingredients. Simple. Flavorful. Two kinds of onions and that’s a good thing.

The recipe, originally a Williams-Sonoma dish, is easy too. I tweaked it a bit.

Here’s a picture of fall literally simmering in my favorite copper pot. (Note to #Wordpress: a smell plugin would be ideal here.)

There is magic in the immersion blender. If you don’t have one, get one. It will turn chunky soft vegetables into creamy smoothness.

Butternut Squash Apple Bisque

Serves 8-10 main course servings, a crowd with smaller cup servings. Reheat on low heat.

Print Recipe

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion finely chopped
4 green onions finely chopped (use the white parts only)
2 Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
1 butternut squash about 2 lb, peeled, seeded and cut into 2 inch chunks
6 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup half-and-half
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

In your favorite soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter and sauté the onions until softened. Add the apples and squash and cook until coated with the oniony goodness, about three minutes.
Add chicken stock and rosemary and bring to a simmer.
Add thyme.
Reduce heat to medium and simmer covered about 30 minutes. Vegetables should be very tender.
Remove from heat and puree soup until smooth.
Stir in half-and-half and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle rosemary and thyme on top for garnish if desired.