Thankful Day 18 and Kelli's Thanksgiving - A Recipe

A Turkey Speaks

I have never understood why anyone would ROAST A TURKEY,

and shuck the clams,

and crisp the croutons,

and shell the peas,

and candy the sweets,

and compote the cranberries,

and bake the pies,

and clear the table,

and wash the dishes,

and fall into bed,

when they could sit back and enjoy a hamburger!

-author, an unknown turkey

Kelli, There Is No Place Like Home, is hosting Thanksgiving posts this week. I have a recipe to share along with our plans for the day.

This year will be a different kind of Thanksgiving for me and for my family. I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner for many years. My husband's family always comes and my parents have come from Tennessee off and on over the years. This year, since my fathers health is so precarious, my husband and I and our daughters family will be going to Tennessee to have Thanksgiving with my parents. I will be cooking again, only in a different kitchen! I would like to share an old family sweet potato recipe with you. It was my maternal grandmothers recipe. Mother can remember being the "marshmallow inserter" from early childhood! I wrote and published a cookbook about 8 years ago and this is one of the most commented upon recipes in the book.

Sweet Potato Coconut Balls (from my mothers own words)

Wash and peel 5 or 6 fresh sweet potatoes. Cut them into big chunks and cover with water. Add a bit of salt. When water comes to a boil turn the temperature down to low and just let them simmer until tender. Boiling too hard will make them mushy. When they are fork tender drain them very well in a colander.

Mash the potatoes with a mixer until fluffy, then beat in a little hunk of butter, a dash of both cinnamon and nutmeg, and a tablespoon or so of sugar. Cover and refrigerate. You can do all this the day before you serve them.

Butter or spray a glass 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour out a big bag of miniature marshmallows and a big bag of coconut on separate plates. Spoon out about 2 tablespoons of the cold sweet potato mixture into the palm of your left hand and a marshmallow in your right hand. Push the marshmallow into the potatoes and mold the potatoes into a ball around the marshmallow. Roll the sweet potato ball in the coconut and place each ball in the prepared pan. Do not bake until just before serving.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and bake the sweet potato balls for 5-10 minutes uncovered. Watch them very carefully. They should be lightly browned and the marshmallows should be getting puffy and gooey, but not totally melted. You can check them by poking one with the point of a knife. If you bake them too long they will have a hole in the middle with no marshmallow!

Now for my day 18 item for 30 Days of Giving Thanks, which has been organized by Joyce, Brookside Cottage.

Have you ever hated something and been grateful for it all at the same time? I never totally understood this concept until I began having IV infusions to fight a blood disease (diagnosed three years ago this week). I despise the day of treatment every three weeks and resent its intrusion into my life with all my heart, but I am at the same time overwhelmingly grateful for these life giving infusions! So today, I am thankful for those hateful 9 hour days chained to the torture chair - really...I am!

Have a fabulous, perfectly joyous week!

Kathy