Baked Sweet Potatoes

It wasn't until I moved to the south that I learned to appreciate a sweet potato. As a very young child in Connecticut, a neighbor who had invited our family over for dinner served sliced and boiled sweet potatoes. I thought I was going to take a bite of a really big carrot. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I steered clear of sweet potatoes for at least 30 years. My friend Claudia, who is the Microwave Queen, baked them in the microwave for us when we had lunch at her house. I've been hooked since!

Grilled bone-in pork chops, baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli makes one awesome meal! I prefer only butter on mine. You can keep the cinnamon and brown sugar. They are perfect as is.

Preheat the oven 425 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes. Remove any protruding strings or roots. Tear off sheets of aluminum foil to wrap them in. Rub the outside with vegetable oil and wrap. Why the oil? Andy swears it makes it easier to pull the peel off. I forgot once and he called me out when it was a little more than annoying to remove the peel.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Place the wrapped sweet potatoes on a baking sheet! I don't care how carefully you wrap them...there's always one or two in the bunch that will ooze a sticky concoction out that is a nightmare to remove from your oven!

Baking time will vary based on your oven and the size of the sweet potato. After one hour, I'd carefully stick one with a very sharp knife.