Macaw Mash
Take four of five medium to large sweet potatoes, peel them, and cut
into quarter inch slices. Put the slices into a large pan with a
TIGHT fitting lid with one to one and a half cups of water. {The
taters are going to be steamed and not boiled. This prevents the
water soluble beta carotene from being wasted. The beta carotene is
essential to our FIDs and this is the primary reason for feeding
this concoction.} Add to this cinnamon to taste (one or two
teaspoons), pure vanilla extract to taste (again, one or two
teaspoons) and if you desire a can of pumpkin. (Make the pumpkin is
low in sodium.) Bring to a slow boil and place the lid on the pan.
Continue to steam for about 45 minutes. Don’t get hung up on the
time element. Simply continue to steam until the top slices are
fork tender.
Remove the taters
from the burner and allow them to cool to room temperature (more or
less). This will prevent the eggs from cooking prematurely when you
add them. When cooled, put into a food processor (taters and
steaming fluid) and process until a smooth consistency is reached.
(I’m too lazy to use a processor because I have to clean it, so I
use an old fashioned potato masher.) Add two eggs, a cup of chopped
pecans, a cup of chopped walnuts, a small can of crushed pineapple
(juice and all), a cup of soaked raisins (note: raisins are coated
with a sulfur compound as an anti fungicide when they are produced.
It is easily removed by putting the raisins in a pan of boiling
water for about an hour. You need not continue to boil the water,
just add the raisins and remove from the burner), and mix well.
I’ve started
adding a small bag of frozen chopped mixed veggies with good
success. Turn the mixture into a large baking pan that’s been
coated with Pam, or vegetable oil, or peanut oil, or butter, etc. I
use Pam as it adds less fat/oil to the stuff. At this point you
can put pumpkin seeds on top of the mixture, a very good practice.
Bake for 45
minutes in a 350 F oven. This makes a lot but it freezes well.
Simply put one or two days supply in a baggie and freeze it.
Patricia Bigbie
(Press here for a printable version)
