Syndicated column from week of November 19, 2012.

Thanksgiving dinner means turkey and a whole lot of side dishes for most people. I’ve heard of some families who don’t care for turkey, so they substitute a large pan of lasagna for dinner. Not my family.

You can count that the traditional Betty Crocker, June Cleaver, Martha Stewart type menu of dishes will be on the table!

One dish that we have had over the years is Candied Sweet Potatoes. I will bet you have had it too. I haven’t done an intensive study of the history of this particular dish. But it apparently worked its way from the deep south up to the northern Midwest sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. At least, that seems to be when my family discovered it.

My maternal grandmother was a firm believer in using canned and boxed convenience foods that arrived on grocery store shelves after World War II. For Thanksgiving dinner, she had one or two of those giant cans of sweet potatoes on her grocery list. My mother carried this dish into her household and I grew up with Candied Sweet Potatoes on the menu.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

1 large can Sweet Potatoes in juice
1 package Mini Marshmallows
1 cup Brown Sugar

In a large casserole baking dish, spread the sweet potatoes and drizzle some of their juice over them. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Top with the mini marshmallows. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes. The marshmallows will be melted and browning on top.

Make it a Meal: Serve this dish alongside turkey or ham for your holiday meals.

Approximate Nutritional Information: Servings per Recipe: 8, Amount Per Serving: Calories: 235, Total Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 58mg, Total Carbs: 59g, Protein: 2g.

This dish is as gooey and sweet as it sounds. That’s why the name includes the word candied. I suppose that i why it was such a big hit with us kids. I am sure my mom liked the recipe for its simplicity and lack of preparation required. But it was the over-the-top sweetness that convinced us that sweet potatoes were a food worth eating.

The bright orange color looks nice on the place with white turkey and brown stuffing. Add some green vegetables and you have an appealing plate for even picky eaters. At least if they are judging the value of that plate by the color combinations!

Now that we are older, my sisters and I have tried some other recipes using sweet potatoes or yams. Some involve cinnamon, some involve onions, and somehow, we always say, That was good, but it is just not the same.

It is funny how, even though a person’s taste buds are supposed to change every seven years, (or so I have been told), there are some flavors we can’t let go of. We seem to be stuck with the taste bud that thinks sweet potatoes should be ooey, gooey, sugary sweet and not at all savory.

Traditions have a way of wrapping themselves around our hearts and our sentiments. They have apparently wrapped themselves around our taste buds too. Thanksgiving Dinner with turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole and candied sweet potatoes. Some things should not be compromised.

Noel Lizotte is breaking free of corporate stress with convenience cooking! This recipe is similar to ones printed in her cookbook Apron Free Cooking which is available on the website www.apronfreecooking.com. She also writes a monthly column at www.culinarychat.net.

Interested in one of the books pictured above? You can purchase on Amazon here.