Holiday Sweet Potato Soufflé
‘Tis the season! This month’s featured recipe comes from the holiday table of Connie Wheeler, who manages Melissa’s Global Synchronization system, our Data Bar portal for proper UPC scan data, as well as updating information in the company’s Instacart for all of Melissa’s items. She is a busy person! Connie’s Sweet Potato Soufflé is now a holiday tradition in her family after going through a few revisions.
“This dish is a throw-together recipe that I made up for the holidays, because I really like yams or sweet potatoes of any kind, but my family did not,” explained Connie. “Every holiday, I would make the usual brown sugar, marshmallow baked sweet potato casserole, but no one would ever eat it. I found myself happily finishing the whole dish. So, a few years ago, I decided to replace the marshmallows with Melissa’s Clean Snax as a topping and change the variety of sweet potato. The good news is that this new recipe had everyone wanting seconds. I guess the bad news is that I no longer have this dish all to myself!”
Connie’s main ingredient switch was to our purple-skinned Japanese Murasaki Sweet Potatoes. The Murasaki has a deep magenta skin and white interior that turns champagne gold as it cooks. The variety is both drier and creamier than orange sweet potatoes. The Murasaki also has an earthy, chestnut-like sweetness and dense, luscious texture compared to the orange variety, which can be mushy, airy, or even stringy. Nutritionally, the variety has twice the amount of vitamin A and eight times more Vitamin C than orange Garnet yams! BTW, the word “yam” is a marketing term exclusive to this country that is used to distinguish the orange tuber variety from the white interior root, which is marketed as a “sweet potato”. In truth, they are both sweet potatoes. Try using the word yam anywhere else in the world, particularly a true yam’s native Africa, and you will be presented with a huge (11 to 20 lb.) brown or purple roundish root!
Replacing the traditional marshmallow topping with Melissa’s much healthier Almond Clean Snax, which contain nutrient-packed chia and flaxseed laced with honey and a pinch of salt, was a very smart upgrade. These gluten-free nuggets of natural sweet and salty flavors are crumbled, combined with butter and just a little brown sugar, then baked into a tasty topping that really makes this dish. Marshmallows? This uniquely American tradition of slathering a perfectly good dish of baked sweet potatoes with a concoction made of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and air is no doubt a contributing factor to the United States being the world's 10th most obese country and the most obese country in North America.
Connie Wheeler has been a member of Melissa’s team for twenty-three years. She started with the company in sales, working mostly with smaller retail accounts, as well as the most difficult of all tasks, cold calling to bring in new customers. She recalls that back then, when a customer decided to try a new product, Melissa’s had to send setup information manually to get the product into the customer’s system. That process took time and labor.
“Now, most of the bigger chain stores are using what is called Global Synchronization to set up all new items in their system. Seven years ago, I was assigned the role of maintaining this system for the company. Global setup continues to be more important to our customers than ever before, playing an increasing role in how consumers shop. Some want images / some do not; some want nutrition factors / some do not. One of the attributes available is a marketing message, so I create what I think will catch the consumers’ eye when reading how to use an item. It’s professionally rewarding and makes me proud when I visit a customer’s website and see all the Melissa’s items that I had a hand in setting up. Plus, I do spend my mornings as one of the women on the Store Calling Team. I call more than 100 stores a week and work very closely with teams to raise sales yearly on a group of stores.”
On weekends, Connie’s online world of data management is replaced with a quiet lake, mountain trails, and sometimes a fishing pole. Eight years ago, she and her partner, Rene, purchased a second home in the Crestline, California, Mountains. They spend half the time there and the other half in Monterey Park, California, which is close to the office. Connie has four kids – two sons and two daughters, and two grandchildren who love to stay in the mountains with them.
“We enjoy taking long walks on the thirty-five hiking trails in the area; we have found some hidden, beautiful gems that we enjoy. There is a glider launch we love to go to, and we take friends and family when they visit. It sits up high, and the view from there is like no other. We also stumbled upon a small, lovely vineyard and winery that we’ve had the pleasure of trying out. During the wintertime, we do get our share of snow so it's homemade cozy comfort food cooking time. Through the years, we have found our favorite eating spots in the area, mostly country cooking, as there are no fast-food places up on the mountain. Being a short drive from the popular ski resort towns of Big Bear and quieter Lake Arrowhead, we have discovered a few favorite rustic taverns and small, quaint restaurants where we are greeted as locals.”
By the time Sunday rolls around, Connie says she is refreshed and ready for the work week. In fact, she admits to having it all – a job that is interesting and fulfilling as well as a special place in the woods that provides balance, peace, and perspective. And no more marshmallows!
Sweet Potato Soufflé
Serves 8
Ingredients
Casserole:
6 medium Japanese Murasaki Sweet Potatoes (option: any favorite variety of sweet potato or yam)
½ cup butter, softened
2 large eggs, beaten
½ cup white sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
½ cup heavy cream
Pinch of salt
Topping:
1 cup Melissa's Clean Snax® (Almond, or Cranberry), finely chopped
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup butter, softened
Pinch of salt
Preparation
Refrigerate the cooked yams overnight before peeling. Place peeled yams in a large mixing bowl and mash until very smooth. Fold in the butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cream, and salt until thoroughly combined.
For the topping: In a small bowl, combine the CLEAN SNAX®, brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and a pinch of salt.
Transfer mixture to a greased quart casserole dish, using a spatula, smooth into an even layer, then sprinkle with topping. Bake @ 350° for 40 minutes until the soufflé is lightly browned.
