Thanksgiving!! Sweet Potato Pecan Casserole

I must be having a grey hair week this week .... I just realized it's THANKSGIVING this weekend and I have done nothing to get ready! Wow .... I guess I am going shopping today for a bird and some other goodies. Sadly my daughter will not be making it hope for the weekend :( It's the first time we will be having our thanksgiving feast without one of my kids ... she will be missed A LOT. I was looking forward to some quality time with her in the kitchen, she loves to experiment as much as I do. I must remember to send a care package to her with some choice leftovers ... she does so love my caramelized basalmic glazed onions and sweet potato pecan casserole. Ahh well there's always Christmas. Still, it won't be the same with her absent and I know she is upset too which makes it worse. Stupid work anyway! They don't deserve her ....

Anyway in honour of my daughter who is doing fabulously at college (and work, busy girl) I am going to post her two most favourite holiday sides, starting with the sweet potato pecan casserole which became an instant family tradition after we tried it 3 years ago. Made with yams of course, which is why we call it sweet potato casserole *doh*

Sweet Potato Pecan Casserole

• 5-6 yams, medium sized about2x the size of a baking potato
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 c butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp Pure Vanilla extract ( NEVER used artificial, there's a reason it's cheaper)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 c brown sugar (or 1/4 cup brown sugar splenda blend)
• 2 Tbsp heavy cream (whipping)

Streusel topping

• 1/4 c butter (softened)
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c pecan pieces (chopped)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 bake sweet potatoes for one hour. Test for doneness, should be very soft, if not, add half an inch of water, cover with foil and continue to steam/bake until done. Cool, peel and mash with a fork in a large bowl to get sweet potato puree.
2. In a large bowl mix the sweet potato, salt 1/4c butter, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar and heavy/whipping cream.
   
3. In a medium bowl combine 1/4c butter, chopped pecans and brown sugar to the consistency of course meal.
   
4. Put sweet potato mixture into greased 9x13 baking dish and crumble streusel topping over the top.
5. Bake 30 minutes or until done, until topping is crisp and lightly browned

This can be made a day or maybe even 2 ahead and baked while the turkey is resting after coming out of the oven and you are preparing the gravy. This clocks in at about 250 calories a serving based on a 9x13 baking dish divided into 12 servings. Full nutritional details for this can be viewed HERE. You can cut back on the sugar content on this by substituting Brown sugar Splenda for the regular brown sugar. I have not tried that however as I usually go off the tracking wagon for holiday meals ... Not sure how the blend works in a streusal topping but I suspect it would be unnoticeable in the filling so I may give it a whirl this weekend to see. If substituting brown sugar splenda you only need HALF the volume given for regular brown sugar. This would reduce the volume of the streusal topping by bulk but not by sweetness so be careful if you need more topping add more pecans rather than more splenda blend.

This is really delicious and I like it much better than my old sweet potato casserole. I have never been fond of the marshmallow topped variety, I mean ... really? marshmallows? NOT classy. This presents as gourmet and I will never go back in fact I tossed ALL my other recipes in favour of this one, that should tell you how much I like this cause I NEVER throw out recipes ;)

IA