By Susan Russo of Food Blogga

Don’t wait for Thanksgiving to enjoy sweet potatoes. These tasty tubers are already plentiful at farmers’ markets and grocery stores across the country.

Sweet potatoes are loved for their creamy, smooth flesh and sweet flavor. They’re also getting a lot of attention for their high nutritional value. Considered a “super food,” sweet potatoes are excellent sources of fiber and vitamins A and C. People watching their weight prefer them too since they’re digested more slowly than white potatoes and keep you satiated longer.

Although sweet potatoes are available year-round, they are best during the cooler seasons of autumn and winter. They’re highly versatile and can be steamed, boiled, baked, roasted, sautéed, and even grilled. They add sweetness to any breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert and are usually ranked high on people’s lists of favorite vegetables. So don’t wait any longer. It’s time to get cooking with sweet potatoes.

How could your day not be wonderful when you start it off with a stack of these luscious Sweet Potato Pie Pancakes from Closet Cooking or a big and tender Sweet Potato Waffle from Feeding Maybelle? If you’re on-the-run, then grab a Healthy Pineapple Sweet Potato Muffin from Jersey Girl that’s packed with heart-healthy flaxseed and palate-pleasing pineapple.

For a satisfying lunch or light dinner, treat yourself to a bowl of spicy, fragrant Curried Sweet Potato, Carrot, and Red Lentil Soup from Dinner With Julie. Or warm up with my hearty and nourishing African Sweet Potato and Peanut Butter Soup made with sweet pineapple, brown sugar, and creamy coconut milk. For latkes that are big on flavor but small on calories, try these Baked Sweet Potato Latkes with cinnamon-spiked light sour cream dipping sauce from Erin Cooks. You’ll be surprised at how well sweet potatoes and crab get along in these crunchy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside Sweet Potato Crab Cakes from One For The Table.

Tired of plain ‘ol mashed potatoes? Swap the butter for some heart-healthy olive oil and make my Mediterranean inspired Olive Oil, Caramelized Onion, and Sage Mashed Sweet Potato. With pomegranate season upon us, you’ll have to try my sweet and tangy Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pomegranate Glaze.

Sweet potatoes casseroles are a perennial favorite. No wonder. They taste just like dessert! For a traditional version laced with aromatic spices, try this Sweet Potato Casserole from Ramblings from a Gypsy Soul. Craving something more exotic? Then Greedy Gourmet’s Caribbean Chickpeas and Sweet Potato Casserole, flavored with lime and coriander, is for you. The folks at Cooking By The Seat Of My Pants know that everything tastes better with bacon, so every Thanksgiving they make their famous Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole with Bacon.

When it comes to desserts, sweet potatoes have an affinity for pecans and brown sugar. That’s why you should make Culinography’s Ode to Carolina Sweet Potato Praline Bread or Serious Eats’ Sweet Potato Cake with Pecan Streusel. Both are insanely sweet, sticky, nutty, and irresistible.

The Food Librarian smartly paired sweet potatoes with chocolate in her mile-high, chocolate frosted Halloween Sweet Potato Cake. It’s frightfully delicious! Don’t let being gluten-free stop you from enjoying sweet potato cake. Try this remarkably moist Sweet Potato and Apple Coffee from Gluten-Free Gobsmacked.

Perhaps the most beloved of all sweet potato desserts is Southern sweet potato pie, and Homesick Texan has corralled the best recipe out there: her Uncle Richard’s Sweet Potato Pie.

Whether it’s breakfast waffles or dinner time casserole, sweet potatoes have a way of always fitting in, deliciously.

You can find more delicious recipes from all over the internet using sweet potatoes on the FoodieView Recipe Search Engine.

Susan Russo lives in Southern California where she is addicted to local farmers’ markets. She publishes stories, recipes and photos on her cooking blog, Food Blogga, and is a regular contributor to NPR’s Kitchen Window.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Recipe Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.