Sandra's Easy Cooking

Baked Sweet Potatoes are one of my favorite Autumn treats. It warms your heart and soul, and the pleasant aroma is just enchanting.

I did not grow up with sweet potatoes. The first time I tried sweet potatoes I was 18 or 19 years old.

That being mentioned, when I tried them I instantly fell in love with the taste, texture, and aroma.

It reminded me of these delightful winter squash that we had every fall season. It was not a pumpkin, but not a butternut squash either, somewhere in between.

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I dearly savored it when I was a little girl. I could not wait until squash slices come out of the wood-burning oven. Mmhmm! It was all I wanted and more. The 80s were special in every possible way.

Nevertheless, my kids are not enormous fans of the sweet potatoes, but they would eat a spoon or two. Well, I heartily enjoyed them mostly by myself through the season and I am entirely fine with it.

Typically, I carefully wrap them with alum foil and roast a couple of them to last me a few days. However, since many do not like to use aluminum making them just like this is just fine as well.

I would recommend making them both ways; sweet and savory. As I said before, I make many of them for later.

I love adding a pat of butter in the hot sweet potato and drizzle with delicious maple syrup. I would rather have that over any dessert, plus it is quite healthy.

Sweet Potato Casserole is coming soon. I cannot wait to share my tasty recipes in two ways, and just before Thanksgiving!

Recipes you might like:

Baked Potatoes

Twice Baked Potatoes with Chicken

Oven Roasted Chestnuts

Beef Chili Baked Potatoes

If you get inspired and make these delightful Baked Sweet Potatoes, please tag me on Instagram. @sandraseasycooking using hashtag #sandraseasycooking. Thank you so much in advance!

Yield: Serves 4

Baked Sweet Potatoes

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An easy and tasty recipe for delicious Baked Sweet Potatoes

Prep Time 5 minutes

Bake Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 3-4 pounds organic sweet potatoes

Savory Topping

• sea salt butter, a tablespoon of each potato
• dash of salt
• dash of ground black pepper
• a sprinkle of dried parsley
• A drizzle of olive oil

Sweet Toppings:

• sea salt butter
• Maple syrup or honey
• chopped nuts

Instructions

1. Wash them.

The worst way to ruin a sweet potato casserole or stuffed sweet potatoes is with a gritty texture. Scrub the skins lightly before preparing. Pat dry after with kitchen paper towel or just regular kitchen towel.

2. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Sweet potatoes tend to get a little juicy while baking, so lining the baking sheet first ensures easy cleanup. From time to time I forgot to do it or don't have any parchment paper on hand, but it is so much easier to clean up when you do have it.

3. Poke holes!

The pricking technique is always used when baking regular or sweet potatoes—it reduces the baking time and ensures the potatoes won't burst while baking. Poke the potato skin with a fork or knife in a few places before you bake it. We can't predict which potato might burst so this is always a wise idea.

4. Bake until tender.

How can you tell when they’re done? Stick a fork into the thickest part of the potato, if there’s no resistance it’s good to go.

1. Preheat oven to 425º. On a baking sheet, prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork.
2. Bake until tender, 50 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes.
3. Let cool, then split the top open with a knife and top with a pat of butter.
4. Season with salt and pepper dried parsley and serve. You may drizzle with olive oil just before serving.
5. For the sweet option, add a pat of butter in each potato, then drizzle with maple syrup or honey, perhaps some chopped nuts or even chocolate and marshmallows.

Notes

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French Toast Casserole is most definitely a staple food to bake during the joyous holiday season at my house.

We use so many amazingly appetizing toppings, and truly love them all. This is such a versatile and satisfying breakfast or brunch dish, which I adore the most.

To be completely clear, we are always looking forward to a Thanksgiving or Christmas family brunch all year long. It might sound a bit strange, but we talk about it often during our Sunday family meals.

As much as we agree and strenuously disagree about foolish things, food brings us together. The saying could not be truer, food does unite people in the most delicious way.

We create beautiful, sweet memories during holidays, especially over a tasty and warm dinner.

We all know that the holidays can be the busiest and stressful time of the year, but it doesn’t have to be.

For example, the exclusive Publix Holiday Baking promotion makes it so very easy to bake all of my personal favorites during the holiday season.

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Don’t forget to check your local Publix between November 9 and November 22 for savings on a variety of products featured in the Holiday Baking promotion!

Much like in my house, you can actually make baking around the festive holidays a fun family event.

Holiday Baking promotion! Much like in my house, you can actually make baking around the festive holidays a fun family event.

Thanks to the Publix Holiday Baking event, I can get everything I need… ON SALE

I can always count on Publix, especially during the holidays. The quality of ingredients is constantly on point.

That being said, I picked up Nestlé^® Coffee-mate^® Creamer to serve with the morning coffee. Also, typical groceries such as eggs, milk, bread, Pyure^® Organic Stevia, and Blackberry Patch Syrup to make my delicious French Toast Casserole.

Anna, my lovely daughter, and I prepped this casserole the night before for the easiest brunch ever.

My husband made coffee while the casserole was baking. Daniel, my youngest, set up the table, which was enormously helpful, of course.

The deliciously warm aroma from the kitchen wrapped our heart and soul with joy. We could not wait to dig in and share this yummy meal.

We all heartily wished my oldest boy, Aleks, and his girlfriend was home from college to enjoy our weekend tradition. That is mainly why I am looking forward to Thanksgiving because my ducklings are all home and with me.

If you make this tasty and unbelievably easy French Toast Casserole, please tag me on Instagram. @sandraseasycooking.

Yield: Serves 8

French Toast Casserole

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An easy and tasty way to enjoy stress-free holidays.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Additional Chill Time 2 hours

Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French or other crusty bread 14-16 ounces, day or three-day-old bread
• 8 large eggs
• 240 ml (8oz) heavy whipped cream
• 240 ml (8oz) whole milk
• 65g (1/2 cup) Pyure Organic Stevia= 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Dash salt
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter

Cinnamon Apples

• 2 lbs Apples (Honeycrisp), peel and core
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup Pyure Organic Stevia= 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Topping options

• Blackberry Patch Syrup
• Fresh Blackberries or any other fruit
• Powdered sugar
• Maple syrup

Instructions

1. Slice bread into half lengthwise slices, if necessary, or slice French bread into slices, 1-inch each.
2. Using a larger baking pan with deeper sides, butter well with on the bottom and the sides.
3. Mix the eggs, heavy cream, sugar, pinch of salt, cinnamon.
4. Dip each slice of the toast into the French toast mixture, then arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. You may use two smaller pans as well.
5. Pour the rest of the mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered pretty evenly with the creamy mixture. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to Overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes at 350F. After 40 minutes, add cinnamon apple over the casserole and bake uncovered for additional 20 minutes.
8. Drizzle French Toast Casserole with Blackberry Patch Syrup, garnish with some fresh fruit such as blackberries, and dust with a generous amount of powdered sugar, if desired.

HOW TO MAKE CINNAMON APPLES:

1. Peel apples, core, and dice. It doesn't have to be small chunks.
2. Add sugar and cinnamon and cook on low medium heat for 10-12 minutes or until the apples are your desired tenderness. You do not want mushy apple sauce so just make them until they are tender but still hold their shape.
3. Take off the heat and set aside until ready to be used.

Notes

You may use any bread that you wish to use. The best one is French toast or pre-sliced cinnamon bread
for example.

I used cinnamon gourmet toast for this recipe, however, any a day or three days old bread would
work perfectly. It just tastes so much better when the bread is a bit stale.

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In my opinion, Oven Roasted Pumpkin Seeds are one of the most addictive, but tasty snacks that we could ever munch on.

They are a labor of love, truly. We do need several steps to prep them, a drop of patience and love but they are totally worth it.

I still vividly remember autumn and wintertime in Belgrade. Well, I could not wait until school is finished so I could walk by my favorite street vendor and buy a newspaper cone of pumpkin seeds as well as chestnuts.

It keeps you warm as much as satisfied while you wait until a trolley or a bus gets you. Fun memories!

To move to the present time, pumpkin carving and taking the seeds out has been a family affair. An amazing activity for the kids.

We got these two huge pumpings. I was so happy to see that we had so many seeds. I really love this addictive snack.

What are some of the Fall or Winter activities that you do with your family or just with your kids?

Anyhow, what I wanted to point out that this was the first year that I was soaking seeds. To be frank, they came out much better, so I encourage you to follow the steps that I wrote in my recipe.

I would love to hear how you make pumpkin seeds?

My husband and I can’t stop eating. In the last few days, more than half has been gone. We pulled out 6 cups of seeds. Unbelievable! I am telling you, these pumpkins were amazing.

If you use my recipe to make Oven Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, please tag me on Instagram. @sandraseasycooking with hashtag #sandraseasycooking. Thank you so much in advance for all your support.

Snack you might like:

• Oven Roasted Chestnuts
• Easy Energy Bars
• Microwave Potato Chips

Yield: Makes 2 cups

Oven Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Print

Easy, tasty and healthy snack idea.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 21 minutes

Soaking Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 51 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw pumpkin seeds
• 1-2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• A drizzle of oil for each batch

Instructions

Clean the seeds

1. Separate the seeds from the stringy pulp, rinse the seeds in a colander under cold water.
2. After cleaning, which is the hardest part, soak in 2 cups of cold water. Soak for at least 6 hours. Drain.

Boil the seeds

1. Boil the seeds for 10 minutes in salted water.
2. All you need is 2 cups of water and 2 teaspoon salt.
3. Boiling before roasting is very important because you will cook the seeds so when you roast them they will be cooked through.
4. Drain and leave them in the colander to cool and air dry.

Dry the seeds

1. Do not use paper towels because the seeds will stick. I would recommend a clean cotton towel.
2. Dry well, and then preheat oven to 350F.
   

Season the seeds

I used a drizzle of oil, then a sprinkle of sea salt and rosemary. You may use any other herb.

Roast the seeds

1. Keep seeds in the single layer. I made 3 batches just to keep them in a single layer.
2. Depending on your oven, but do check them at 18 minutes. I take them out at 21 minutes.
3. Set a timer at 10 minutes, and shake your baking sheet. This will prevent seeds from sticking and they will roast beautifully.

Store

Allow the seeds to cool down completely, then store in the ziplock bag.

Notes

• Taking the seeds out of the pumpkin is not included in the prep time.
• Nuts and seeds have enzymes to help prevent them from sprouting prematurely. However, those enzymes can make pumpkin seeds difficult to digest which is why soaking comes in handy. By soaking them in salted water, you are stripping away the enzymes and making the seeds much easier to digest. source: Wellness Mama

Did you make this recipe?

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