Sweet Potato Rounds with Cinnamon Pecans

3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼ to ½ inch slices (Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter works great)
½ c. butter, melted
½ c. orange juice
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Cinnamon pecans, optional (recipe below)

Arrange sweet potatoes slices in overlapping rows in a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Combine the butter, orange juice, salt and cinnamon; drizzle over sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with chopped cinnamon pecans, if desired. Cover and bake at 350º for 55 – 60 minutes or until tender. Serves 10.


Cinnamon Pecans

1 c. granulated sugar
1 T. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ c. water
2 c. pecans

Boil first four ingredients approximately 5 minutes until mixture spins a thread. Add the pecans. Pour onto buttered platter or baking sheet. Separate with forks. Cool.

I'm not exactly sure where I found the recipe for the Sweet Potatoes, I served it to about 100 people on an Emmaus Walk. The Cinnamon Pecans were my own addition to them when I made them last Thanksgiving. The recipe for the pecans (pee-CANS, not pe-CAHNS!)came from a friend of my dad's, Rosalie Story, who I met when we took a trip south after Dad retired, and later we moved to South Carolina. He and Rosalie were both from Indiana and met in Terre Haute their freshman year in college in the late 1930's. Dad left college after a year and moved to DC to work for the Veterans Administration and sometime later Rosalie moved south; don't know if that was before or after she married Bob Story. Listening to Rosalie, one would never believed she lived north of the Mason-Dixon line, such a southern accent! She taught both my sister, Stephie, and me, some southern vernacular (e.g. "You're a mess!" is actually a compliment). So if you try these and like them, how about "Givin' me some sugar!" the next time you see me.