Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Mash

Hey everyone!

Last weekend I (and everyone in the populated world) went home for Thanksgiving. Since I was 14, my mother and I have made the turkey together. It was a point of pride for me, considering I had no idea how to cook then. Now that I'm at college and reasonably well-versed in cooking, I decided to take on some more responsibility for our Thanksgiving dinner. As in all of the responsibility. Thankfully I was only cooking for 8. Here's a short run-down of all of the stuff I made by myself this Thanksgiving:

• Turkey (17 pounds!)
• Acorn squash with nuts and fruit
• Rice pilaf (this is what we stuff our turkey with)
• Steamed and stir-fry broccoli in oil
• Haricots-verts in garlic and oil
• Salad (huge!)
• Sweet potato mash
• Stuffing (on the side)

It only took me 6 hours to do all of it. The hardest part was the timing of cooking everything so that it was ready and hot for when the guests actually sat down to dinner, but not overcooked and burnt. My point of pride this Thanksgiving was my sweet potato mash. I made it from scratch. Here's how I did it:

• I bought 5 sweet potatoes, peeled them and cut them into small square chunks.
• I boiled the sweet potatoes until they were soft/I could put a fork through them.
• I mashed them by hand with a large fork until they were smooth. You could also whip them use a hand blender, but only if you want them to be a little frothy.
• This was the fun part. Sweet potatoes are only mildly sweet on their own, so I had to add lots of spices and sweetener. I used cinnamon, nutmeg, Vermont maple syrup, maple agave, and rum extract. There are lots of options to sweeten your potatoes, from pure brown sugar and butter, to maple syrup, to agave. You can also add vanilla extract for some extra yummy taste. I've even seen mash with marshmallows. 
• I used healthy doses of each one of these spices, not really measuring, just tasting along the way. Make sure you have lots of people taste it as you go along. Too much nutmeg can ruin it. Too much agave or maple syrup, not so much.
• Another option once your potatoes are boiled and mashed is to bake the potatoes in a ceramic bowl, which brings out the flavor of the spices. 
• Last, you can keep the skins in there if you want to add a little extra crunch to your mash.

I was really scared about these sweet potatoes since I kind of winged the recipe from a couple different online sources, but everyone loved them. The other dishes I did well enough on. The turkey came out well, really juicy. I almost burned half of the vegetables, mostly because I couldn't figure out the timing or heat levels of my stove. It's weird cooking at home after cooking at the dorm for so long. I kind of got used to knowing what the heat levels on the stove at the dorm meant and was baffled trying to figure out what equalled a 6 on the stove at home.

Anyway, I really enjoyed cooking my Thanksgiving dinner. I really like hearing about alternative recipes and options for Thanksgiving dinners. Let me know if you guys have any you really like that you make in your family. New recipes are so fun.