You know, things have a funny way of working out. Well, let me say that another way. It sure is funny when you think you’ve set one path and God has set you another. Yep, that’s more like it. And the truth is, I bet the big man upstairs is chuckling a little right now. You see, about 18 months ago, we set out to sell our house and find a new one with a bit more room. After listing our home, we started searching for another one. After looking at an endless number of homes, we decided that building might be the best option for us so that we could get exactly what we wanted. (I’ll admit I was being a bit particular about the kitchen – but for good reason, I suppose.) We found a gorgeous corner lot in the neighborhood we had always dreamed of raising our little boy in, but when we called the realtor, there was a contract on the property. We took that as a little nudge from God saying that maybe buying was the best option. So again, we set out to buy an existing home. Another comprehensive search over the course of several months ended up fruitless. Okay, so maybe we were supposed to build. So we go back to our favorite neighborhood and buy the very last lot in the neighborhood – which just so happened to be next to the original corner lot that we liked so much. Fast forward a few months. We have a lot, a builder, a beautiful set of customized plans. We’re ready to build our dream home. That is until we hit a brick wall – and unfortunately it wasn’t a brick wall of our new dream home. If you’re not familiar with the building process, here’s a run down of what happened. Before the lender will give you the loan, they order an appraisal of the property based on the plans. Many lenders will only loan you a certain percentage of that assessed value to build. Well, because of the slow construction market in our area our plans appraised well below what we felt it should have and well below the actual cost to build. See the brick wall I’m talking about here? I’m not sure about you all, but there’s not an extra hundred thousand dollars hanging around the bank accounts in this family. So, again, frustrated and exhausted, we go back to the drawing board. During a conversation with Heather late one night, we decided turn it over to God and let him handle it. Anytime I’ve faced decisions that I just couldn’t make, I’ve gone back to the words of my mother… “When you can’t decide what to do, don’t do anything at all.” So that’s exactly what we did about a month ago. In my prayers that night, I just asked God to take over… and he did. This past weekend we moved into a beautiful home. It’s brand new and as close to perfection as anything I’ve seen. You know what the best part is? It’s on that corner lot that we set out to buy over a year ago. Unbelievable, right?? Yep, the guy that bought the lot originally built a house that he was never able to move into because of his job. So we were able to get a great house, at an amazing price, in the perfect neighborhood. Yep, it sure is funny how things turn out when you turn them over to God. You should try it sometimes. 🙂
It is Thanksgiving tradition in our family to always have a Sweet Potato Casserole (my family recipe is in the book), but there’s a little bit of work that goes into peeling, cooking, mashing, more cooking, and topping that casserole. This is an abbreviated version that eliminates some of the work, but still has lots of great flavor. Y’all enjoy!
- 3 pounds medium sweet potatoes
- ½ cup butter (1 stick)
- ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup coarsely chopped pecans
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Wash and peel the sweet potatoes. Slice them into ¼ inch slices and place them in the baking dish.
- In a medium-sized pot, combine the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Heat over medium until just boiling. Remove from the heat and pour over the sweet potatoes. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and cook for 45 minutes.
- To make the topping, stir together the melted butter, brown sugar, flour, and pecans.
- Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and remove the foil. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the potatoes and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
MY OTHER RECIPES
Big Mama’s Sweet Potato Pudding
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Praline Topping
Sweet Potato Casserole – Reader Submitted
Feeding people makes me happy. It’s just about as plain and simple as that. There are few things in this world that I delight more in than my family and friends gathered around my table enjoying a meal. Pull up a chair and join us! 
Amen!
🙂
Very inspiring and very true. I think that’s one of the hardest things to do–just turn it over to God and let him figure it all out. Congratulations on your new home!
As a self-professed control freak, I’ll agree! It’s hard to completely let go. But it was the best thing that I could have done. 🙂 Thanks!
You’re right about a lot of work peeling,cooking.mashing and more cooking.
Just got a basket of sweet potatoes from the market. Will be giving this a try tomorrow. Thanks so much. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
I hope you will enjoy this dish! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family as well!
Wow – your tale of the home buying / building merry-go-round really hit the mark for me. Thank you for sharing!
I feel inspired to give waiting and prayer more time with a much lighter heart. I will also try to remember that our home was not even on the market when the potential purchase offer was made – so we can just remain in place. I believe that I have just wanted our own new home adventure to go at my self-imposed pace.
Blessing to you and your family this Thanksgiving.
It is such a difficult thing to do – letting go of control. It worked out to our benefit and I’m sure that it will to yours as well. God knows what is best for you and he will see you to it. Happy Thanksgiving to you also!
AMEN!! I love this post. Now I want to see pictures of the new house and get a little home tour. So happy for you all. Love the recipe too. Sweet potatoes are my weakness. I have one baking in the oven as I type. Going to put a little butter and cinnamon sugar on it. Yum!!
Blessings for this holiday season,
Susan Hatcher
Thanks, Susan! I’ll be sure to give y’all a tour once things are settled. 🙂
Delicious sweet potatoes, and more delicious yummy praline topping. I can hardly wait!
Stacy, your story gives the phrase “Let Go and Let God” a new depth! Congratulations on doing just that. Enjoy your new home and have a most blessed Thanksgiving.
Patti Moss
Yes it does! Thanks, Patti! Happy Thanksgiving!
Great post! Blessings to you and your family in your new home. It is so exciting to see how God works when we step back and get out of the way!!
Amazing things happen when you let Him lead! Thanks, Tina!
Congratulations on the new house. Enjoy it and let it be your home and not just a house. May it always be a refuge from harm and outside influences and may you and yours have many happy and healthy years there.
back to the recipe—just curious to know if pecans are as high priced at your place as they are here in Ohio. They are my favorite nut for baking and candies but they are about priced out of my budget these days.
Thanks, Nana! We intend to! They are increasing in price here, but can’t remember what I paid most recently for them. Isn’t everything getting so expensive!?!?
I can’t wait to make this, sounds so yummy! Congratulations on your new home, God is so awesome!
Thanks, Candace! I hope you’ll enjoy this! Yes He is!
I have a recipe almost like this except the name of mine is Praline Yams. Stacey, I love hearing about your life and about your recipes. Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much, Virginia!
So true about turning it over to God. I enjoyed reading your story and am so happy you ended up in the place you wanted in the first place. God is good.
Thank you for the wonderful recipes. Everything looks so good.
I am new on here but I have looked at many of the recipes and it makes me very hungry.
Keep them coming.
Welcome, Rosaline! Thanks so much! Yes, God is SO good!
Enjoy Thanksgiving in your new home, Stacey!
Thanks, friend!
Love, love, love sweet potatoes!!! Congratulations on y’alls new home!!! So happy for your family. God is good!!! I saw a sign in front of a church while traveling down one of our country roads. Just loved it!!! It read….”A Home Is A House With A Heart In It”
Isn’t that the truth!! Thanks so much!
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving. It was delicious! I used canned sweet potatoes because there was no way I was going back out to the store. I expected that it wouldn’t be great because of the canned potatoes, and I generally just don’t care for candied sweet potatoes. But this was awesome! I just cut the initial cooking time to avoid the canned potatoes turning into mush. It was a total success! Thank you for this delicious recipe!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad they turned out great and that everyone enjoyed them! Way to improvise!
You were meant to have that lot! I have never figured out why you add sugar to already sweet potatoes, but will say they are yummy. I learned to bake all my sweet potatoes, something my grammy whose father grew them told my mother about a fungus that wasnt killed when the potatoes were boiled, so I never have trouble mashing mine, I am going to adjust this recipe with one I have for mashed with maple syrup and add the pecans and see how it comes out.
Confusing! Directions say to .pour the topping over the sweet potatoes and bake. Then it says to remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and remove the foil, THEN sprinkle the topping mixture over the potatoes and cook for an additional 15min. When do you add the nuts – just for the 15 minutes or during the 45 minutes.. When you bake for 45 minutes, you don’t mention the nuts ON LINE 3 BUT NEXT TIME YOU MENTION TOPPING YOU DO SAY NUTS,ALSO. Do I add them just during the 15 minutes? It SAYS topping but does not mention nuts when you bake. It seems to say two things.
I want to make these for Thanksgiving so please respond LOOKS DELICIOUS
Sorry for the confusion. You might want to scroll back up and just scan through the recipe again. There’s no mention of the topping until after you bake them for 45 minutes with the mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt (this is not the topping). Then you mix the topping (butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans) and sprinkle it over. Hope that helps! Happy Thanksgiving!