What to do With a Bunch of Sweet Potatoes

We have a lot of sweet potatoes from this year's harvest in the garden.  We've been baking a lot of them and making Thai curry sweet potato lentil soup and a Sweet Potato, kale and coconut milk soup.  During the holidays, we like to do something else with them I'll show you today.  My wife is Mexican-American and grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas.  

A tradition she brought to us was making sweet potato empanadas.  She uses a recipe from her mother that's been passed down.  For this dish, we wanted to use up some of our largest sweet potatoes.  I peeled and cut them up.

Tricia cooked them and then mashed them with a potato masher until it had a smooth consistency.  She added allspice and molasses to the sweet potatoes.

She made her normal dough for making flour tortillas, but then added some cinnamon to the dough, rolled them out and then we started loading the sweet potato filling onto the dough.

Then you fold the dough over and crimp the edges.  We also come back with a fork to "seal" the edges a little later.

The holiday baking is a true family affair.  We had an assembly line going in the kitchen with Tricia rolling out the dough and filling with sweet potato filling, Russ folding over and sealing the empanadas and arranging on the baking tray.  Benjamin rested up for his job.

Benjamin, well rested and exuberant was now ready for his job.  He brushed an egg wash onto the empanadas.

It is hard to estimate to get the amount of dough needed for the amount of sweet potato filling, but that's okay.  Leftover tortilla dough is not wasted!  We sprinkle cinnamon and sugar and bake just the dough.

We couldn't wait for the buzzer on the oven to go off, announcing the empanadas were done!  We pulled the golden brown pastries out of the oven and placed on a cooling rack.

And this is where my job comes into play.  I'm the official "taster" of the warm batch of empanadas.  I broke one in half and enjoyed the nice fragrance.  Then I took a bite!

Yeah, this one is delicious.  The entire batch of empanadas didn't last but a couple of days.  That's too bad.  However, empanadas aren't really just limited to a Christmas baking thing.  We have a bunch more sweet potatoes.  We'll have to make another batch of these again soon.

Giving Thanks 2021

Psalm 100:1-5 KJV

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday.  A time to pause, refocus, and count our many blessings.  We give thanks to our God who is so faithful and good.  Although there is turmoil and division in the world, we find a respite from the turbulence and find peace.  It is a time to gather with family and friends and visit, enjoying one another's company.  And we eat!

And we visit.  For hours we talk, and laugh, and recollect good times in the past.  We discuss what's going on now and we look to the future.  Then there's coffee and dessert.

We are thankful for so many things!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

A Grateful Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite holidays.  It is a time where we gather together and enjoy each other's company.  Before asking a blessing on the food and eating, my Dad read Psalm 100, A Thanksgiving Psalm:

100 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

We then held hands in a circle and prayed, thanking Almighty God for the many blessings in our lives.  To be totally frank, 2020 has been a hard year, Covid-19, two devastating hurricanes, politics, civil unrest, financial uncertainties, stress and anxiety.  I could go on and on, but you understand, you have lived it too.

As a person with many faults, I easily fall into discouragement, especially in the upheaval that has defined 2020.  The Psalm my Dad read and the overall theme of the holiday of Thanksgiving tells us to look beyond our circumstances and to our King.  He sits on the throne and is in control.  We are blessed beyond measure.  He is God and He is Good.  

Happy Thanksgiving All!