Recipe: Candied Yams

**I'm so excited to announce that I've started a youtube channel discussing everything home making. My channel name is Surviving As Mom.  Check it out!! http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmrj6ilyMI5G2hnraXRWpEQ


Candied Sweet potatoes topped with brown sugar, oatmeal and marshmallows.  Easy and DELICIOUS!!

4 large sweet potatoes/yams roasted and peeled (you could probably boil them too)
1 stick soft butter
2-3 tbsp brown sugar (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

TOPPING:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 whole raw oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsps melted butter
*Combine above ingredients to a crumbly mixture.

about 1 cup small marshmallows

DIRECTIONS:
Mash sweet potatoes till smooth.  Add butter, brown sugar, salt and pepper.
Spread them out in a small glass baking dish.  I used a Pyrex 7x11 in. dish
Sprinkle half of topping (not marshmallows) over top.  Use a butter knife to mix just slightly.
Add the rest of topping and bake at 375 degrees about 35 mins.
Add marshmallows and return to oven about 10-15 mins until marshmallows are golden brown.

That's it!  Very easy and SOO delicious!!

This picture is after it sat in the fridge overnight, but you get the idea.

Meal Planning

**I'm so excited to announce that I've started a youtube channel discussing everything home making. My channel name is Surviving As Mom.  Check it out!! http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmrj6ilyMI5G2hnraXRWpEQ

I started meal planning earlier in the year and it has been a huge life saver!  Instead of struggling each day to try to figure out what to cook for dinner, I decided to give it a try.

I started by making a list of my most popular dinners that I make, separated by categories (chicken, beef, pork, other).  I also made a separate list of side dishes.
-Items with a * are slow cooker meals.-

I then printed out monthly calendars for the year using calendar-365.com

The hardest and most tedious part is filling in each day.  I try to alternate chicken and beef while sprinkling in some pork and "other" foods.  You can repeat the same schedule for each month or make a new one each month.  I put the finished calendar in a plastic sleeve and hang it inside the door of a kitchen cabinet so it's hidden.  ...just a personal preference.

I keep the meal lists in a binder in plastic sleeves to keep them clean along with each additional blank month.

Some people like to keep weekly meal plans as well which include breakfast and lunch.  I personally find it to be too much work, so I stopped using those.  I find that the monthly plan works just fine for me.

Meal planning is also good for grocery planning.  When I make my grocery list, I look at my meal plan for the next 2 weeks and add anything that will be needed for those meals.  It can also be helpful if you have a strict grocery budget.  It cuts down on random groceries.

*Keep in mind, the meal plan is not written in stone.  At least once a week, I stray from the plan either because I'm just not in the mood for what's on the schedule, I don't have the supplies for the meal, or time does not permit.  That's ok!  That's life.  Just go with it :-)