Lightened-Up Sweet Potato Casserole. {Video!}
Today I start working on my 30th year. At least I think that is how this works, right? I turn 29, but that means I’m working on my 30th year, correct? I sure as heck hope so since I’m structuring an entire blog post about it.
It seriously makes my brain explode when I think about the fact that I have been walking this earth for nearly 30 years. Maybe it’s because I’m so horrific at math (I froze in the back of a cab in San Francisco this past weekend when I had to tip the driver… disaster), or maybe it’s because I usually reserve the idea of “30 years” for long lasting marriages (which uh, by the way… how the HECK have those people not killed each other? they must not be snorers or cover-stealers).But
THIRTY years?! Is this even sweet potato casserole worthy?
As usual, I came to this party totally unprepared. If I was super creative or managed to think about something other than the next five minutes in front of my face, I would have made something completely chocolate-covered, bacon-infused, sugar-loaded and salty. Because salt is heaven.
But I didn’t. I made sweet potato casserole. Boring sweet potato casserole. Nothing worthy of birthday celebrations. Can I have an assistant? Not because I’m busy enough but because I need a second brain. It would help us all. Really.
So this whole turning 29 thing? I’ve never been one to freak about birthdays. I’ve never spazzed at the thought of turning 30 or 40 or even 50. I mean, yesterday I spent six hours on a plane listening to Kenny G on my iPod for the second time in 48 hours. I’m pretty sure I’m closer to age 50 than 29, right? Without all the wisdom and stuff.
As your typical product of the internet generation, I grew up assuring myself that by this age I’d have spent my college years being even cooler than Jessica Wakefield, the majority of my 20s gallivanting in and out of popular clubs in an even more popular city, and the rest of the time making millions of dollars, owning some kind of mansion on water somewhere, marrying someone who doesn’t come complete with a stuffed turkey, popping out four or ten Ralph Lauren polo-clad kids, and decorating my entire life a la Martha Stewart.
Raise your hand if you think I read too many fiction novels.
And thanks a lot to you too, MTV.
I definitely drank the koolaid.
Soooo. Here I am. I cook way too much food in my kitchen and then talk about something completely other than that food to my invisible internet friends. I pretend to know what I’m doing even though many days I honestly have zero idea… ever. I don’t wear ball gowns every weekend and I don’t sit at cool coffee shops and I don’t have a house in Malibu and I don’t have a wardrobe like Carrie Bradshaw. The money tree I planted must have began with faulty seeds because, uh… I see no bills laying in my backyard. Fail.
29 is so different at 29 than I thought it would be at 7 and 15 and even 21. But it’s just what I need and it certainly is… delicious? Yes. So I’m gonna eat up.
Lightened-Up Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
sweet potato layer
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/3 cup canned lite coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
oatmeal coconut pecan crumble
- 1/2 cup whole, unsalted pecans, chopped
- 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened, flaked coconut
- 1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Peel and chop sweet potatoes into 1 1/2 inch cubes. Add to a pot with cold water, then bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 20-30 minutes, then drain. While sweet potatoes are cooking, add butter to a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisking constantly, cook until little brown bits appear in the pan – about 4-5 minutes. Remove immediately from heat and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In the bowl of an electric mix (or a large bowl, using a hand mixer), add sweet potatoes. Add all remaining ingredients – sugar, syrup, spices, salt, vanilla extract, coconut milk and brown butter – and mix on low speed until combined about 30 seconds. Mix on medium speed for another 1-2 minutes, until potatoes are whipped. Spread in an oven-safe pan or dish. I used an 9 x 2 1/2 round tart pan.
- Combine oats, flour, pecans, coconut, spices and salt in a bowl and mix to thoroughly combine. Add in softened butter, and use your hands to completely moisten the mixture and clump it together. Sprinkle the crumble around the outside of the dish, leaving room in the center for marshmallows. Add marshmallows to the middle. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until crumble is golden and marshmallows are gooey.
- Notes: If you want to skip the marshmallows, I suggest doubling the crumble mixture and covering the entire top with it. If you can’t find unsweetened, flaked coconut (I use Bob’s Red Mill brand), using sweetened is fine, but I would decrease the sugar by a 1/2 tablespoon (or more/less, depending on tastes). You can also sub in milk, cream or half and half for the coconut milk if you wish. However, the coconut milk does NOT add a coconut flavor to the casserole.
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
Since, like always, I spent so much time talking about myself, I forgot to tell you about that orange stuff up there. It’s good. It has less than half the sugar and butter than regular sweet potato casserole has. I threw a bunch of stuff in the dish and said a prayer that it would turn out. It has lovely coconut milk. Mmmmm. But! IT HAS BROWN BUTTER. That should be enough. Make. Now.
343 Comments on “Lightened-Up Sweet Potato Casserole. {Video!}”
What an awesome post. First, happy birthday!!
The line about money tree and faulty seeds…truly LOL on that one!
The casserole…either the sweet potato part OR the crumble topping would be amazing on their own. But paired together…holy sweet heaven above. Amazing.
I hope you have an awesome day (and year!) :)
Ohhhh! I LOVE Sweet potato casserole. I can’t wait to have it on Thanksgiving- maybe I’ll try this recipe this year! PS I Love the way you wreathed the streusel around the marshmallows- so pretty : )
SO pretty & wonderful to have a healthy option for T-Day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope it is all kinds of wonderful :)
Happy birthday! I hope you have an awesome day filled with brown butter!
Happy Birthday! :) ….we’re not invisible friends- you just can’t see us :) Have awonderful day full of celebrating!!!!
I can say that in my 30th year now, it’s not such a big deal. But, when I was approaching 30, everyone else told me the same thing and I looked back at them as if I wanted their faces to melt off. (I did.)
I felt the same way you did, thinking about the plans I had when I was younger, where I would be…I thought I’d be a Tufts veterinary school graduate, completing my residency in equine veterinary surgery, probably pregnant with 2nd child, and married to a wonderful husband.
Uh….none of those things happened.
But I am happy where my life is right now. That is, after 12:05 of my birthday, since at 11:59 to 12:00 I woke up Roo, saying that it was my official 30th birthday and proceeded to cry.
So yes, definitely take a positive outlook on approaching 30. While I can only repeat what my friends who were older than me said, it really isn’t the end of the world (please don’t picture my face melting off right now). It’s actually kind of nice…there is a little bit more pressure on life goals vs. my 20s, but honestly….I think I look way hotter than I did at 20. I’d like to think I age like a fine wine.
Right…
Oh, and I totes know you’re turning 29! But seriously, the second I turned 29, all I could think about was 30. So…I really didn’t intend to rob you of 1 year! :)
Love, love, love.
1) Happy Birthday!
2) I am 30 and already know I’ll never have any idea what I’m supposed to be doing. I’ve accepted it, moved on and embraced the ambiguity…or something like that.
3) Hire me as your assistant. I can’t promise how helpful I will be, but I like veggies and not bacon, so you can have my bacon, I’ll have your veggies and then everyone will think we’re “so well rounded.” Deal? Deal.
That sounds so… perfect.
Happy Bday! I’ve actually heard 30s are the best years, I’m a bit further away so you’ll have to let us know in the years to come, but hey don’t skip 29 :)
any special plans for this evening?
Eeeek, not yet! Celebrating somehow, but I’m not sure exactly what!
I would have thought you were 50 already, at least, looking at the complexity of the recipes:) You acquired so much knowledge in so little time! Happy birthday.
Looks amazing, I’m a new convert to SP casserole. I LOVE the dish you used, too!
Happy Birthday, Jess!!
happy birthday!
i made your (not healthier) pumpkin cupcakes this weekend and used your vanilla bean frosting. huge it! the cake was perfectly moist and fluffy. loved it. i also made the autumn mac and cheese. my fiance was pissed i messed with his plain jane cheese and mac, but he ended up liking it. he just insisted that it wasn’t “mac and cheese” but a macaroni, cheese, and vegetable casserole. i guess i can live with that.
So glad you liked them! :)
I am actually way older than my age and I’ve come to accept that. I finally, in my thirties, have decided it’s ok to be me. I hope you have an incredible birthday! Cuddled up with some sweet potatoes is definitely a good way to spend a portion of it…oh and maybe some time with your man too! Happy Birthday Jessica!
I love this.
Happy Birthday! Don’t they say that 30 is the new 18? That means that 29 is the new, uh, 17.
The crumble on that casserole looks devastatingly full of yummy texture. Would it be wrong to just make a whole pan of that?
It would be so, so right.
Happy Birthday, Jessica! The casserole looks too delicious to be “light”! :-)
Happy Birthday! I’m working on my 30th year too! I think the 30’s are gonna rock.
Happy Birthday! I absolutely love your blog and have made some verrry delicious dinners and desserts adapted from your recipes. Thank you for that and enjoy your day!
AMEN on eating it up! Happy birthday, Jessica. :)
Boring sweet potato casserole????
Nothing worthy of birthday celebrations????
What sacrilege is this!?!?!?!
Happy happy happy birthday!! Even though it’s not cake or bacon-infused, this casserole looks perfectly suitable for celebrating!
First of all, happy birthday!!! I know exactly what you mean about how you envisioned your life to be at a certain age versus how it actually turned out. In my 28 years I’ve learned that life throws you curve balls all the time… it’s neither better nor worse that what I thought it would be – just different ;).
Second of all, this crisp; just… awesome. I don’t really have anything else to say! Definitely a must-make.
Happy birthday!!! Your money tree must have gotten mixed up with the tree that got delivered to my backyard last year. NOT!
I love this recipe and I want to eat it all up – AND it’s something I can actually make. I knew you’d give me a present on your birthday.
You CAN?! Sa-weet!
Yayyy happy birthday to you! I hope you celebrate :)
Happy Birthday! My husband will thank you bc I hate sweet potatoes but this actually looks good enough to make! That’s an accomplishment!
And I hear you on the Sweet Valley/MTV Kool-Aid. But I was thinking about it and you know Elizabeth would’ve been a blogger. I think the secret to growing up is realizing that we all can be the Elizabeth/Jessica combo. :) (still working on it at 36… And probably will still be working on it at 56 lol)
Oh yeah… Elizabeth TOTALLY would have been a blogger, haha.
Happy Birthday Jessica!!!
Happy birthday! Isn’t it funny how we view what life will be like when we are younger? Turns out it’s nothing like what we imagined, yet…perfect? At least that’s how I feel. :-) I have a soft spot for sweet potato casserole so I think this is a perfect way to celebrate the last year of your 20s!
Happy Birthday…. age is nothing but a number… the casserole looks so yummy , minus the marshmellows…( those are only good with s’morestinis )
Hope u have a super gr8 birthday!!! How was the foodbuzz festival? Did u win? U rock no matter what!!
Happy birthday!
And I love your attitude, by the way. Live your life the way you want to. Who cares if you act more like 50 than 29? Act how you want to act, everyone else be damned!
Fantastic.
a) HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
b) Just wait until you reach your 30s. Party time.
c) You’re amazing. And yes, I’m being serious. And not joking. For the first time, EVER.
d) But uh, Kenny G? We totes need to talk.
e) Like, really.
f) Let me help.
g) No, really.
I know. It’s a sickness.
That looks absolutely gorgeous! Now if I could get past not liking sweet potatoes~
Happy b-day by the way!
the brown butter did me in and the coconut milk was a close second! happy birthday! i wish i’d bought you an awesome cupcake or maybe another milkshake in SF to celebrate!
Happy birthday!!! Celebrate it however you want. Bacon or potatoes. It’s your dang birthday.
Happy birthday!! This looks wonderful :D
So all that stuff about gallivanting around cool clubs, making millions, and living in a mansion…. don’t crush my dreams just yet because I’m 23 and there are still 7 years for me to make that happen! ;) I hope you have a fantastically delicious 30th year!
HApppppy birthday! As long as it has browned butter you can lighten up the rest however you like, I’m sure it’s still delicious!! This is my favorite side dish at thanksgiving, I can’t wait :)
HaPpY BiRtHdAy JeSsIcA! What a diving recipe to celebrate your special day! Sooo glad I just bought a huge bag of sweet potatoes yesterday :)
this looks great and i bet no one would know it’s healthy! :) love it.
Happy Birthday Jessica!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!!! I think I know how you feel. I’m turning 25 next month and definitely thought my life would be a little more Jessica-ish. But then I think how I got here and I wouldn’t change it. I hope you feel the same way. Keep being your cutie-patootie, bacon-loving, genius self and enjoy your day!!!
Happy Birthday, Jessica!!!
I love sweet potatoes but normally eat them plain (boiled and mashed, no salt or butter) this sounds like a nice upgrade! :-)
Happy Birthday!!! :D Hope you have an awesome day!
Haaaaaaaaaaaappy Birthday!!
Happy Birthday!! :)
Happy birthday Jessica! Welcome to the 29 club. I had a bit more trouble with this bday this past spring than you. I seriously can’t believe there are now fewer months until I’m 30 than there were to my last birthday…ahhh!
And, I think sweet potato pie is a perfect way to celebrate, there are marshmallows on top ;)
Happy Birthday! I don’t think this is boring, not at all!
looks like we’re both lovin’ the brown butter lately :)
Happy happy birthday!!! The reference to Jessica Wakefield make me smile.
Happy Birthday! I’m 27 and agree that my life isn’t how I envisioned it would be – no six figure income, fancy car, big house – but it’s still pretty awesome, despite what shows like MTV told us it would be like. And I’d venture to say blogging is a day job that I didn’t realize existed, but by far trumps the high paying corporate job I thought people my age should have. :)
This recipe sounds fantastic and your timing is perfect for Thanksgiving!
Happy Birthday Jess! Just wanted you to know how much I enjoy and look forward to your blog each day. I love your writing style! I truly hope your day is as sweet as you are!