Especially for your kids! Sweet Potato "Cakes"

You know Jessica Seinfield's book Deceptively Delicious? She  has some pretty impressive ideas for "tricking" kids into eating veggies. I definitely need to give her credit for her incredible creativity- brownies with spinach and carrots, for example. I am all for taking drastic measures to get kids to to healthy, but frankly I don't have time to be pureeing vegetables to sneak into my meals. I barely have time to make a meal at all. I also don't want my kids to get invited for dinner at a friend's house and have them start squirming when they see vegetables in their "real form" on the table. Instead I think I take the middle of the ground stance --both veiling and unveiling vegetables in my meals. These Sweet Potato "Cakes" are an example of just that. They are simple sweet potatoes, but since I put them in cute little dishes I could magically call them "cakes". No pureeing or hiding necessary. Voila!

Here's What You Need:
3-4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped roughly
1/2 tsp each nutmeg and cinnamon
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup ff half and half
Pecans, chopped
Brown sugar

Here's What You Do:
Put the potatoes, salt, spices and olive oil in the slow cooker on high for 4-5 hours. Preheat the oven to 450. Add the cream to the sweet potatoes and mash or blend with an immersion blender until creamy. Scoop into ramekins or small oven proof dishes. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp of brown sugar per "cake." Bake for about 7 or 8 minutes. Sprinke on nuts and bake for another two minutes.

Kid Tip:Since these are "especially for your kids" there are not a ton of tips, but I suggest calling them cakes right off the bat. They are not cakes, but every kid can get excited about "cake!" Also, if you have smaller kids you may want to eliminate the nuts and/or transfer the sweet potato mixture to a dish that isn't breakable.
Adult Tip:
If I was making these for myself or other adults I would definitely spice them up a bit! I would double all the spices including the sugar (less the salt). I would also add a shot of bourbon to the slow cooker in order to give the dish a more complex flavor. Finally, I would broil them the last couple of minutes to really set in the sugar.

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