Ok, so we're hooked on sweet potatoes. We LOVE them baked in the oven, but neither my husband nor I like them "sweet" at all. Every single "mashed sweet potato" recipe I find online calls for maple syrup and junk.

So I want to just make them the way we normally make mashed potatoes. But do I BOIL the sweet potatoes, or will they turn out better from the microwave, or steamed, or what?

I'm also having calorie counting issues. How on earth do I figure out how many cups (or half cups, whatever) is in a recipe without actually measuring it out by hand? Is there any way to know??

Boil the sweet potatoes.

Do you have a scale? You could weigh them to figure out the calories. Although calorieking.com says 1 cup of sweet potato cooked is 180 calories.

Although I've mashed sweet potatoes, I like them best either roasted or in chilis/indian type dishes. Last night I made chili with diced sweet potato and it was really good.

DH's ex wife makes mashed sweet potatoes - she has baked, microwaved, steamed, everything. This year she boiled them and said that the prep was the easiest ever. I would just weigh the raw sweet potatoes and tally the calories from the 'raw sweet potato' info. Then, just decide what number of servings you want, measure them out and go from there?

I've never steamed them, but I've boiled, baked, and microwaved, and boiling makes them easiest to mash. If you microwave them, the insides turn out basically the same as baking them in the oven (the skin is a little different IMO).

I usually try to avoid this problem altogether, by adding up the total calories in a whole recipe, then measuring (or estimating) what fraction of the total dish I'm eating. For example, if I made mashed potatoes, I wouldn't figure out the calories per cup and measure out exactly 1/2 cup for myself... I'd add up the total number of calories in all the ingredients I put in (weighing or measuring each one), then I'd take 1/8 of the finished product, or 1/4, or whatever I decide on, and calculate the calories that way.

I realize that doesn't actually answer your question at all but maybe it will help you, or someone else.

Alton Brown recommends steaming them.

If you like spicy I bet you could adapt this recipe.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

I stab the sweet potatoes with a fork a few times then set them on a baking tray in a 350* oven for about an hour or so - until they're tender.

You can cool and peel them or cut them in half and scoop out the meat. I guess you can mash them with the skin on too. I haven't tried that though I probably should.

But steaming is great too. Like Dixie said, that's what Alton recommends. You can dice them before steaming and this will make them cook faster. Boiling just kills all that yummy flavor.

I find the microwaves shortens the roasting time if I'm in a hurry, but if I do it all microwave, they get hard/rubbery.

I'm another sweet potato lover that doesn't like the "sweet" recipes! I usually roast mine with salt, pepper, garlic, basil and lots of red pepper!

As far as mashing I do that sometimes and usually boil them. Then I like to add some seasoning from the Hidden Valley Ranch dry packet, some extra red pepper for kick and a little fat free sour cream or fat free plain yogurt (I often use plain yogurt and sour cream interchangeably). It's very tasty!