Mini Sweet Potato Casseroles

If you only make one new thing this Thanksgiving...make it these, they are that good!! Even people who don't normally like yams or sweet potatoes love these! Seriously, make these, you will not regret it!

The cast of characters.

The first step is obtaining 3 cups of yams (or sweet potatoes, whatever you prefer!). I used 3 large yams, pierced them with a fork, microwaved them for 4 minutes on each side until they were very tender, scooped out the flesh and left the peel. Cool the yams. It's the same strategy shown in the Sweet Potato Biscuit recipe! (If you are pressed for time, or for whatever reason, I'm sure you can use canned yams. I won't tell anyone!)

Also, butter your ramekins! You want them to be all ready to go once the sweet potato mixture is ready!

First, add the eggs to the mixer and beat them just for a few seconds. Really just break up the yolks and get them mixed a little!

Next, just add everything else! Namely: mashed sweet potatoes, both sugars, salt, vanilla, melted butter and cinnamon.

Beat until well combined. It will be slightly lumpy but that just adds to the goodness!

Pour the mixture into prepared ramekins.

Make the topping by mixing the butter, pecans and brown sugar. YUM!

Feel free to eat at least one spoonful of this...there should be plenty for you to have some!

Sprinkle the mixture over the tops of the casseroles. This is the fun part, enjoy it! I tend to really overload them because I love sugar and this is my favorite part of this casserole!

I ended up with an extra ramekin, so it was special and got the heart shaped dish! Okay, I just didn't have anymore of the cute yellow ones!

Place them on a cookie sheet - they sometimes spill over, use a cookie sheet! You can feel free to pause here, wrap up the casseroles and refrigerate up to 1 day until you are ready to use them. I always make mine the night before Thanksgiving and then all you have to do is bake them on the day of!

When you are ready to bake them, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If they are really cold (as in, straight from the refrigerator), please give them about 5-10 minutes extra in the oven.

This is what happens when you overload the top like I do. The sugar didn't completely melt, but did form a fabulous crunchy top. It was quite tasty! If you want your sugar melted, don't put quite so many layers of topping on!

Your guests and family will LOVE the impression that this makes. Everyone always thinks it's fun to grab their own little casserole dish and enjoy!

They are quite rich and filling, so don't be offended if they can't finish an entire ramekin worth in addition to all of that other great Thanksgiving day food!!

Also, this recipe is great to double for a big group and the leftovers freeze and refrigerate well!

Mini Sweet Potato Casseroles

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Total Time: 50 Minutes

Yield: 6-8 Servings

Sweet Potato Mixture:

3 cups Mashed Sweet Potatoes (or Yams)

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

1/2 cup Golden Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Vanilla

2 Eggs

1/2 cup Butter, Melted

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

Topping:

1 cup Golden Brown Sugar

1 cup Chopped Pecans

2 Tbsp. Melted Butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 6-8 individual 3 or 4-ounce ramekins.

Add the eggs to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat well. Add the remaining ingredients to the mixer: mashed sweet potatoes, both sugars, salt, vanilla, melted butter and cinnamon. Beat until well combined. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Pour into prepared ramekins.

Make the topping by mixing the melted butter, sugar and pecans in a small bowl. Sprinkle the topping over the tops of the ramekins.

If preferred, refrigerate the casseroles at this point by wrapping each casserole with foil. Refrigerate until ready to bake.

Place all ramekins on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (if straight from the refrigerator, add an addition 5-10 minutes of baking time). Let cool before serving.

Enjoy!

Printable Recipe:

Mini Sweet Potato Casseroles

Rolled Turkey Breast

Do you need an alternative for you to have GF turkey while the rest of your family has a turkey stuffed with wheat? Do you have less people coming to dinner for Thanksgiving this year or do you all only like white meat? If so, try this, it's a great alternative to doing an entire turkey!

I am so naughty, I never took a picture of the "ingredients." Oops, please forgive me! The exact ingredients are shown below in the recipe!

Here we see a boned, butterflied turkey breast that has been rinsed and patted dry with paper towels. I then pounded it as flat as I was able to get it. I put a piece of plastic wrap over the turkey and pounded the daylights out of it with a frying pan (you can also use a meat mallet or a rolling pin). I didn't pound until it was completely flat...I pounded until I was sick of pounding! I have issues with raw meat and sometimes don't enjoy working with it...okay, pretty much always don't like working with it!

Sprinkle your flattened breast (hmmm...) with coarse kosher salt and black pepper.

Cover your turkey breast with already prepared stuffing. This is shown with my Gluten-Free Herb Bread Stuffing.

Roll it up! This is, of course, easier said than done! All sorts of stuffing falls out of the sides, etc. Just do the best you can and cover anything up with some cranberry sauce once it's on the plate!

Tie with cooking twine in 3 or 4 spots, whatever it takes to secure it!

Transfer to a rack on a roasting pan. Rub it all over with butter...yum! Pour about 2 cups of chicken stock in the bottom of the pan. This will help keep it moist while cooking and will be used to baste it.

Bake at 350 degrees. Baste with pan juices every 30 minutes.

After 1 hour rotate the turkey breast.

Bake for a total of 2 hours to 2 hours and 20 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers at least 165 degrees.

Slice and serve!

Totally gluten-free...but trust me...it doesn't taste like it!

Serve with your favorite cranberry sauce (shown with my Cranapple Sauce).

Rolled Turkey Breast

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 40 Minutes

Yield: 8-12 Servings

1, 5 lb. Boned, Butterflied Turkey Breast

1 Recipe of Ready to Bake Stuffing

1/4 cup Butter

2 cups Chicken Stock

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse the turkey breast and pat dry with paper towels. Place skin side down on a work surface. Place plastic wrap over the turkey breast and pound until flat with a mallet, rolling pin or frying pan. Remove plastic wrap.

Sprinkle with coarse kosher salt and pepper. Place stuffing on top of turkey breast. Roll the turkey breast as tightly as possible. Tie in 3-4 places with cooking twine. Rub butter all over the outside of the turkey breast.

Place rolled turkey breast onto the rack of a roasting pan. Pour 2 cups of chicken stock into the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees. Baste with pan juices every 30 minutes. After 1 hour, rotate the turkey breast halfway. Bake for a total of 2 hours to 2 hours and 20 minutes, until meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers at least 165 degrees.

Gently cut into slices, carefully keeping the stuffing intact in the turkey. Serve with your favorite cranberry sauce and enjoy!

Printable Recipe:

Rolled Turkey Breast

Herb Bread Stuffing

Think you can't have good stuffing that's Gluten-Free, trust me, you can!

The ingredients.

First, we need to make the croutons. I made a loaf of Pamela's bread using the Gluten-Free Bread Mix with the herb bread variation. It's really good!

Once the bread is done, cut it up into 1/2 -1 inch cubes.

Place the cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 2 hours at 200 degrees. The bread will become croutons. Let them cool completely and seal in a zipper bag. You can do this up to two days in advance. If you need to do it sooner, freeze them so you can get this done way before Thanksgiving!

If you are pressed for time or completely opposed to making your own croutons (very understandable and I've been there in the past!), then you can find pre-made gluten-free stuffing croutons. The croutons shown above, are very good and can be found at Whole Foods.

The day before I want to make the stuffing, I do all my chopping! Cut 2/3 of a cup of very finely diced celery. I don't like to actually taste big chunks of celery so I cut mine as small as possible. It's probably a little ridiculous how small mine ends up! I also cut up 1 cup of diced onion (about 1/2 of a large onion).

Cut up some fresh sage, thyme and parsley. Smells so good!

If you're doing this in advance, store it in a re-sealable bag until you're ready to use it!

When you're really ready to make the stuffing (finally, I know!), melt 1/4 cup of butter in a medium size frying pan over medium-high heat.

Add the celery, onion and herbs. Cook until onions and celery begin to become translucent and are starting to brown.

While that's cooking, get the 6 cups of bread crumbs ready (for me, this was exactly one loaf of Pamela's Bread Mix made in the bread maker with the herb bread variation).

Whisk the wet ingredients. 2 eggs...

1/2 cup of chicken stock, 1 tsp. of salt and 1/2 tsp. of ground black pepper.

Add the onion and celery mixture to the croutons. Pour the whisked wet ingredients over the croutons.

Mix all the ingredients gently. Don't mush up the bread...you'll be sorry if you do! Make sure it's very moist. If not, add 1/4 cup increments of chicken stock until it is moist.

The recipe shown is a Rolled Turkey Breast. So the stuffing went in there.

IF you aren't making that recipe, place the stuffing in a buttered casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes.

Herb Bread Stuffing

Prep Time with Store Bought Croutons: 30 Minutes

Total Time with Store Bought Croutons: 1 Hour

Prep Time with Homemade Croutons: 1.5 Hours

Total Time with Homemade Croutons: 6 Hours

Yield: 8 Servings

6 cups of Gluten-Free Dried Herb Bread Croutons

1 cup Diced onion

2/3 cup Finely Diced Celery

1 Tbsp. Chopped Fresh Thyme

1 Tbsp. Chopped Fresh Sage

1 Tbsp. Chopped Fresh Parsley

2 Large Eggs

1/2-1 1/4 cups Gluten-Free Chicken Stock

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

1/4 cup Butter

To make your own GF stuffing croutons, make 1 loaf of Pamela's Gluten-Free Bread Mix with the Herb Bread Variation. Cut the loaf into 1/2" to 1" cubes. Spread into a single layer on a baking dish and bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours.

Melt 1/4 cup of butter over medium-high heat in a medium sized frying pan. Add diced celery and onion as well as the fresh herbs. Fry until the vegetables are becoming translucent and start to brown.

Whisk 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, salt and pepper. Mix croutons with celery and onion mix. Stir in the egg mixture. Gently stir completely, being careful not to mush the bread.

Use in a turkey recipe or pour stuffing into a buttered baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes until golden brown.

Printable Recipe:

Herb Bread Stuffing

Cranapple Sauce

Try this cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, it's great! It's cranberry sauce but with some apples and cinnamon added in. It's tasty!

The ingredients...well...almost all of them. I forgot to put cinnamon in this picture, please forgive me!

First, peel, core and dice two apples.

Bring 1 cup of water mixed with 1.5 cups of granulated sugar to a boil. Once boiling, add cinnamon, apples and cranberries. Stir occasionally, for 10-15 minutes until apples are soft.

Yum!

Pour into a bowl and cool until room temperature.

Cool in refrigerator until ready to use. Can be done 1-2 days in advance.

Serve with turkey (or on roasted pork loin...I love cranberry sauce on roasted pork loin. Is that weird?)!

Cranapple Sauce

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Total Time: 25 Minutes

Yield: 10-12 Servings

1, 12 ounce bag Fresh Cranberries

2 Large Fuji Apples

1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar

1 cup Water

Core, peel and dice apples.

Bring 1 cup of water and 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar to a boil in large saucepan on medium high heat. When boiling, add cranberries, apples and cinnamon. Reduce heat to medium and gently boil until apples are soft, about 10-15 minutes.

Transfer sauce to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Once cooled, seal and store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Serve with turkey and enjoy!

Printable Recipe:

Cranapple Sauce

Review: Skinny Crisps Crackers

Do you need a great GF cracker? Check out these Skinny Crisps:

These are really tasty and low in carbohydrates. I get them at Whole Foods but you can order them at the Skinny Crisps website!

They are very crunchy but packed full of flavor. The brownie crisps are amazingly chocolaty and taste fantastic:

Do you see those chocolate sprinkles!!!!

The Plain Jane flavor reminds me of what I remember a Wheat Thin tasting like (not that I'm an expert on what a Wheat Thin tastes like at this point!!).

The ingredients can be found here for all of the different flavors to see if they work for you.

Every flavor I've tried is terrific!!! I highly recommend them. They are also made with nuts and beans so they have protein making them a very terrific and satisfying snack!

The only downside is that they are a bit expensive. Great for a special treat though when you really need a tasty cracker!

*Please Note: The manufacturers of Skinny Crisps do not know me and do not pay me to say these nice things about them!!!

Pumpkin Cake Bars

These are soooo good, make them, you will be so glad you did! They are a great fall or holiday treat! I made these at the request of my friend Jeff. So Jeff, here you go!

Ingredients.

Grease a 15 x 10 x 1 baking pan. If you don't have one, no worries! Just use a 9 x 13 and bake it for a few minutes longer. However, I held out on getting this size pan until about a year ago and, holy cow, I LOVE it! I don't know how to explain, but it makes the perfect thickness of brownies and any kind of cake bar. Perfection, I recommend it highly!

Combine all the dry ingredients first: flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and cloves.

Make sure to slightly beat the 4 eggs before adding them. It will make it so much easier to mix, I promise!

Add all the wet ingredients: 4 slightly beaten eggs, pumpkin, melted butter, canola oil and vanilla. Mix well!

Pour into prepared pan and smooth the batter.

Bake for 25-28 minutes at 350 degrees. Doesn't it look beautiful??!! Let it cool now, even though it's so tempting to start eating. Okay, maybe you can do like I did and eat a corner of it. It was ONLY to make sure it was good, I swear!

Cream cheese frosting time!! Is there anything better than cream cheese frosting? I would contest that there is not! Start by beating the butter and cream cheese with a whip attachment on your mixer. Beat for 1 minute.

Gradually beat in the 3 cups of powdered sugar. Lastly, add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Blend for two minutes longer on high speed. When it looks light and fluffy, it's so ready!

Spread the frosting on the cooled cake.

Cut the bars up and try not to eat them all before anyone else gets home! I'm worried about this happening to me today. Could I eat a 15 x 10 pan of these all by myself? I'll probably have to let you know tomorrow!

They're super moist and light. So great! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cake Bars

Prep Time: 25 Minutes

Total Time: 50 Minutes

Yield: 35 Squares

Cake:

1 1/2 cups Oat Flour

1/2 cup Tapioca Flour

1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar

2 tsp. Baking Powder

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Ground Cloves

4 Eggs, Slightly Beaten

1, 15 ounce Can Pumpkin

1/2 cup Butter, Melted

1/2 cup Canola Oil

1 tsp. Vanilla

Frosting:

3 cups Powdered Sugar

1/4 cup Butter

4 ounces Cream Cheese

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 15 x 10 x 1 baking pan by greasing bottom and sides.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and cloves). Mix well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients (4 slightly beaten eggs, pumpkin, melted butter, canola oil and vanilla). Mix well.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes until tester inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

For the frosting, beat butter and cream cheese in electric mixer with whip attachment for 1 minute. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Lastly, add the vanilla. Beat until well combined and frosting is fluffy, approximately 2 minutes with all ingredients. Frost the cake, cut into bars and serve.

Printable Recipe:

Pumpkin Cake Bars