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I hope all of my fellow Americans enjoyed their Thanksgiving, and to all of my international readers, I hope you enjoyed your Thursday. 
CD and I kept it low key yesterday. After his 5-mile road race, he came home, and we just hung out all day. I had every intention of taking Summer to cheer for Chris while he ran with a big sign that said “Go Dad!”. However, since Summer and I slept until in until 7 AM, we didn’t make it. CD, i’m glad you had a good race, and I promise we’ll be out there cheering for you next year!
My family drove 2 hours to my aunt’s house for the Thanksgiving day meal, but with our nursing, feeding, pumping schedule, Chris and I decided to stay home and do our own thing. I really enjoyed our first Thanksgiving together as a family, and thankfully, my mom dropped off leftovers this morning so that I can get my turkey fix. In honor of the holiday, I did try out a new sweet potato recipe for last night’s dinner, and it was delicious. Some people like topping their sweet potatoes with marshmallows or candied pecans, but the HEAB household prefers its sweet potatoes with beef!
Sweet Potato Cottage Pie
Inspired by this recipe from the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission.
Ingredients:
3 small sweet potatoes
3 TBSP butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound grass fed finished beef
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP heavy whipping cream
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350℉. Pierce sweet potato skins and microwave until tender (about 6 minutes), and allow to cool. In large skillet, heat 1 TBSP butter over medium heat. Add onion and celery. Cook while stirring constantly until tender (about 5 minutes). Add garlic. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Add beef, stirring until it begins to brown. Stir in tomato sauce, Worcestershire, half of of the thyme and 1/4 tsp of the salt. Bring to a boil. Transfer to a greased baking dish, spreading evenly.
Cut cooked sweet potatoes into small chunks and blend together with the remaining butter (softened), remaining thyme, salt, and the cream. Blend until well combined.
I used my Vita-Mix, but you could use any blender or a hand mixer (might need to remove the potato skins first).
Spread sweet potato mixture over meat in baking dish and bake until bubbly, about 20 to 25 minutes.
For dessert, enjoy some pumpkin pie a la mode, HEAB style…
Oat bran cooked in water with 1/2 cup pumpkin stirred in and topped with vanilla ice-cream and pumpkin pie spice.
Anyone else glowing orange today? 
{ 59 comments… read them below or add one }
I would have never thought to make a shepherd’s pie with a sweet potato topping! Brilliant!
I’m glad you got to have a nice low key day with the most important people in your life! <3
Yeah, I’ve seen that some people do it with mashed cauliflower too. I’d prefer a combo.
That recipe looks really yummy! I’m glad you had a relaxing Thanksgiving. Sometimes it’s just best to lay low and get some rest! Glad you’re still going to get your turkey fix!
Your “pumpkin pie” actually sounds a lot better than the real deal. Plus, it’s hard to go wrong with ice cream on top! Thanks for sharing.
I like your style of pumpkin pie! Looks delicious!
I was satisfied yesterday, not stuffed. So feeling good today!
Glad you had an amazing Thanksgiving, Heather! I didn’t eat anything orange yesterday, can you believe it?! [Usually I choose pumpkin pie for dessert, but this year apple won out!]
Erika,
That being said, I usually choose apple over pumpkin as well…especially if ice-cream involved. Nothing like a little apple pie a la mode. 
No, no I can’t.
Mmm I love sweet potato ANYTHING – this recipe is perfect
Hope you and your beautiful family had a great Thanksgiving, Heather!
Glad y’all got to have a relaxing, cozy day at home! It seems like the perfect way to spend your first Thanksgiving with Summer. I’m definitely glowing orange but surprisingly not sick of it yet as I had a huge bowl of pumpkin oats this morning and plan to eat some pumpkin pie cookies later.
I bet a low key day was just what you needed and I’m glad you got to enjoy it.
We definitely do our sweet potatoes with the pecans and brown sugar. I just had some leftovers for lunch in fact.
Hope you have a good day!
I saw him fly by the opposite side as I was on oh, about mile 2. He was screaming along ! He’s in the paper in the Local. Great job.
Melissa,
Someone yelled “Show Summer how it’s done” from the opposite side, and CD had no idea who it was. Too funny!
I’ll have to get today’s paper – thanks for the heads up. CD got 7th and was pleased with his time. Not a PR or anything, but he was pretty tired.
Love the variation on sweet potato casserole! The HEAB household eats always look so good. Glad you enjoyed a low-key thanksgiving with your precious baby girl.
That Beef and Sweet Potato Dish is little Shepard’s Pie-ish and looks soooo good! I truly LOVE sweet potato and pumpkin ANYTHING! I too many look a little orange…most days.
When my daughter was 4 weeks old, we had our first famil T Day at our home with just us three. Calm and nice! I am glad you enjoyed your time with yours.
I’m not a big beef eater or meat eater for that matter, but your beef meals always look so good. I’ve been having a hankering for your mustard stir fries.
Lindsay,
Mmm, mustard stir-fry is so good. I think you should try it.
I’ve been glowing orange all month!
Happy Thanksgiving to the new little HEAB family!
What a wonderful first turkey day for Summer.
Yum – love savory sweet potato recipes.
Yum! That oat bran + ice cream combo looks tasty! Like a healthy take on pumpkin pie! Hope you, CD and Summer had a great thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving! I definitely made the typical sweet potato with pecans on top … it was so good that Dennis request I make it every year instead of the one he usually makes (in other words, mine was better !!) i love savory sweet potato casseroles too and this one looks fabulous. Enjoy your turkey today!!!
Looks like you had a great, relaxing Thanksgiving. I’m a huge fan of Shepherd’s Pie, but I’ve never had it with sweet potatoes–sounds delicious! Your pumpkin pie oatbran looks delicious and just reminded me that I haven’t had pumpkin oatmeal in wayyyy too long.
Yep Thursday was an ok day, I was very envious of all you Americans having an extra Xmas day!
“but with our nursing, feeding, pumping schedule, Chris and I decided to stay home and do our own thing.”
Can I just say that that was the story of the first 12-18 mos of my life with Skylar. I know EXACTLY what it’s like (I think all moms do, but espi those who pumped a lot) to have your schedule revolve around pumping, nursing, and feeding sessions. And even if it would be easy to break the schedule, the thought of actually getting in the car and going anywhere and doing things out of the ordinary…it just sounds like such a monumental task requiring wayyyyy too much energy and effort b/c you’re already so tired.
Heather, I know how it feels. Hang in there. You’re doing awesome! This will pass one day. And you will look back on it and not really know how you did it, but will be glad you tried your best
That’s all you can do. And give yourself permission to stop…when ever that time is.
xoxo
I didn’t do a traditional thanksgiving dinner either. But I did eat my orange root veggie.- kabocha is back, folks!
I think I might be glowing orange, too. Today I’ve had carrots, sweet potatoes, AND pumpkins. Perhaps I should mix it up for the rest of the day
Just the other day I had sweet potatoes with beef and broccoli. So good! I love the combo. I will have to try your cottage pie.
I didn’t have any orange veggies! Gasp! I pretty much just ate turkey and dumplings all day. Oh and a slice of pumpkin pie…that counts right?
Shelby, yep, pumpkin pie totally counts.
Missed you yesterday, hope you enjoy the turkey! We’ll do it next year and Summer will have a drumstick!
Missed you too Vickey. Turkey was yummy.
Yay! An NC inspired dish! Not only do we provide a lot of sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving meals, most of the turkeys come from NC as well. I’m glad you had such a nice first Thanksgiving as a family of three.
Kelly, I love your state.
ugh i hate marshmallows! i like my veggies straight up! basically, i’m trying so hard not to eat anymore pumpkin for a while haha i don’t want to turn orange!
I’m definitely glowing orange. We ended up making two pumpkin pies!! One of them which was frozen and saved for me to take back to school. No complaints.
Now THAT is what I’m talking about
That looks delicious! I think candied sweet potatoes are more of an American tradition. Two Christmases ago my mom made an Oprah-inspired dinner and my family was horrified by the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes. They still talk about what a weird dish it was to this day 
Susan,
Yeah, the marshmallows horrify me as well. So unnecessary in my opinion.
That dish looks amazing. Heavenly. I want some of it now! I am definitely glowing orange – butternut pumpkin squash up the wazoo. I am about to make butternut squash quinoa – I guess I can’t get enough of it!
Hi Heabster!!!! Glad you, CD, Summer & the pups had a relaxing Thanksgiving. BTW, how did Summer’s first walk go?
The sweet ‘tater concotion looks very good. I much prefer sweet ‘taters in a savory dish, vs. that of a sweet one. I have actually had the infamous sweet ‘taters & marshmellows. Not sure how I have escaped it in all my years, but then marshmellows don’t appeal to me.
Good vibes from sunny CO
Hey Dot! The walk went well – we covered 3 miles, and Summer was wide awake the entire time. She definitely inherited her dad’s energy.
all year round baby, all year round.
Clare,
Me too!!! Thank goodness for my local Asian Mkt. and year-round kabocha!
I’m so glad you had a great Thanksgiving as a little family
. I love your pumpkin “pie” 
. I similarly prefer to eat my pumpkin pie in a non-traditional way, pumpkin pie pancakes! I am definitely glowing orange, too. When I met my wisdom teeth surgeon (ugh!) a few days ago, he actually asked me why my hands were yellow-y/orange. It was an embarrassing story. While I’m fine with it on my hands (since I know it’s not toxic—but I’m not a fan of it on my face, too), I am looking for ways to lessen the “glow” without reducing my orange consumption. Any ideas?
Have a lovely day!
xox
Mandiee,
I hope you had a good Thanksgiving as well, and as far as your orange glow goes, I wish I could be of more help. I’m afraid to say that the only thing that has ever helped me is to eat less of the orange goodness.
Well that’s not going to happen
. I guess I’ll just have to embrace the glow then. At least we glow together 
.
Have a lovely day!
xox
Between pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash lasagna, I’m definitely glowing orange!!
Haha I think I may be orange on a daily basis, just no one tells me. Considering building a whole new pumpkin pantry. shaped like a pumpkin. painted orange. That cottage pie looks amazing!! definitely tradition worthy
Becca,
Hehe, I like it.
I recently made a cottage pie with mashed squash on top, was also good. I’ve also made it with sweet potato, the mix of the sweet and savory is heavenly!
Dea – yes, that sweet savor combo is so good. Can’t wait to make the cottage pie again!
I always do pumpkin shepherds pie with sweet potatoes. In Quebec it’s pate chinois.
Michelle,
Yes, my dad used to request that for dinner (he was born in Canada). Never actually seen it spelled out, but I remember my mom making it for dinner. However, she always used white potatoes…man, were we missing out!
I never would’ve thought to do something like this with sweet potatoes! Looks delish! It’s a wonder I’m not turning orange…I’ve been having pumpkin or sweet potatoes every day for prob the last month!
I really want to try kabocha squash but I cannot seem to find anywhere. I went to the farmers market in Nashville a couple of weeks ago and when I asked about it, the people just looked at me like I was crazy and tried to give me a buttercup! Where is this Asian market where you get it?
Hey Heather, hope you find some kabocha soon as I think you would love it. I get mine from the K&S Market on Charlotte – right off of White Bridge Road. They throw them in the same bin with the the buttercups and so make sure you know the difference: http://heathereatsalmondbutter.com/2010/01/19/kabocha-vs-buttercup/. Kabochas are much better!
Have never heard of Cottage Pie before… now that I’ve what goes into it, I have to try it. It’s actually the perfect way to get through a lot of my surplus veggies this week. THANKS!
Cottage pie is really what we American’s typically call Shepard’s pie. If you want to be correct with the names, then when the dish is made with BEEF you call it cottage pie, and when it is made with LAMB you name it shepards pie, since shepards would have lamb. Cottage pie comes from England.
Meagan,
So interesting – I never knew the difference. Thanks for the info!
I’ve DEFINITELY made this before – cottage pie with sweet potatoes and it is DEFINiTELY one of my favorite things. Its also easy? LOL. After reading the title of this post I just HAD to read it word for word to see what the heck you meant! You made me laugh HEAB. I’m glad you had a super Thanksgiving.
This was good. I did ground turkey and added some baby portabello mushrooms. Nice nice nice.
I love your recipes! They are always so delicious looking, straightforward, and healthy.
Glad you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!
I made this yesterday, but added leftover bean chili instead of tomatoes. Awesome!
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