Sweet Potato Casserole ~ This will be a family favorite for years to come

With Thanksgiving right around the corner,  I thought I would share with you my favorite Sweet Potato recipe.

Sweet Potato Casserole (From Matts Mom)

• 6 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 1 /2 cup butter
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 can sweet condensed milk

Mix together and put in a baking dish.

Topping

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup nuts

Mix well, sprinkle on top of sweet potatoes, Bake 350 for 25-35 min.

To cook sweet potatoes,  cover with water in a large pot.  Bring to boil, cook till middles are soft and a fork will insert easily.

I drain the water and let them cool a little.

Once they are cool enough to handle, peel the skins off.

Mash with a fork or a mixer, mash them up.

Then mix in the butter, milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour into baking dish, add topping

Bake at 350 25-35 mins

As  little girl I HATED sweet potatoes.  My grandma would bring them to Thanksgiving Dinner with marshmallows on top.  It seemed like a mean little trick, because they looked good but underneath the white fluffy marshmallows was this dry, sticky, stringy orange glob that was awful.  To be honest it made me gag, I have avoided it ever since.

Fast forward many years later I have my first Thanksgiving meal with Matts family.  They are all talking  about how wonderful his Mom’s Sweet potato  Casserole is, and I have flash backs of my marshmallow nightmare. I was happy to see that  hers looked much different than Grandmas.  But, I still did not want to eat it.  I did not want to be rude, so I took a tiny little spoonful and put it on my plate.  Hoping no one would notice if I did not eat it.  Well that was a dumb plan, instead I had the whole table looking at me waiting for me to take a bite and try it.

All of a sudden I felt like I was a contestant on fear factor.  What a way to impress the “new family”, I was so worried I was going to gag on the stingy orange blob from my past.  I was really to force out a “yumm” weather I liked it or not.  Into my mouth went my first bite, and much to my surprise it was fabulous!  The sweet potatoes were light and fluffy, and sweet (how Ironic).  On top was this fabulous crust that was more like a toffee nut crumble …… Long story short this has now become my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner and proves you should always try food a 2nd time.