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Local gardener: It’s all in the soul

By Lisa Scheller - | Oct 18, 2006

This year, for Bob and Janice Potter, three sweet potatoes make for an armload.

The couple, who live at the top of Hubbel Hill, overlooking Tonganoxie, like to garden.

And this year, they hit the jackpot.

They planted 13 sweet potato plants. So far they’ve dug four plants, and have been thrilled with their yields.

They’re discovering giant sweet potatoes, weighing from five to 10 pounds. Each of the lunkers makes several meals for the couple.

Bob Potter credits his luck to the soil where he lives, and to the horse manure he applies to it.

“The soil is so good up there, I ought to put it on my head to make my hair grow,” he quipped.

Here’s one of Janice’s favorite ways to prepare sweet potatoes:

Janice Potter’s Sweet Potato Souffle

The potatoes:

3 cups or more of sweet potatoes

1 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. butter or margarine

2 eggs

1/3 c. milk

1 t. vanilla

For the topping:

1 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. flour

1 c. chopped pecans or English walnuts

1/4 c. melted butter or margarine

Cover enough sweet potatoes (enough to make about 3 cups or more of mashed sweet potatoes) with water and boil with skins on them, until they are tender. Cool until you can handle them to pop the skins off, then mash them while still warm.

Mix potatoes with sugar, salt, butter or margarine, milk, vanilla, adding slightly beaten eggs last.

Spread into greased baking dish. (I usually use my 13×9 cake pan.)

Mix flour, brown sugar and nuts together, and sprinkle it over the potato mixture.

Drizzle melted butter or margarine over the dry mixture that you put over the potatoes.

Bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees.