This past Sunday, we celebrated the first day with an extra hour of daylight by staying out at the park with all of our friends until well past dinner time. We had an amazing day – soccer, swings, free form Hunger Games competitions in the woods, lunch, snacks, popsicles, and more tromping through the woods. All four of my kids woke up with leaves in their hair the next day. Truly the sign of a perfect afternoon, right?
I had already planned to make a quick chicken fried steak for dinner but I had no ideas about something to serve on the side … until I saw my dwindling bushel of sweet potatoes. When you think “quick dinner,” I am sure that you are not thinking sweet potatoes. But, truly, sweet potatoes can be an amazing side dish in a short amount of time.
If you have never microwaved a sweet potato, today is your day to get on the bandwagon. Generally, my microwave is where I store my loaves of bread. It’s a very fancy, very shiny breadbox. I am not a big fan of microwaves. Except for quick cooking sweet potatoes. In less than 10 minutes, you can have three beautiful, fully cooked sweet potatoes ready to go. Eat as is or whip it into something delicious.
Microwaving sweet potatoes is super simple. Wash your sweet potatoes so that they are mainly dirt free! Poke them repeatedly with a fork or a knife and wrap each sweet potato in a paper towel. My microwave can comfortably handle three large sweet potatoes on its rotating tray. If you are cooking three potatoes, start your cooking time at 5 minutes. If you are only cooking 1 sweet potato, start with four minutes. After you have cooked them for a few minutes, do a “squeeze” test – if it is still very hard, add two minutes. If it is starting to feel soft, you might only want to try to cook for one minute more at a time. When your sweet potatoes are fully soft, remove them from the microwave and let cool. Three sweet potatoes are usually cooked for me in about 10 minutes total. See? 10 Minute Whipped Sweet Potatoes. I wouldn’t lie to you.
If we count the cool-down period, this side dish might take 15 minutes… as soon as your fingers can handle the heat, scrape your sweet potatoes into a large bowl and add a few key ingredients – cream, brown sugar, butter, and maple syrup. Whip. Done. Enjoy. A fancy Sunday dinner in record time… can’t beat it.
Enjoy your extra hour of daylight! Hope you all get to spend more time playing and less time cooking…
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