design a life you love
Today’s recipe is another one of those that I have been meaning to post for ages but have been inadvertently withholding (similar to my favorite berry crumble). When I sit down and meal plan every week or so, more often than not this kale hash makes an appearance as a weekend breakfast. Not only is it relatively easy to make, it’s incredibly filling and just one batch carries my husband and I through the entire weekend. A win, win, win, right?
For each of my childhood birthdays my mom would prepare a special meal and dessert for me; it could be anything I wanted. Without fail, I would request the same dinner every single year – a super rich chicken in cream sauce recipe. Having it for my birthday was our family tradition up until I moved to California six years ago.
With a monumental birthday coming up (the big 3-0) I found myself homesick and longing for my mom’s chicken and cream sauce. I had never previously attempted to make it but figured that I had enough cooking experience under my belt to give it a try. My mom still had the recipe handy and sent it to me but there was one problem…I have cut lactose and gluten out of my diet and the original recipe was heavy on cream and flour. Hmm.
Substituting almond flour for regular flour seemed straight forward enough, but what to do about the cream… Fortunately for me, Google exists and was able to provide a plethora of alternatives. I threw caution to the wind and went with the most basic option I could find – substituting 2/6 cup of soy milk and 1/6 cup of oil for 1/2 cup of heavy cream. The consistency seemed okay. Not perfect, but okay. And flour behaves like flour so the recipe should work, right? Wrong.
Now, this was in no way a complete disaster. It just didn’t taste exactly like my mom’s and that turned me into an emotional mess. Neither the meal or the pictures came out quite how I wanted them to and I considered not posting this entrée at all. It was my mom who encouraged me to go ahead with it as planned because it’s a recipe that means a lot to me, it still tasted amazing and, as she pointed out, maybe somebody out there has a suggestion for how to improve it next time. So without further explanation or ado, I give you…
When I was growing up I could always count on my grandparents making two treats on Christmas Day. My grandfather would make what was in my humble opinion the most delicious homemade treat ever, peppermint ice cream, while my grandmother would make what was in my father’s humble opinion the most delicious homemade treat ever, peanut brittle. Over the years both grandparents made an effort to teach all of us how to create these delights but, in all honesty, I was always terrified to attempt either of them both because they are ridiculously labor intensive and because it would make me really sad to create an end product that didn’t properly do justice to their originals.
Despite my trepidation I decided that I wanted to give peanut brittle a go last Christmas. After discussing my grandmother’s recipe with my mother and being reminded of how absurdly challenging it was to get the peanut brittle to turn out well, I took to the internet. I came across several similar microwave recipes, melded them all together and gave it my best shot, all the while assuming it would be an absolute disaster. But wait…it wasn’t. It wasn’t at all. Somehow my crazy microwave witchery produced peanut brittle of the exact same taste, texture and consistency as my grandmother’s!
Easy peanut brittle in Grandma’s tin, every bit as good as her original recipe.
Behold the glorious yams.
I am something of a yam connoisseur. I started perfecting my tasting skills at a young age and by now have yam consumption down to an art. For this reason I hold Thanksgiving in very high regard. For one glorious day I have a free pass to eat as many yams as I want! If I’m lucky there are even leftovers that I get to snack on during the week to come. Thanksgiving is my jam.
I have obviously sampled many a recipe in my day, but as far as I’m concerned the recipe I am sharing with you today is THE ONLY ONE worth bothering with. It is, quite literally, the best yam recipe ever. It was originally introduced into my life when I was a child by my “Auntie Barb”, a close family friend. Auntie Barb hosted an annual Friendsgiving gathering and made this every single year.
Auntie Barb eventually shared the recipe with my mom who started making it for our family Thanksgiving celebrations as well. This meant that I would get not one but two rounds of yams each year! Thanksgiving kept getting better and better.
After I moved to Southern California I no longer got to enjoy these yams each Thanksgiving Day. Last year I decided that enough was enough, I needed my yams! I resolved to start a new tradition that I could share with my husband and his family whom we spend Thanksgiving with and prepared my favorite yam recipe for the very first time. Needless to say the yams were a hit and will be what I contribute to Thanksgiving dinner for years to come.
This recipe is straightforward and probably impossible to mess up. It yields unbelievably delicious results, making it the perfect dish to share with your loved ones this Thanksgiving. It has been special to my family for years and I hope that it can become a part of your family’s traditions as well. Enjoy!