While putting away groceries one afternoon, I noticed a can of yams on the shelf. I had just come from the grocery store and was disappointed that our then-all-time- favorite ice cream (Pumpkin Pie, a seasonal product) wasn’t yet in stock locally. The yams reminded me of my first sweet potato pie, made by combining recipes I found in my ever-expanding cookbook collection. That first pie went to a church meeting, where recipe was unanimously pronounced a keeper. I had the ingredients and the time; we could still have a delicious treat even if we couldn’t enjoy that ice cream just yet.
By this time, someone is probably thinking, “yams and sweet potatoes are not the same.” This I realize; however, “Yam Pie” just doesn’t have quite the same catchy ring as “Sweet Potato Pie.” Someday, when I have time (i.e., when I think about this recipe more than 2 hours before I plan to eat pie), I will try cooking sweet potatoes from scratch to see how that turns out. In the meantime, I rarely see canned sweet potatoes on the shelf at my local grocery store, but canned yams are nearly always on sale this time of year.
Of course, since this recipe is being shared in my blog, there’s more to the story… but first, the recipe.
Sweet Potato Pie
 |
| I was so excited about saving this pie from a mealtime mishap that I forgot to take the picture before cutting! As you’ll read in the story portion of the blog, I purposely baked this particular pie without a crust in a sprayed pie plate, but the pie is even better with the crust! |
Pie:
1 29 oz. can sweet potatoes or yams, drained
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon OR
1-1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg
(Yes, I know 1-1/2 teaspoon each doesn’t equal 2 Tablespoons, but the combination works well with the nutmeg. If you use all cinnamon and want less “cinnamon-y” goodness, use 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon.)
Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-1/4 teaspoons flour
2 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine
2 Tablespoons milk
Mash drained sweet potatoes or yams with a mixer until smooth. Add remaining ingredients except cinnamon/nutmeg and mix well with mixer, scraping sides as needed. Stir in the cinnamon/nutmeg. Pour into a 9-inch unbaked pie shell. (You can use the “secret recipe” pie crust I mentioned in the Like Mom used to make blog entry or your favorite homemade pie crust recipe.)
Combine the sugar and flour. Mix well, then add the butter and milk and stir. Pour the glaze over the pie. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake 40 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (The glaze will soak into the top of the pie during baking.)
Now, for the story…
I was mixing the pie ingredients and came to the point of adding the spices. I have organized my cabinets with bins from the dollar store (a trick I borrowed after seeing my sister-in-law’s organized cabinets), and so I reached into the second-shelf stage-right bin and pulled out the cinnamon, checking the label since the chili powder happens to be in the same bin. Then, I reached for the nutmeg, measured out the indicated amount, and dumped it into the pie mix. As I put the lid back on the container, I noticed an odd smell and looked at the label. I had just dumped 1-1/2 teaspoons of cumin into the pie! Thankfully, I had dumped but not stirred, so I very carefully scooped out the spices (with about 3/4 cup of surrounding pie mix) and then very carefully triple-checked labels to be sure I was adding cinnamon and nutmeg. Since I was planning to bake the recipe this time without crust, I used an 8-inch greased (sprayed) pie plate and the pie turned out as delicious as ever.
For one fleeting moment, I wished that all my mealtime mishaps had such a happy ending. Then again, mealtime mishaps offer opportunities to learn and improve my cooking and homemaking skills. They also make for comical, if not interesting, blog fodder. Some of the more memorable examples:
I once dumped a bag of table salt into the sugar canister. We realized this was a problem only after I made three consecutive batches of weird-tasting tea, and after I threw out a box of tea after the first two attempts thinking the tea bags must be bad! Lesson learned: While using clean coffee containers as canisters is good, using clean unmarked coffee containers is not advised.
I attempted to bake a key lime pie in a toaster oven, not realizing that the pie was too close to the heating elements. For some reason, key lime pie is one of the few recipes I’ve tried and failed on every attempt. The smoky smell of scorched key lime pie accompanied by a screeching smoke alarm just adds insult to injury. Lesson learned (besides the obvious of making sure the oven is big enough to safely bake a pie): Having a pie in the oven is a great reason to say, “Not now, Hon,” when hubby says, “Can you help me with something for just a minute?”.
My husband does not care for spaghetti. In early marriage, I volunteered to make a huge pot of spaghetti for a work dinner and came home with half the huge pot leftover. That spaghetti with meat sauce represented a fair amount of our grocery budget for that week, and a co-worker suggested spaghetti casserole, assuring me, “He’ll love it!” The first night I put spaghetti casserole on the table, my husband ate a small portion and said, “I never did care for spaghetti.” The second night I put spaghetti casserole on the table, my husband shook his head, got up from the table, and made a sandwich. I took spaghetti casserole for lunch for a couple of days and then finally threw out the rest. Lesson learned: Reheating the same dish you didn’t care for last night does nothing to improve your dish, or your relationships.
Many years ago (prior to the spaghetti incident), I made stew in a cast-iron pot. My mother-in-law uses a similar pot for everything under the sun, but apparently mine wasn’t seasoned enough. The stew looked delicious, but we will never forget that sensation of knowing how iron ore must taste. This is the one dish that even a dog wouldn’t eat, and I’m told beagles will eat anything! Lesson learned: A cast-iron pot can double as a great deep fryer while undergoing the seasoning process.
Playtime in the pantry is like playtime in the park or the sandbox. Sometimes, everything is giggles and smiles. Other times, somebody skins a knee or gets sand in the eye and the giggles and smiles come later, after some tears. Life is much the same way. I often use a cake as an illustration for Romans 8:28 in Scripture. Nobody ever said a spoonful of flour helps the medicine go down, and most of us wouldn’t touch a raw egg even if we weren’t concerned about salmonella. Most of the single ingredients in a cake are not at all appealing but, combined, they make a wonderful treat that brings a smile or even a giggle or two.
The same is true of a sweet potato pie, whether we smile at the nutmeg or giggle after crying over the cumin.
Perhaps Nelson and I should consider a "Kitchen Test Pilot" blog….