I’m pretty sure I posted this video a while back, but I couldn’t resist posting it for my first attempt at Sweet Potato Pie.

All summer long we’ve benefited from a farm share. We paid in advance of summer for organic veggies from a local farm. Once a week we pick up delicious crops from a location within a few miles of home.

 

This week is our last week. For 18 weeks, we’ve enjoyed lettuce, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, pumpkin, watermelon, and so much more. One of the items we’ve enjoyed is sweet potatoes. I decided to use the last three for sweet potato pie.

Once, a long time ago, I made a pumpkin pie using REAL pumpkin–not from a can. With second graders. It tasted fine, but several parts of the experience were sort of grueling. In those moments, I became a huge fan of canned pumpkin. Because of this, I was kinda nervous about using real sweet potatoes for my pie. But, you know, farm to table and all that jazz, so…..

I baked the potatoes for about 50 minutes at 425 degrees. I poked each one a few times with a knife. I used to wonder what would happen if you didn’t poke potatoes. Earlier this year, I found out. Just please, never don’t poke it. But that’s another story.

Anyway, after I took the potatoes out of the oven, I put them into cold water. This was for two reasons: 1. They were so super hot that I couldn’t handle them. 2. It really did help the peels come off easily.

Next, I put the potatoes in a bowl with a stick of unsalted butter. I used a knife to roughly chop up the sweet potatoes and then a mixer on medium speed.

Now, I did end up with a pureed substance after adding 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, cinnamon and nutmeg (1/2 tsp each), 1 cup of sugar, and a tsp of vanilla. BUT, not before I blew hot sweet potato all over creation. It was on the coffee pot. It was in the sink. It was on my apron. It was off of my apron. It was on the floor. It was a SWEET-POTATO-NADO. It was ridiculous, and I wish I had a slow motion video of myself in that tasty sweet potato rain. At least plenty stayed in the bowl for the pie.

In other news, I’m pretty sure I should’ve cooked one of the potatoes longer, because it was kinda big. See those chunks? They just kept being there. Chunks aside, though, I poured the filling into a 9 inch pie crust that I’d shaped and put into the fridge to keep cold. The pie baked for 55 minutes at 350 degrees. The house smelled like autumn.

When the pie was done, I put it on a rack to cool for about 45 minutes. Then, when I could wait no longer, I cut myself a slice. I can’t remember when I’ve ever had a slice of sweet potato pie before. At Thanksgiving, I usually pass it up to have pumpkin pie. Tonight though, I ate a warm slice.

I wasn’t sure how much I liked it, so I had another slice. Just a little one. Really.

You can tell from the slice photo that it’s not perfect. There are still a few chunks of sweet potato that didn’t get completely blended. I assure you, this did not have a negative impact. YUM.

This was a good pie, and I’m glad I decided to try it. I’m having a birthday in a few weeks, and every now and then I think, you’re getting to old to start anything new–just try to work with what you’ve got. The second slice of pie reminded me:

It’s never too late.

Sure, sweet potato pie is not sky diving or mountain climbing or writing a book or a doctoral degree. But for me, it is new. It is sweet. It is possible.

“Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you take it all one day at a time […] You try to walk in the light”
― Marie Lu

So here’s to the newness of each day. Taste the sweetness of each moment. Embrace the possibility that’s all around you!