Carl's Southern Sweet Potato Pie

Happy Holiday Season, Y'all!

For many Americans -- especially those folks who live above the Mason-Dixon Line -- no holiday meal is complete without Cranberry Sauce and Pumpkin Pie. I confess a bit of bias as I have never been particular fond of either of those particular desserts. No offense to anyone who actually enjoys them.

Down here in Dixie, we have our own Thanksgiving and Christmas time specialty: Southern Sweet Potato Pie.

Sweet Potato Pie has been a staple of the Southland since colonial times. Even though creamy vegetable pie recipes date back to Medieval Europe particularly Ireland, Sweet Potato Pie became an African cuisine tradition brought to the United States by African slaves who made it using sweet potatoes as an alternative to their traditional yams which were a plant native to Africa.

Sweet Potatoes are often called "yams" though the two are distinctly different botanically. Sweet Potatoes were first cultivated in the Yucatan region of Central American and Venezuela in South America by Native American tribes as early as 5,000 years ago. Probably the first Europeans to taste sweet potatoes were members of Christopher Columbus's expedition in 1492.

Folks here in the South adopted Sweet Potato Pie as an alternative to the Pumpkin Pie often found in other parts of the country. In fact there was a bit of a friendly regional rivalry of sorts in the early 19th century where Southern folks rejected the "Yankee dessert" in favor of Sweet Potato Pie.

These days Pumpkin Pie can be found all across the United States, including the South where we do have our own unique versions of the classic recipe.

Every fall and early winter, I break out a recipe for this particular Southern tradition that my grandmother Carolyn (God rest her soul!) taught me to make -- though I added a couple of small touches to my version of that recipe.

Ingredients

2 pounds Southern Sweet Potatoes (sliced 1/4 inch thick)
1/2 cup (4 oz.) butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz.) coconut
3/4 cup (6 oz.) evaporated milk
2 white eggs
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 pinch of salt
2 unbaked 9 inch pie shells

Preparation and Cooking Directions

Place your cut Sweet Potatoes into a pot of water and boil them for 15 to 20 minutes until they are softened. Drain the sweet potatoes and then mash them all.

Next add all of the ingredients and carefully stir them together for a minute until they are thoroughly mixed together. Then carefully spoon the mixture into the two pie shells and smooth the surface evenly. Do not overfill the top of the pies as the mixture will expand as it cooks, then shrink.

Preheat your over to 350 F and place your pies on a cookie sheet, then place them carefully into the oven. Cooking time approximately 50 to 55 minutes until the crust and pie surface is brown. Remove and let them sit for an hour to cool off, then serve.

This recipe makes two pies and it goes good with just about every Thanksgiving and Christmas meal, or for that matter any other large gathering. I hope y'all try it out and enjoy it for yourselves. Let me know what y'all think.

Until next time have a Happy Holiday Season and Y'all come on back now, ya hear!

Night Sky Photography -- 11-17-2020 -- Venus & The Great Diamond With Constellations

Good morning fellow Stargazers!

Once again your favorite blogger got up early this morning -- about an hour before sunrise -- to capture Venus and the early morning stars in the eastern sky. Among the stars included the major stars and the constellations that make up the Great Diamond asterism. 

In the first photo, you can see the four major stars that make up the Great Diamond: Denebola, Cor Caroli, Arcturus, and Spica -- which can be seen just through the tree next to bright Venus.

In the second photo I highlighted the major constellations located in the Great Diamond: Leo The Lion, Bootes The Herdsman, and Virgo The Maiden. I was able to just barely capture all the major stars of these constellations in the pre-dawn sky. 

 

The three southernmost stars (Denebola, Arcturus, and Spica) are also a part of their own asterism, the Spring Triangle. Interesting fact about Spring Triangle is that there are in fact two of them. Denebola makes up the more nearly equilateral version of the triangle while the star Regulus -- also located in the Constellation Leo The Lion -- makes a larger and more pie-piece-shaped triangle.

In my final photo I highlighted both versions of the Spring Triangle asterism, as well as the Arc To Arcturus which can be found by following the handle of the Big Dipper in the Constellation Ursa Major. Sky watchers use the phrase: follow the arc to Arcturus, and drive a spike (or speed on) to Spica, in order to locate the two stars in the sky dome. 

 

Astronomy is awesome!

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my early morning photography as much as I enjoy bringing it to y'all. Have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the skies!

Night Sky Photography -- 11-16-2020 -- Venus & Mercury With Arcturus & Spica

Good evening fellow Stargazers!

This morning, your favorite blogger woke up about 45 minutes before sunrise just in time to capture this outstanding photo of the bright planet, Venus, with little Mercury barely visible below it in the east. The two inferior planets were joined in the sky dome by the bright stars Arcturus and Spica.

Although the star Spica is brightest star in the Constellation Virgo the Maiden, serves as a prime example of a 1st magnitude star, it was hard to see this star in the pre-dawn sky. I was barely able to spot it as I took the photo.

Mercury I didn't even see very well until I downloaded the photo and saw it positioned just next to the tree as a very faint spot of light.

Arcturus is an orange-colored star in the far left and the brightest star in the Constellation Bootes the Herdsman. It is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. At just under 37 light-years away, Arcturus is actually about 25 times larger than the diameter of our sun. The reddish-orange color of Arcturus signifies its temperature, which is roughly about 7,300 degrees Fahrenheit -- about several thousand degrees cooler than the surface of the sun.  

Both Spica and Arcturus make up part of the three-star Spring Triangle asterism, which also includes the bright star Regulus in the Constellation Leo The Lion. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture Regulus in the shot through the tree branches, although if y'all get up early enough in the morning, spotting Regulus farther overhead between the two stars won't be hard.

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my post. Have a wonderful Dixie day, and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies.