Help Our Teachers, Help Our Kids - with Sweet Potato Souffle!

Right now I bet you're wondering - what on Earth is she talking about with that title? Well, I'll tell you! The California Milk Advisory Board has teamed up with Smart & Final to create an awesome campaign to help southern California schools. Now through December 31st, students and families can collect Real California milk seals from select Smart & Final First Street products (everything from milk to butter to ice cream) and bring them to school.

That yellow & black seal in the corner is gold for southern California schools!

Teachers can then collect and submit the seals to be entered in a sweepstakes to win up to $2 million in cash, books and other prizes for their classrooms. Teachers who submit 100 seals get 25 Scholastic books or a $25 school supply gift card. And every teacher gets a Scholastic book just for entering.

Official sweepstakes winners get announced in February, BUT Smart & Final is so awesome that they're doing a separate sweepstakes! If you live within 20 minutes of a Smart & Final store in SoCal, you can go to FirstStreetSupportsSoCalSchools.com and tell why your favorite southern Californa school deserves to win. You'll be entered to win $500, $300 or $200 to be donated to the school EVERY MONTH from now through the end of the year!

I'm supporting this campaign because I think it's a great way to support our schools, which need all the help they can get given the current economic climate in the state. Even if you don't have school-age children, pick a local school in your neighborhood - they ALL deserve help!

To help kick off the campaign and give you an idea of what you can do with some of those First Street milk products after you cut off the Real California Milk seal, I was asked to come up with a recipe for a Thanksgiving side dish. You can check out my shopping expedition here.
After perusing the Smart & Final aisles, I decided to try making a sweet potato souffle. It took a couple of tries in the kitchen to get it just right, but I assure you, this final recipe will make a great addition to your Thanksgiving table. It's creamy yet fluffy, with just the right amount of sweet and spice. (My father-in-law loved it so much, he had thirds!)

Sweet Potato Souffle
(Serves 6)

Ingredients:
3 large sweet potatoes, cooked and peeled (I baked them; you could also boil them)
1 c. First Street fat free milk
1/4 c. maple syrup
2 eggs
4 Tbsp. First Street salted butter, melted
1 oz. low-fat cream cheese, softened
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
6 Tbsp. chopped pecans

Method:
Grease 2 4-cup souffle cups (or a large, round casserole dish). Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place fat free milk in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. When milk starts to simmer, reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 20 minutes or so until milk is reduced by half, skimming off the "skin" that forms at the top every so often.
In a large bowl, whip sweet potatoes and cooked milk. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add maple syrup, 4 Tbsp. melted butter, cream cheese and spices. Beat just until combined.
Spoon into greased souffle cups.
Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix remaining 2 Tbsp. melted butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans.
When the 20 minutes are up, top souffles with nut mixture and bake another 5 minutes.
Let cool 10 minutes before serving (souffle cups will be HOT!).

This #SmartFinalSupportsSoCalSchools project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias #CBias. All opinions expressed are my own.