Email me and I will send you a prize! ;)
If you've ever tasted "LIBERIAN SWEET POTATO PONE" I will send you an even bigger prize!
Here's my amazing husband making this "LIBERIAN SWEET POTATO PONE" on Sunday night:
Why? Because he loves me and is so very helpful..... and because sometimes I can be a real crazy person.
You see, I am teaching in a homeschool co-op class on Monday afternoons. This month our focus is on Geography. I am working with a team of moms to present the seven continents to elementary students. This week I was in charge of teaching the Geography of Africa and bringing an African food to share with the students. In my ridiculously perfectionist style, I spent the past week zealously searching for information, resources, ideas, and recipes. Of course I completely over-thought the whole thing and planned way too much for the short time period we had to teach.
On Sunday I was stressed out and trying to pull together all the details. I knew I wanted to make a sweet potato recipe, but it had to be something that could be cooked ahead of time. Jon searched online and found a recipe for "LIBERIAN SWEET POTATO PONE" and agreed to make it for me. This involved TWO HOURS of chopping, mixing, stirring, cooking.
The recipe sounded yummy. It included grated sweet potatoes, molasses, ginger, oil, baking powder, and salt. Simple enough.
It STUNK! As soon as Jon started to mix it up, it stunk up the entire house! We were so thankful that the boys were asleep. Adam's sensitive nose would not have been able to handle this.
In addition to the horrible smell, it looked really really gross. Jon and I determined that if we were African we would starve. We resolved that if we ever visit Africa we will take our own food.
I determined that I simply could not serve this concoction to children. So, I tossed and turned all night and in the morning I decided to slice up the remaining sweet potatoes and bake them with some butter and salt. Sweet potato chips. Yummy. Simple. Why didn't I think of this on Sunday?
With chips AND pone packed in the van I headed to the co-op class. It was a whirlwind two hours and we ended up running out of time and having to give the snack to the children very quickly as they left. They loved the sweet potato chips.
But there I was with two pans of LIBERIAN SWEET POTATO PONE. After telling this saga to a few of my friends, they wanted to see it. My friend Becky told me she didn't think it smelled too bad. She agreed to take it home and try it out on her husband and five children.
Here's the feedback she sent me via email today: "I thought maybe you were making the 'African stuff' sound worse than it really was but it was confirmed by all 5 children and myself that it was BAD! I drank a whole glass of water to get the taste out of my mouth than went and brushed my teeth. Veronica was so excited to try it and then spit it out instantly. After tasting it, Julia said I really want to LIKE it BUT... I think we now know why there are so many starving people in Africa."
Jon tasted it tonight. On a scale of 1 to 10, He gives it a 2.5. Ever the optimist, he says that if he makes it again (WHAT?!?) he will use one cup of molasses and one cup of sugar.
We still have nearly a full pan of it here, so come on over if you'd like to try it. If we don't get any takers we may have to bury it in the yard.
So, the lessons I've learned from this are:
1. My husband is absolutely awesome and so supportive of my crazy endeavors.
2. "LIBERIAN SWEET POTATO PONE" (aka LSPP) is really gross. I don't even think Liberians would like it.
3. I NEED TO FIND A WAY TO KEEP THINGS SIMPLE!
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