T-Day Prep: Day 23

Today's menu taste test was a sweet potato recipe. I, not being a fan of the item in question, went searching for a sweet potato recipe that might make me a believer. NavyGuy loves sweet potatoes - loves them - so I needed something that would meet high standards.

Sadly, my first attempt will not be showcased on the T-Day buffet. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, for pineapple sweet potatoes (doesn't it look yummy?). All of the reviews made it sound easy and delicious, plus I already had most of the necessary ingredients. However, after a trip through Safeway, I realized I had absolutely no clue what a sweet potato looked like; I thought they were orange, but the only ones I found in the produce section looked yellow when I "accidentally" snapped one in half. Everything orange colored was labeled a yam, and in stupid decision number eight for the day, I didn't think to consult with one of the nice produce guys restocking lettuce to find out whether yams were just another name for sweet potatoes.*

Well, long story short, the recipe did not work. The yellow sweet potatoes did not soften up enough in the oven, so I ended up taking them out of the oven after the required cooking time and mashing them up with the pineapple and brown sugar sauce. NavyGuy, Roomie #2, and myself all vetoed it, though Roomie #1 declared it delicious and preceeded to eat as much of it as possible (straight out of the glass Pyrex dish by the way), so I guess 1 out of 4 ain't bad. However, as NavyGuy is such a fan of the weird vegetable, I am determined to figure out a way to make them edible. [Photo: (left) orange sweet potatoes, (right) yellow sweet potatoes)]

I can't bear to peel another batch of sweet potatoes already tomorrow though, so next up is a maple glazed carrot recipe from this month's Real Simple. Wish me luck!

*After extensive internet research and consultation with my Joy of Cooking book, I have unearthed the following information: there are two varieties of sweet potatoes. Say what?!? Yellow sweet potatoes are drier, orange sweet potatoes are eroneously called yams in North America (so my confusion at the grocery store today was TOTALLY not my fault in the least). Orange sweet potatoes are sweeter than the yellow variety, so they're much more common. True yams are more often found in Latin American and the Caribbean; they have purple or red flesh, and can grow to as large as seven feet long! So, in short - if you want to make a sweet potato recipe, you will probably need to buy what's labeled "yams" in the grocery store. Lesson learned. You're wlecome.