So easy I can even do it with a brain full of mush -or- Baked Yams
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Man, things have been out of control busy and it will not stop until Nov. 3.
I have had a lot on my plate lately (figuratively speaking of course...because there have been no recipe posts of late). Field work down in Cali. Preparing for my first conference presentation. And the biggest time suck of all has been teaching this quarter.
I feel like I am just treading water right now. We all have days, weeks, months like this. Some months I am light on work others I am working non-stop. In the end it all balances out. It is just the nature of certain lines of work.
When I am super busy I need to be fed well. But, unfortunately there is little time to cook and even less time to plan out "quick" meals. And even more annoyingly, when I do have a few minutes to spare between getting home and feeding myself my brain is mush and unable to process the decisions that need to be made to turn what I see in the refrigerator into dinner.
In these situations it is good to have a few tricks up your sleeve. Something you can make and have lots of leftovers. Something you can make even if your brain has turned to mush.
One such staple my whole life has been Baked Yams. Mamacita makes 'em darn good. People are always asking her how she get's them to be so moist, so luscious, so delicious. And really, there isn't much to it. It is just a matter of baking them in the right manner. She makes them all the time and that is fine as long as you are willing to the listen to the obligatory run of jokes all ending with "Because I yam what I yam!"
Many a times I am presented with dry, pasty baked yams. And there is really no excuse, because now you have seen this post. Now you know the secret. Delicious yams are just around the corner for you and for me.
Baked Yams
serves 1 to infinity
For this recipe it is easiest if you choose yams that are similar in length and girth. That way they all bake at the same rate and you can take them all out at the same time.
1 to as many as you can fit in your oven yams of similar thickness and size
1 piece of foil for each yam (about a square foot or so)
Heat your oven to 400 degrees F. Poke the yam with a fork 3-6 times all over. Wrap the yam in the foil so it is completely covered at least twice. Make sure that the seams where you fold the end of the fold over are on the same side as the edge of the foil.
Place the yams in the middle of the over directly on the rack, seam side up. If you are worried about their juices spilling over, place a cookie sheet below them. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour. They will be a little squishy to the touch when they are done.
Man, things have been out of control busy and it will not stop until Nov. 3.
I have had a lot on my plate lately (figuratively speaking of course...because there have been no recipe posts of late). Field work down in Cali. Preparing for my first conference presentation. And the biggest time suck of all has been teaching this quarter.
I feel like I am just treading water right now. We all have days, weeks, months like this. Some months I am light on work others I am working non-stop. In the end it all balances out. It is just the nature of certain lines of work.
When I am super busy I need to be fed well. But, unfortunately there is little time to cook and even less time to plan out "quick" meals. And even more annoyingly, when I do have a few minutes to spare between getting home and feeding myself my brain is mush and unable to process the decisions that need to be made to turn what I see in the refrigerator into dinner.
In these situations it is good to have a few tricks up your sleeve. Something you can make and have lots of leftovers. Something you can make even if your brain has turned to mush.
One such staple my whole life has been Baked Yams. Mamacita makes 'em darn good. People are always asking her how she get's them to be so moist, so luscious, so delicious. And really, there isn't much to it. It is just a matter of baking them in the right manner. She makes them all the time and that is fine as long as you are willing to the listen to the obligatory run of jokes all ending with "Because I yam what I yam!"
Many a times I am presented with dry, pasty baked yams. And there is really no excuse, because now you have seen this post. Now you know the secret. Delicious yams are just around the corner for you and for me.
Baked Yams
serves 1 to infinity
For this recipe it is easiest if you choose yams that are similar in length and girth. That way they all bake at the same rate and you can take them all out at the same time.
1 to as many as you can fit in your oven yams of similar thickness and size
1 piece of foil for each yam (about a square foot or so)
Heat your oven to 400 degrees F. Poke the yam with a fork 3-6 times all over. Wrap the yam in the foil so it is completely covered at least twice. Make sure that the seams where you fold the end of the fold over are on the same side as the edge of the foil.
Place the yams in the middle of the over directly on the rack, seam side up. If you are worried about their juices spilling over, place a cookie sheet below them. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour. They will be a little squishy to the touch when they are done.
Hmmmm I think that I may have mistakenly given Errin a small (very small) bit of misinformation about preparing the yams this way. I usually put them in a 325 to 350 degree oven. Does this mean that I have turned into one of "those" cooks that leaves out a secret ingredient when sharing recipes? NEVER!!! But, on the other hand; I yam what I yam. :)
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