Sweet potatoes and Thanksgiving are synonymous. The marshmallow version can be found at nearly every table, but they’ve never been a favorite of mine. For a long time, that particular casserole was my only association with sweet potatoes. Well, luckily, I’ve come a long way in the food awareness department and have discovered a number of ways to eat them.

Besides roasted as fries, I also really like them mashed. This version is beautiful and scented with orange. The flavors are rounded out with freshly cracked black pepper and a dab of butter. It comes together in less than 30 minutes. We had ours with a store-bought rotisserie chicken for a quick weekend lunch.

The great news is this could easily be vegan if you need it to be. Just swap extra virgin olive oil for butter and vegetable broth for milk.

Orange Scented Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato

2 tbsp. orange zest and 3 tbsp. orange juice

1 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. milk

Salt and pepper

Peel and chop the sweet potato into 1 inch pieces. Add to a pot and fill with water. Boil over high heat. When the sweet potatoes are tender, drain and return to the pot. Add orange zest and juice to the pot. Mash together.

Stir in 1 tbsp. butter and milk (I used skim.). Mash together until creamy. Season with freshly cracked black pepper and salt to taste. I like mine with a heavy dose of pepper.