MASHED SWEET POTATOES

Looking for a tasty, new side dish to replace your go-to mash potatoes? Well don't look too far, because the answer is right here: mashed SWEET potatoes! This bright orange dish gives you the comforting feeling found in mashed potatoes but offers you complex carbohydrates, vitamin C and B6, dietary fiber, and beta carotene. So add a little color to a traditional favorite and try my easy mashed sweet potatoes!

INGREDIENTS:
1 sweet potato
salt and pepper to taste (optional)
chicken broth or milk (optional)
extra virgin olive oil or butter (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
-peel skin off sweet potato
-cut potato into 1/2" pieces
-place into a small pot, and cover with water (about 1" above the potatoes)
-boil potatoes over medium high heat for about 20 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender
-drain potatoes and place them back into the pot
-with a fork or potato masher, mash the potato until desired consistency
-if potatoes are too thick, thin out with a little bit of chicken broth or milk
-add richness with a splash of olive oil or a pad of butter
-add a small pinch of salt and pepper to your preferred taste
-serve as a side dish, enjoy!

1 potato makes one serving

SHOUT OUTS:
This one goes out to my dad, who introduced me to cooking sweet potatoes 'low and slow.'

TIPS and ADAPTATIONS:
-This recipe works for yams and/or sweet potatoes.
-To make it a sweet treat, skip the salt and pepper and sprinkle on some cinnamon, brown sugar, baby marshmallows!
-Give the potatoes a sweet and smokey taste by drizzling them with honey and sprinkling them with paprika and cumin.
-Try mashed sweet potatoes on top of a shepherd's pie instead of traditional baking potatoes.
-Mix in some roasted and mashed butternut or acorn squash or pumpkin with the sweet potatoes.
-A few slices of a mashed banana will give the sweet potatoes added sweetness without adding sugar!

LESSONS LEARNED:
-What's the difference between yams and sweet potatoes?
"What is marketed in the United States as “yams” are really a variety of sweet potato, grown in the South. A true yam is a starchy edible root of the Dioscorea genus, and is generally imported to America from the Caribbean. It is rough and scaly and very low in beta carotene.

Yams in the United States are actually sweet potatoes with relatively moist texture and orange flesh. Although the terms are generally used interchangeably, the US Department of Agriculture requires that the label "yam" always be accompanied by "sweet potato."
from: The North Carolina SweetPotato Commission

true yam

clockwise from top left:

yellow-fleshed yam, boniato,

white-fleshed yam, sweet potato