Is this it?
http://southernfood.about.com/od/sweetpotatocasseroles/r/bln411.htm

Mine is not a recipe, but here it is.

I buy canned yams and drain them. Use a fork, potato masher or your cuisinart to mash them, NOT making the a purée. Add a bit or fresh squeezed orange juice, the zest of one large naval orange. Mix. Then add dark brown sugar to taste - I like mine "sweetened" but not "sweet". Then add a bit of whipping cream.p which has been hand beaten with 1 or 2 whole eggs. Mix well and put in a soufflé dish or casserole. It can be kept like this, covered, in the refrigerator for a few days - flavors meld nicely with a bit of rest time.

A few hours before baking, bring out of refrig to warm up a bit. Preheat oven to 350*. When ready to bake, uncover and sprinkle a little dark brown sugar over the top - use a light hand - and then sprinkle with a few whole pecans - use more pecans than brown sugar. Bake for about 1 hr - dig out a forkful to be sure it is piping hot all the way through. Keeps well and Dan be reheated in a microwave. Enjoy!

Thank you both - I didn't think to clarify - the yams weren't mashed, they were chunked, the apples and bananas were sliced. There was something about the recipe that was really special, but I can't remember the details, so I thought I'd see if anyone maybe had those cookbooks to see if it's in there. It might have also had oranges, but maybe just some orange juice. I have one of the VE cookbooks but it's not there, so maybe the other, or maybe I'm remembering wrong.

I did a search... Was it plantains? and molasses??? Check this.

It sounds interesting!!!! :)

Wow, thank you! It's not the one, but it does look interesting. I've never touched a plantain, so wouldn't have a clue, but might try it with regular bananas. I love molasses, so it might be a keeper!

I'm sorry you still haven't found it. Jessyf didn't find it in Vegetarian Epicure II five years ago. :(

I'm pretty sure I don't have any of that type of book that hasn't already been eliminated. There was one on FoodNetwork.com with marshmallows that had the banana and yam alternating to make a checkerboard slice. There seem to be a lot of recipes with any two of your main ingredients, but nothing like what you're looking for that I can find!

Maybe it's time to buy a lot of ingredients and make small versions until you get it right?

Omigosh, I'm losing my mind!! I can't believe I already posted for this recipe. It comes to the forefront every Thanksgiving and 5 years later I'm still longing for it. Thanks for finding that; but I feel a little sheepish!

If I could remember all the ingredients, I'd just experiment. I make a good yam and apple dish with orange sauce now. I could add bananas and sunflower seeds and maybe it would be close....but I'd always wonder what it was missing :-)

Olychick, I've got a recipe or two in my background like that. lol!

Could the missing ingredient be maple syrup?

Could the missing ingredient be rum??? :) check this.

or coconut??? and pecans?

or cheese??? and onions? check this.

or pineapple???

Could it be this one" http://www.food.com/recipe/sweet-potato-and-banana-casserole-356247

All these sound great! I actually forgot to serve this one on Thursday (as my mom leans in for the whisper "aren't we having sweet potatoes?":) It has sweet potatoes, apples, butter, brown sugar, orange juice, lemon juice and .... wait for it .... mustard. Let me know if you want it, Olychick.

Cathy in SWPA

I have a few of the same generation of cookbooks you remember. Cute, the handwritten pages. I do make a similar dish that is more seasonal throughout the year....using what is fresh. I use toasted pepitas now as i like the flavor better than sunflower seeds.

I really like this one roasted squash

Very easy to add other in season veg like sweet potatoes, plantains, etc.

Thank you all; if not THE one, these are definitely worth a try.

Partymusic, I seem to recall the original recipe might have had coconut in it, which I don't care for so left out. But honestly, as demonstrated here, I can't remember 5 years back, let alone 40! I do know there were sunflower seeds, no nuts. It was a height of the hippy times recipe - sunflower seeds added to just about everything.

Sherry, I did see that one and think it's just about as close as I'm going to come - think I'll have to try it.

Sleevendog, that isn't close but what an amazing looking recipe. I have some yams and kale and think I will make it tonight. Thanks!

Cathyinpa, yes, please post the recipe, if it's not too much trouble - it sounds intriguing. Someone else might like to have it too, when they find this thread in 5 years, after I've ask you all about the recipe again! :-)

Maybe I'll hunt down my old friend and see if she still remembers/has it. I think she gave me the recipe more than once and I couldn't keep track of it and became embarrassed to ask her ONE more time.

Can you ask the friend? maybe the recipe didn't come from a book. What you describe sounds to me like something I might find in one of those old Grange cookbooks, or even in a newspaper recipe contest -- except for the sunflower seeds because I think the 70s might have been too early for that. lol!

ETA: I was apparently typing while you replied because you answered all my questions. :) I'm guessing that sunflower seeds were a west coast thing then? I didn't see sunflower seeds used here until well into the 80s. :p

I think sunflower seeds were ubiquitous in vegetarian hippy food. I moved from the city to a tiny mountain community that was being populated by lots of trust account hippies from all over the country - the back-to-the-land movement. I wasn't one of them, but had moved there for my husband's employment as a forester (requiring us to live in out of the way places). But we made friends with lots of "them" and appreciated the way of life they were seeking. I never adopted most of the lifestyle (like washing my hair with nettles - or eating them) but did learn about more healthful cooking and organic gardening and foods. Not sure if this was before it sprang up other places, but probably a lot of influence from CA in the late 60's and 70's.

Do you mean Yams or Sweet Potatoes?

Sue

I love the story behind your search, Olychick; plus, this is proving to be better than the mystery I'm currently reading:) HA! I can't wait until the mystery is solved.

This isn't it (like no where near hippy:) , but I'll go ahead and post -- from an old recipe in our family cookbook.

Glazed Sweet Potatoes

2 Cans yams or sweet potatoes (1 lb each, drained)

2 tart apples, pared, cored and sliced

~1/2 Cup packed brown sugar

1/4 Cup butter

1 Tbsp prepared mustard

1/2 Cup orange juice

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Preparation:

Place yams and apples in buttered shallow 2 quart casserole. Sprinkle with sugar. Melt butter and stir in mustard, orange juice and lemon juice. Drizzle over casserole Bake at 400 degrees uncovered for 35 minutes, basting frequently. (I think I may have added a wee wee pinch of cayenne once; you know, just to stir the pot a bit ha! can't remember the results though)

_________________________

And just to throw another one in the pot, what about this one? :)

http://blissfulbasil.com/2016/11/16/baked-sweet-potatoes-with-sunflower-pecan-crumble-vegan/

Good luck, Olychick!
Cathy in SWPA

PM, sunflower seeds were definitely all over everything in the '70's in California. Even moreso than alfalfa sprouts and squaw bread. :) Though all three might have been found together in one sandwich. :)

plllog, I suspect this is a case where geography matters. I'm not certain I've ever seen a real live alfalfa sprout, let alone eaten one. And I've never heard of squaw bread! (I looked it up)

That is so interesting! All can still be found lurking in eateries around here. :) I know that we get a lot of things first (including the rain--expect it in about five days if it doesn't dissipate or get stuck on a mountain somewhere). I guess those things also hit a mountain on their way East. :) Alfalfa sprouts have been out of favor for a number of years, however, because of an e. coli scare. You can't really wash them, not enough to remove bacteria. It's basically just fancy grass and was really in, the way microgreens are now.

KathyinPA, thanks for those recipes. The mustard is an intriguing ingredient - it's the yellow mustard? And the one with the crumble looks like sweet potato pie. Yum. Would be good for breakfast, no?

Marilyn Sue, they are the dark orange fleshed sweet potatoes that most people call yams. I've never been able to eat the light sweet potatoes since I was a kid because the texture made me gag, literally. Too dry or something?

My mom used to make candied yams from a can, but I've used the fresh so long that I don't recall every using the canned ones, but maybe in the 70's I did? Not sure how available the fresh ones were.

I never was fond of sprouts, unless someone grew their own and all of us did (the hippies and me, too). The commercial ones are always too stringy - reminds me of the same reason I hate coconut in things - it's like trying to chew dental floss. But sprouts are available at my food coop, I think and you see them on pre-made sandwiches in vegan/vegetarian type places. The most I see of sunflower seeds these days is in sunflower seed butter that people use in place of peanut butter - esp for those with peanut allergies, or for kids who are prohibited from taking pnut butter to their schools. I also use them in pesto for people with nut allergies.

plllog, in what part of the country do you live?

Thanks everyone for being so supportive about my obsession.