Sweet potatoes with marshmallows and pecans

Sweet potatoes might be common in the United States but not in my home country. I learned to eat them in Miami fried or mashed. This year I had to bring something to the Thanksgiving lunch/dinner hosted by a friend; here is the recipe I followed.
In order to cook you need some good tunes. I am not ready for Christmas songs yet, so how about some eighties tunes? I usually cook while drinking a glass of wine, but I was running the Turkey Trot the next day, so I had a cappuccino made with white chocolate raspberry beret dessert coffee. Yummm

Ingredients: (for 12 BIG  servings)

12 sweet potatoes

2 cups of brown sugar
2 bars of unsalted butter
2 bags of pecans
2 bags of small marshmallows
2 teaspoons of ginger
2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 aluminum containers

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven on to 375 F. Cook the potatoes for 25-30 minutes.

2. Peel the potatoes.
3. Divide them in two parts: cut one half and mash the other half.
4. The ones you cut, divide them between the two containers.
5. Leave aside the ones you mashed.

6. In a pan, mix the brown sugar, butter, half of the pecans, half of the marshmallows and spices. Mix it at low heat until all ingredients are mixed and marshmallows melt.

7. Add the mix to the potatoes in the aluminum containers and blend together with a spoon.

8. Spread the mashed potatoes on top of this mix

9. Spread the rest of the marshmallows and pecans on top

10. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes. Then broil for less than 5, keep an eye on the marshmallows. I like them a bit burned like when you eat them at the camp fire, but you can skip this step. This recipe it is soooo delicious!! If 12 big servings is too much, just cut the ingredients in half and make only one container. Or even better make both and give one to someone you love :)

 We all have a reason to be thankful. Thank you God, for the opportunity to share a meal with our friends and family.

Comforting Apple Pie

I had a bunch of apples and decided to make an apple pie. I am a big fan of NOT following the exact ingredients and quantities on a recipe because cooking is an individual art. However, here is a list of ingredients that I used for mine. You can follow the instructions or add more quantities if you want. It should take you less than an hour to make. Cooking = loving :)

Ingredients:

1 cup of brown sugar
1 lemon or lime
1 glass of orange juice
1/2 glass of flour
4 or 5 apples
1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
1 teaspoon of ginger
1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3 tablespoons of butter
a bit of salt

For crust:
You can either buy your own pastry or store ready-crust or make it yourself. For the bottom I used a store ready-crust. For the top,  I made the pastry by mixing butter (1 bar), flour (2-3 cups), brown sugar (1/2 cup) , milk (1/4 cup) and the spices above-mentioned (a bit of each) until it had the right texture, like a dough.

Directions:
I peeled the apples and sliced them thinly. I tossed them on a pan (low heat) along with all spices, flour, butter, lemon and orange.


When all ingredients were mixed and apples were soft and cooked (10-15 minutes), I placed the apple filling in the unbaked crust.


Before baking it, I made the top crust as mentioned above. I dusted the surface of the kitchen with flour. Then made lines of dough by rolling it and then I cut them with my fingers to fit the pie plate. Here’s how it looked:


I baked the pie at 375 degrees F for 30-35 minutes and then broiled for 3 minutes (keep an eye on it)

The pie is ready to eat immediately. However, I noticed that it is better a couple of hours later when the pie and fruit is set. When you wait for a while, the fruit is juicy but the juices will not run. Now is ready to eat! It is perfect with ice cream and whipped cream on top.