Well, this proved to be a meal full of surprises!
When our CSA, Great Country Farms, delivered these yam-like potatoes last week, I instantly thought they were sweet potatoes and planned for them as such. Imagine my surprise when today, after snapping one open while washing it, I found the center to be perfectly white – like the rest of our 40 pounds of baking potatoes – and its smell to be perfectly earthy and, well, not sweet! Oh, well, I decided, they’ll bake just the same, and I wrapped four of them up and put them in the oven.
While they baked, I prepared the acorn squash, slicing it lengthwise and scooping out the seeds and stringy bits from the middle. I’d never cooked acorn squash before – well, at least not well — and figured now was as good a time as any to give it another go. So I put a pat of butter into each hollowed-out side, topped them with a pinch (or three) of brown sugar, and finished off the glaze with some maple syrup. Then into the oven they went in a pan with one inch of water in the bottom, nestled right along the sweet potatoes on the rack.
The sloppy Joe preparation went as it always does – quickly and easily when the time comes. But then came the surprises!
“I think these are sweet potatoes,” LeeLee said as he unwrapped his spud, poking it gingerly with a fork.
“They can’t be,” I rebutted. “They’re white and starchy like the rest of our potatoes.”
About that time, the distinct scent of sweet potatoes filled the air. “Yes,” LeeLee said again. “These are definitely sweet potatoes.”
So I put away the garlic powder and parsley and brought out the cinnamon.
The second half of tonight’s surprise is that the acorn squash turned out great (if I do say so myself)! We’ll be making this as a side dish for as long as the markets have squash available this fall and winter … which I hope will be many months!
By the end of the meal, the sloppy Joes were decimated, the sweet potatoes devoured (skins and all), and the acorn squash was scraped clean right down to its hard green hulls. I’d say this was a meal full of pleasant surprises, indeed!
The stats:
Buns: $1.00/eight ($0.13/person)
Ground “beef”: $3.49 ($1.75/person)
Pizza sauce: $1.59 ($0.80/person)
Mushrooms: $2.39 ($1.20/person)
Acorn squash: Prepaid.
Sweet potatoes: Prepaid.
GRAND TOTAL: $8.47 … or $3.88 per person.
BUT WAIT! We had sloppy Joes and two baked sweet potatoes left over. So the per-person price goes down even more!
:)
I wonder what kind of sweet potatoes those are, Hope? I’ve never heard of white sweet potatoes, but they sure do look like sweet potatoes in the picture. Interesting! And acorn squash is awesome, in fact, squash is awesome, I fix butternut squash the same way. Melty and yummy!
I have no idea, Marianne! I think I’ll ask our co-op and see what they can tell me. That was what was so confusing — I was sure they were sweet potatoes until I opened one and saw it was plain-white! But the taste was certainly sweet and buttery. :) I’ll take it!
I hadn’t thought of fixing butternut squash in the same way as acorn! As it happens, I do have a butternut squash in the kitchen at this very moment … I’ll give it a try in the next few days!