Mama Judy’s Sweet Potatoes for the Happiest Thanksgiving

6 servings (unless it’s cold and snowy outside, in which case, 2 servings)

• 6 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 lbs) cooked and peeled
  To cook the potatoes: wash but don’t peel. Boil in water to cover until soft-ish. When they cool a little, the skin comes right off. You can use those big cans of cooked yams, but don’t tell anybody
• 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup brown sugar firmly packed. Taste the potatoes — if you like them sweeter, add more
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons dark rum

In a bowl, mix the potatoes, butter, brown sugar, and salt. You can mash up the sweet potatoes or just slice them. (I like mashing better) And then add the rum.

Adding the rum is the most important step. Here’s how you do it:
Hold a tablespoon over the bowl with the ingredients. Pour the rum into the tablespoon and count v-e-r-y slowly, o-n-e, keep pouring t-w-o, keep pouring t-h-r-e-e. That should be a good, healthy three tablespoons. Taste the potatoes — you may want more rum (which is the right attitude).

The rum will definitely make unpleasant relatives more mellow, or at least you will be mellow enough not to pay any attention to them. Toss everything into a baking dish and bake uncovered for thirty minutes. Time will pass more quickly if you keep the rum bottle handy.

Enjoy your holiday! Stay safe!

Mama Judy