Despite its simple and traditional name, Home Plate recipe contest winner Sweet Potato Casserole by Angeline Jay Franks, is a complex dish of different, yet complementary, textures and flavors. Sweet, with a tinge of tartness, the dish is both crisp and smooth. Students in the Westmoreland County Community College's Healthy Baking class, who tested the dish had this to say: "Overall, the Sweet Potato Casserole should have been called 'Cranberry Crisp Delight.' It had a nice flavor, texture and it was very fulfilling." Student Emily Zimmerman added, "I loved the cranberry tart flavor; I almost ate the whole thing." As a dish for Thanksgiving, this casserole combines two traditional autumn holiday specialties - sweet potatoes and cranberries. But that doesn't stop Franks from serving it along with a plain whole-berry cranberry sauce (her son's favorite), as well as mashed potatoes and potato salad. At 6:30 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, she begins preparing her full menu for the feast for 15 people: a 22- to 23-pound turkey and fixings, ravioli, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, potato salad, nut rolls, poppyseed rolls and a pumpkin pie.

Sweet Potato Casserole Angeline Jay Franks, Ralph

2 pounds sweet potatoes 1 16-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 2/3 cup flour 2/3 cup packed brown sugar 2/3 cup quick oats, uncooked 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons margarine (butter) 1 cup miniature marshmallows Cook sweet potatoes in boiling water to cover for 20 minutes or until tender. Let cool, peel and mash. Stir in cranberry sauce and cinnamon. Spoon into a lightly greased 2-quart casserole. Combine flour, sugar and oats; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Spoon over sweet potato mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Top with marshmallows and bake until golden brown. Makes 8 servings.

About the cook

Angeline Jay Franks, 78, of the village of Ralph in Fayette County, has seen towns go from boom to bust and friends come and go, but as long as she's near her grandchildren, all's right with her world. Born in the Fayette County town of Republic, she remembers streets lined with thriving businesses and Saturday nights at the local dance hall. There was work - in the mines, where her father worked - tough, low-paying jobs. Then, came World War II. Her older sister had moved to Michigan, her brother - the only boy of seven children - went off to war, and she went off to join her sister and work in an airplane factory in Michigan. "That place (Dearborn, Mich.) was booming then," says the former Rosie the Riveter. "Now, it has buildings all boarded up, too." She remembers wearing the bandana, or hair net, as a 20-year-old-or-so woman working in the factory - just like in the familiar WWII posters that encouraged women to contribute to the war effort. Her brother paid the ultimate price. He was killed in battle. After the war, Angeline moved back to Fayette County, married and settled in her present home - the home in which her late husband grew up - in the coal-mining village of Ralph. The sign at the bottom of the hill indicates that next year Ralph will celebrate its 100-year anniversary. Angeline has lived there for more than half that time - 55 years. It was there that the former teacher's aide for Albert Gallatin School District raised her three children, and it is there where her three grandchildren visit on Sundays and the whole family gathers for Thanksgiving. In her spare time, Angeline likes to read and sew and, of course, cook. "Yesterday, I didn't have anything to do, so I cooked 85 ravioli," she says. "You have to stay busy."

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