SMOKED Sweet Potato Bacon Wrapped boats with "REGULAR" Mashed potato Stuffing

OK, continuing with my presentation of the recipes that I used the night I did all that work cause... My Wife's Boss is Coming to Dinner - Sucking Up for a Raise Menu - Thanksgiving Preview. Next up, Taters... But not just any ordinary potatoes when i am trying to get Jackie a raise...

How about an adaptation of something I did awhile back... Bacon Wrapped Grilled Potato Boats with Goat Cheese and Asparagus. Now, if you click that link, you will see an interesting concept for a VERY versatile recipe. Once you have the idea of making the bacon wrapped boats, you can fill them with any number of ingredients, different cheeses, different vegetables, meats or spices could easily end up in these beauties. Well, I was pretty full of myself over these, but then, last month when I was in New Orleans, one of my favorite guest bloggers showed me a new twist...

Hopefully you remember when CRAZY ASIAN GAL Cooks My Spiral Cut Bacon Latticed Stuffed Pork Loin with Raspberry Chipotle Sausage Stuffing. If you click that link, and read clear to the bottom of the post, you see that my buddy Palidor showed me a new twist on my original idea by using Sweet Potatoes instead of boring old white potatoes! What a crazy gal! She filled hers with a ricotta cheese mixture (see, told you this was a versatile idea), but I was really inspired with the idea of sweet potato boats.

SO, armed with this information, here's what I did...

A little time consuming, but the last one took a fraction of the time of the first one. It is a skill you will get better at. I used the tip edge of an old potato pealer to hollow out a 1 inch thick slice of sweet potato. Leaving about 1/6th an inch thickness around the edge and the bottom, forming the "boat"

Then i used my handy dandy reuseable, dishwasher safe cooking bands to hold a slice of bacon around the boat. I had one guest coming that could not eat any pork. I GENEROUSLY coated that piece in canola oil. BTW, if you are not lucky enough to have the handy dandy cooking bands, you can secure with a toothpick.

Gotta look close, cause I forgot to take a photo, but under my hand, you can see that I put these in the smoker with the turkey. I left them in the smoker for about two hours. It is easily duplicated in an oven if you aren't firing up your smoker.

And I really failed in the photo department, but you can see from the final product what I did...

I made some standard white mashed potatoes, put a clump of taters into each boat. I topped with a little grated Provolone cheese. I did remove the bands before serving.

And the verdict... EVERYONE LOVED EM! A combination taste that is better than the parts. A winner of a side dish!

And because I was inspired by CRAZY ASIAN GALS Guest posting about her interpretation of my recipe, I am able to claim for myself and pass on to Palidor my original "I CAN COOK THAT AWARD"... So, Pal if you chose to accept it (In all my humility, I of course accept the award for myself)... (THA TA TATA), I present my newly created award to you ...

To these two wonderful bloggers, and remind them of the simple rules...
1) Take inspiration from or outright steal a recipe from a fellow blogger
2) Actually make the item, or make a close copy of the item
3) Blog about your efforts, giving proper credit and links to the inspiree
4)If you receive the award, be honored, as there is no greater feeling than having your efforts not just recognized, but duplicated! That is the only real rule, is to feel honored. BUT, feel free to post this in your side bar and to pass it on to one of your favorite bloggers which you have made one of their recipes.

And another BTW, I am leaving you for a bit... Not as a blogger, I have fresh posts in the can as they say, and will be posting original content each of the next few days til I get back. But I am having a bit of a family thing going on, and need to spend a week with my sainted Mother (will try to give her a cooking lesson or two, but you know Mothers). So, I will not be able to visit your sites, nor comment on the wonderful things you will be doing. I will miss you all, and will be back in a week (but remember to check back here daily for that fresh content I mentioned).

And consider serving a Sweet potato boat for your Thanksgiving dinner... You will not be sorry!

And now a couple bits of advertising/reminders. I have had terrific response to The O Olive Oil contest announcement. (for me) a record number of people commented, and my second most popular post ever (that "post that must never be mentioned again" was my most popular... But you can go to by clicking HERE)). The Good folks at O Olive Oil are allowing me to give away 3 SETS (not three bottles, but three sets of bottles) of their gourmet top quality oils and vinegars. Each set is worth over $30, and $100 plus worth of oil will be given to the winners. Stop over at this post (CLICK HERE to get there), if you haven't yet, leave a comment, if you haven't yet, leave a recipe link. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO POST AN ORIGINAL RECIPE ON THE COMMENT PAGE, POST a LINK to your site, with the page you think the judges would like. right now, I only have a handful of recipes, best odds to win go for recipe posters and that is the BEST prize (one of their seasonal collections, YOUR choice). TOP TOP TOP quality, and a terrific opportunity to try their products FREE!

I mentioned several gadgets during this post, as well as books... Pus, I am including links for Julie & Julia pre-release (and even a link for a free JULIE & JULIA shopping bag with your pre-order). Take a look at the discounts Amazon.com offers (have I mentioned I am cheap, save a little here and there and you can live and eat like a king!