Roast Chicken and the best sweet potatoes

Remember what mom would do whenever she made a great meal? You remember right? I have vivid memories of her beating the table (kinda hard) and shouting out "Slap your mama!!" Well, I had a "slap your mama" meal last night myself. I found some sweet potatoes at our corner market. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but Serbia doesn't "do" sweet potatoes. I see them only occasionally so when I do I snatch them up. There's a recipe I've wanted to try forever now from an Ina Garten cookbook I got a couple years ago so when I got home I pulled it out to make sure I had all the ingredients. I've been trying to eat a lot healthier lately so maybe that's why the 12 tablespoons of butter and cup of cream and plenty of sugar caught me so offgaurd. Usually sweet potatoes are the healthier choice right? Lucky for me I found plenty of bloggers online doing the same thing but doing much less damage to my waistline. This one turned out better than I could have expected.
http://www.marthastewart.com/314349/orange-ginger-sweet-potato-puree
The only thing I did differently was that I used maple syrup as my sweetener instead of sugar. The orange really sets it off.
I made this chicken to go alongside it and it was also better than I hoped.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/roast-chicken-with-rosemary-lemon-and-honey
I like to roast a chicken every other week or so- simple, easy, just salt and pepper. It always turns out tasty but this one had so much flavor! Especially the dripping in the bottom of the skillet. I always spatchcock my chickens though. It's easy to do and cuts the baking time down to 45 minutes at 450.
Other than that, I just steamed some broccoli and it made for a really delicious and pretty meal. I *almost* felt like I was cheating Thanksgiving a little bit.