Mashed Garnet Yams With Bacon And Chipotle and a ManPans Review

This Garnet yam recipe is so versatile!  It’s great as a side dish alongside any kind of meat and it can also be shaped into a patty and heated in a frying pan  for breakfast.  I have even eaten it cold- it’s that good! 

I would serve these mashed yams for any holiday gathering- they would be great for Thanksgiving or Christmas (but don’t wait until then to try them!)

I prefer Garnet yams because they are less starchy and have a more intense flavor than other kinds of sweet potatoes or yams.  The inside of a Garnet yam is also much more colorful and full of vitamins.

The other ingredients in this mashed yam recipe are: bacon that has had all of the fat trimmed off, a couple of tablespoons of Chipotle chile in adobo sauce that has been finely chopped, onion, garlic and toasted pecans.

I added 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter to the mashed yam mixture to make it taste a little richer but you wouldn’t need to.  The first time that I made this recipe I didn’t steam the yams quite as much so it seemed to need more butter.  This time the yams were very soft and the moisture from the onions and the bacon made it just right.

I got to use my new  ManPans 10″ saute pan to cook the bacon for this Garnet yam recipe then I just wiped the pan out and added water so I could set the steamer on top with the yams in it.  What a treat to not have to use and wash 2 different pans!

ManPans is a company that makes high quality, environmentally friendly cooking pans in Spokane Washington.  They do everything on site in their manufacturing facility, starting with the raw material and ending by shipping the finished product right to you!

ManPans was nice enough to ask me if I would like to review one of their pans on my blog and I jumped at the chance!  I had already been tweeting back and forth with them about recipes and had also been to their website to check out their pans, so I was thrilled with their invitation!

ManPans allowed me to choose which pan would fit my cooking style the best and I chose the 10″ saute pan.  When it arrived, I found that they had included the 10″ steamer insert and 10″ glass lid too.

The pan itself is unbelievably light- I weighed it just because I was curious and it only weighs 1 and 1/4 pounds.  Usually such a lightweight pan would be a bad thing because it would mean that the materials were wimpy.  That is not the case here!

I bought a cast iron pan several years ago and I have not used it because I don’t have a lot of hand strength and it always seemed so awkward.

This lightweight ManPans pan would be a great gift for a loved one that has arthritis or any other physical issue that makes lifting a chore.

ManPans are made of solid 12 gauge aluminum with a hard anodized shell with a special water based coating on top  that aids in the release of food from the pan. 

These pans are not considered a non-stick pan, but if you wipe just a little bit of canola or grapeseed oil in the pan before heating it up the food will come out easily and cleanup is a breeze.

ManPans pans heat up quickly and evenly thanks to years of research and product developement.  I found that they were totally correct in saying that you can use a much lower heat setting than you are used to to cooking with.  I almost dried out the first thing that I cooked in my pan bacause I didn’t think it would be so quick and efficient.  ManPans states that you should start at less than half of your usual burner setting while you are getting used to your pan.

ManPans pans contain no PTFE’s, PFOA’s of fluoropolymer coatings so they are a totally safe pan to cook in, unlike Teflon coated pans where the coating can flake off over time.  You can also use metal utensils in your ManPan without any worry of scratching the hard finish. 

 A ManPans pan will tolerate up to 700 degree temperatures either on your stovetop or in your oven.  The glass lid will tolerate temperatures up to 400 degrees.

Another great thing about a ManPans pan is the Cool Grip handle.  It absolutely does stay cool to the touch when you use it on top of your stove.  If you place it in the oven you will need to use an oven mitt because it will get hot in there!

I want to thank ManPans again for providing me with such a great pan to review!  I urge people to support ManPans because they are a company that produces their environmentally responsible product here in the United States with United States workers.  ManPans has no other “competitors” that can say the same thing.

ManPans offers a 30 day unconditional return and a lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship.

I shared this recipe with Potluck Sunday at Mommy’s Kitchen, Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist, Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairy Tale, Homemaker Monday at 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven, This Weeks Cravings at Mom’s Crazy Cooking, Hearth And Soul Hop at A Moderate Life, Tuesdays At The Table at All Of The Small Stuff, Tasty Tuesdays at 33 Shades Of Green, Tuesday Night Supper Club at Fudge Ripple, Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty And Bedlam, Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family, Real Food Wednesday at Kelly The Kitchen Kop, Frugal Food Thursday at Frugal Follies, Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, Simple Lives Thursday at A Little Bit Of Spain In Iowa, Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum, Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things In Life, Friday Favorites at Simply Sweet Home, Fun With Food Friday at Paisley Passions