Cooking with Emily: Chive & Onion Sweet Potato Mash

When we were kids sweet potatoes were a special occasion food.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe they weren't readily available, but I know they were, and still are, always a side dish at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinner, as requisite as the turkey, stuffing and gravy.  And for these meals, despite their wonderful versatility, my sister insists we serve them mashed with mini marshmallows toasted on top.  I guess tradition still has its sway.  But sweet potatoes have become a favourite in our house all year round.  It took a little while for Emily to decide she did like them (she doesn't like marshmallows, so that could be the roadblock) but now they appear in all kinds of dishes.  I bake them, and make oven fries, roast them with other vegetables and add them to stews.
So I was hardly surprised when, as another long weekend was drawing to a close, she chose this recipe for her weekly culinary adventure.
I commented as I reviewed it that it was a side dish, wondering if she had considered we might need more than a bowl of creamy sweet potatoes for supper.  Her response? "I'll just cook some meat then."  Menu planning at its finest.
I found a couple of pork chops in the deep freeze and went on with the day.
As the supper hour approached I sent Emily to the kitchen to start peeling the potatoes, reminding her we were halving the recipe, since it made enough for 6.  While she peeled I softened a little cream cheese and stirred in a bunch of fresh chives from the garden along with a pinch of onion powder and some dehydrated onion, rather than making a trip to the store for the recommended flavoured cream cheese spread.
Emily was struggling with cutting the dense sweet potatoes into chunks to boil, so I lent a hand, concerned about both my counter top and her fingers.  She set them on the burner and went back to the game she was playing on her tablet.  We still need to work on focus, apparently.  We had a discussion about bacon bits; I suggested we omit them, since I hadn't thawed any bacon.  She told me we didn't need bacon, the recipe called for the "shaker stuff".  I don't buy bacon bits, and I told her so.
Then I rethought our options and found a package of bacon.  I thawed it in the microwave enough to free several slices which I chopped and put in a frying pan to crisp.  This gave Emily something to stir too.  Once the potatoes were almost tender I lit the barbeque and seasoned the pork chops.  Emily decided to go with frozen mixed vegetables to complete her meal, and poured them into a steamer while I took the chops out to the grill.
I came in to see if she needed help draining the now tender potatoes but she had it in hand, although she had used a colander, while I would have used the pot lid and had one less dish to wash.  Oh well. She mashed them easily and stirred in the cream cheese mixture and we covered them to keep them warm and went to check the barbeque.  I let her turn the chops and went back inside to turn the microwave on.  When I returned a few minutes later to check on the final stages of dinner I found my little chef in training not hovering over the grill but practising karate kicks in the garage, as she told me she wished she could break a board with her hand, because that would be cool.  (No, martial arts have never before been discussed or practised)
Dinner was very good, and I suggested she might start being in charge of the sweet potatoes for family dinners, since her cousin Hannah always makes a family favourite set salad.  She knows Aunt Nancy likes the marshmallow kind, so she suggested Aunt Nancy could pick off the bacon and put marshmallows on hers.  Always thinking that kid.

Chive & Onion Sweet Potato Mash

2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 4) peeled & cut into 1 1/12" chunks
1/2 cup chive & onion cream cheese spread (Or stir fresh chives & dehydrated onion flakes into softened cream cheese)
1 tablespoon bacon bits

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender, 15-20 minutes.  Drain potatoes and mash until smooth.  Add cream cheese and stir until melted.  Sprinkle with bacon bits.