We spent every Thanksgiving with my Auntie Marilyn and Uncle Bob. Half of the time we went to my Aunt’s house and then later, my mom later took over hosting duty. One thing never changed-the menu.

• cheese + crackers (too many!)
• vegetable platter + ranch sour cream dip
• baked artichoke squares (my all time fave!)
• Roasted Turkey + Gravy
• Mashed Potatoes 
• Sausage Chestnut Stuffing 
• Pecan Topped Sweet Potatoes
• Green Beans (later we replaced with creamed spinach)
• Parker House Rolls
• Cranberry Jell-o casserole (my guilty pleasure)

As kids, we were just as excited to see the sweet potatoes as we were to see my Aunt & Uncle. My aunt’s sweet potato contribution was truly a labor of love, and even at a young age we knew that to be true.

Over the years, she figured out how to adapt the recipe to help feed growing kids.  She was delighted when her experiment with using canned sweet potatoes instead of roasting her own paid off. 

When I was in high school, my aunt lost her battle with cancer. It was the first major death in my family. Our first holiday without her was hard and it continued to be hard until we learned how to be OK with new traditions while preserving as many as we could.

Every year after her death, my Uncle Bob continued to come to our Thanksgiving with the sweet potatoes. He stood in the kitchen placing every single pecan on top of the orange hued casserole dish to make it ever. so. perfect.  He paused after every few rows of pecans, choking back the tears. I always watched in awe, as my dreams of being a caterer and working in the kitchen transpired. When the Pecan Topped Sweet Potatoes came out of the oven and onto the buffet table, us kids would circle around it like hawks. We tried our hardest to see how big of a scoop we could get away with before my mom told us to stop.

Every year we’d say grace and at least 3 people would tear up. We ate the sweet potato casserole to remember my aunt and to remember how many Thanksgivings we were all lucky to share together. Food is incredibly powerful that way.

In the year right before Casey and I were married, my Uncle Bob died suddenly of a heart attack. There was another empty place at our table.  

In gathering my Uncle’s stuff, I was given his Sunset Magazine cookbook- the very one with the recipe my Aunt & Uncle used to make this sweet potato casserole.

It’s a Thanksgiving tradition I’ve upheld for the past 10 years.

(Hey Mom- is this Auntie Marilyn’s handwriting or Uncle Bob’s?)

There are definitely a lot of sweet potato casserole recipes out there.

I had no idea that people put marshmallows on their sweet potatoes until I was in college! 

What does that even taste like??!

You probably have your own family’s recipe.

This one is mine.

My Thanksgiving doesn’t taste the same without it.

CONTINUE READING