Calling all Sweet Potato lovers...

Saturday night, we had some friends over for a BBQ to watch the Final Four tournament. On the menu:

Churrasco, cooked on the grill
Mashed sweet potatoes (recipe to follow)
Homemade pastelitos (recipe below)

My husband and I LOVE sweet potato, but I usually bake them; I decided to make them mashed. While on a hunt for a recipe, I remember a fellow nestie who provided this recipe (sorry I don't recall who it was, but THANKS!). At first glance, I thought it was a bust b/c it looked strange... but boy was I wrong. I am still getting compliments. I made 8 potatoes (for 8 people) but we only ate 1/2 the casserole. So the remaining 1/2 I took to my IL's house Sunday for dinner, and got some more compliments.

You must try it! You won't be disappointed. TIP: The recipe is a bit complicated, so I don't recommend for a weekday meal.

Ruth Chris Mashed Sweet Potato

Sweet potato mixture
3 cups cooked, mashed sweet potato, skins off
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, well beaten
1 stick butter, melted

Crust mixture
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1/3 stick butter, melted

Preparation:
Boil or steam sweet potatoes, drain, remove skins, set aside.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the ingredients for the sweet potato mixture. Pour into buttered 9-inch square baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until firm.
Combine crust mixture ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle surface of baked sweet potato mixture with crust mixture.

Broil briefly, just until crust is brown. Allow to set for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Sausage and Rice... a lo Cubano!

I love simple meals. My mom recommended this to me, and I needed to try it. Neither my husband nor I are huge fans of the sausage and rice meal, but, I tried it anyways... you never know! Well, it turned out pretty good... and I even brought the leftover to lunch today.

Again, no pictures, but just picture yellow rice with chopped sausages. =) One last thing, I don't know how to make certain words actual links, so I add them separately.

Ingredients:
1 package of Spanish sausage (4 links - found in the meat section of the supermarket)
1 can of Vienna sausage
1 cup rice
Olive oil & corn oil
Salt & pepper
Bijol (food coloring - http://tinyurl.com/25vj5y)

Instructions:

• Preheat pan with olive oil at medium. Cut all the sausages into small pieces (about 1/2 in thick). Add to pan to cook (approximately 8-10 min).
• I prepare the rice in the hitachi (http://tinyurl.com/yr2gf2). Add one cup of rice, and 1.5 cups of water. Add salt / pepper for flavor. Add a pinch of bijol for coloring. Add 1 tablespoon of corn oil.
• When sausages ready, add them to the uncooked rice. Stir well. Set hitachi.

Cooking time: approximately 25 min.

Pretty easy, huh?!