Sweet Potato Cranberry Bake

Stolen from: AllRecipes It is a Taste of Home recipe and I almost always adore those. I have their cookbook and sporadically subscribe to their magazine for yummy recipe ideas.

I'll tell you right off the bat that I don't like to eat cranberries but, funnily enough, I really like the flavor.
I tried this out for Thanksgiving tonight and really really liked the taste of the sweet potatoes flavored with the cranberries but when I tried an obligatory bite with a whole cranberry it was not so great. Others concurred. Cranberry flavor = yum. Actual cranberries = so so.

Original Recipe Yield 6 servings

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 1/2 cups granola cereal (I didn't have so I used a little oatmeal/brown sugar concoction I threw together. I wouldn't recommend skipping all together though.)

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, cover sweet potatoes with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool. Peel potatoes; cut into 1-in. pieces. Combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice and salt; place half in a greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Top with half of the sweet potatoes. Repeat layers. Dot with butter. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until cranberries are tender. Uncover and sprinkle with granola; return to the oven for 10 minutes. 
2. ALTERATION NOTES: I peeled and chopped the potatoes before cooking them and that worked fine. Also one of the reviews I read said that she peeled and chopped potatoes and then baked them without precooking - just increased cooking time. She said that worked well.