Paleo Thanksgiving in September – Sweet Potato Delight!

My absolute favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is the sweet potato delight (as my aunt calls it).  I don’t know if it was the rainy weather last week or just the simple fact that Thanksgiving is only 2 months away (yes ONLY 2 months away), but I’ve been craaaaving that sweet potato delight!  Last year my Aunt Shell made a “Paleo” version of her sweet potato delight and I loved it.  I wanted to find a recipe similar to hers, and I did.  I decided to make a Paleo Thanksgiving dinner last night and it turned out really well!

I changed things up and made the turkey in the crock pot.  A coworker makes her Thanksgiving turkey in the crock pot every year and always raves about it.  All you do is buy turkey breast instead of the entire bird, which is better for 2 people anyway.  I also made some steamed green beans alongside the turkey and sweet potato delight.  It was all so good!

I followed the turkey recipe to a T.  My husband and I both loved this recipe and it was super simple to put together.  It’s going into our rotation for sure!

Crock Pot Turkey Breast Recipe
Ingredients

1 (4-6 lb) boneless turkey breast
1 (1 oz) packet dry onion soup mix
¾ cup water
1 onion, diced
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil

Directions
1.  Spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray and place turkey and diced onions inside.  In a small bowl, mix together the water and onion soup mix and spread evenly over turkey.
2.  In another small bowl, mix together remaining ingredients and sprinkle over the turkey breast.
3.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours (or until turkey is very tender and the seasonings have flavored the meat). Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and make sure it reads at least 165 degrees F (75 degrees C) to ensure that your turkey is fully-cooked.
4.  To eat, remove turkey from slow cooker and slice.  Spoon liquid over turkey meat for added flavor.

All I did to the green beans was steam and add salt and pepper.  We also spooned on a little of the turkey sauce from the crock pot and that was a winner!

I modified the Paleo sweet potato recipe a bit.  Here is my version!  Okay okay fine, I wasn’t going to tell you all but I just can’t lie!  I added about 1/4 cup brown sugar to the top of the casserole right before I put it in the oven.  My husband pressured me, okay!  Ugh…but it was really darn good and I honestly think it made a difference in taste.  You can opt to keep it totally Paleo or add the brown sugar and I think either way it will be great.

Sweet Potato Delight
Makes a ton (i.e., 12 servings-ish)

• 4 large sweet potatoes
• 1 cup canned coconut milk
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 4 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• juice of half an orange

Pecan topping

• 1 cup chopped raw pecans
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp melted coconut oil
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (OPTIONAL)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. While water comes to a boil, peel and dice sweet potatoes into large chunks.

2. Add sweet potato chunks to water. Boil until fork tender–about 10 minutes.

3. Drain potatoes, then dump them back in the large pot with all the other ingredients. Using a hand mixer, blend until potatoes reach desired consistency and flavor. (You may like to add a little more coconut milk, spices, or syrup based on your taste.)

4. In a small bowl, combine all topping ingredients until pecans are well coated.

5. Dump sweet potatoes into an oven safe dish and top with pecans.  Sprinkle with brown sugar if you’d like.

6. Bake in preheated oven until topping is browned–about 15 minutes. Serve warm.

 

Once again, please excuse my cell phone pics!

Dinner is served!

The sweet potato delight was fairly time consuming to make so I probably won’t make this all the time but it is so good and a nice fancy change to our normal “easy” dinners.  Enjoy!