Have you noticed how trendy sweet potatoes are these days? I’ve always loved sweet potatoes — particularly when mashed and topped with gooey marshmallows — but they used to be a fall-only kind of vegetable, and now they’re year-round, while white potatoes have taken the back seat.

It’s probably the fact that they have more fiber, tons of vitamins and fewer calories and fewer carbs than white potatoes. But I just like the fact that they’re delicious.

You can do a lot of different things with sweet potatoes, but this particular recipe has tons of flavor with very few ingredients and very little work — a pretty good combination.

You will need a little time for everything to bake, but you can do all sorts of other things in the meantime — wash dishes, watch TV, work out, make dessert, whatever.

And, of course, you can put any topping you like on top. Pecans and coconut works nicely, but other types of nuts or some kind of oat crumble topping would be delicious, too. Or marshmallows. Obviously.

So, there it is: A simple, healthy, delicious side dish that works just as well for Thanksgiving as for a random Thursday night. And, as long as you don’t add marshmallows, it’s vegan. Plus, you know, fiber and stuff.

Sweet potato-banana bake with coconut and pecans
3 large (or 4 small-ish) sweet potatoes (yams are OK if you can’t find sweet potatoes)
2 medium ripe bananas (unpeeled)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup raw pecan pieces
1-2 tablespoons coconut oil (or unsalted butter)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Scrub the sweet potatoes and poke holes in them with a fork. Place them on a baking sheet in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.

When the timer goes off, put the unpeeled bananas on the baking sheet with the sweet potatoes and bake everything for 30 more minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, leaving the oven on, and allow everything to cool for a few minutes, then remove the peels and skins and put the bananas and inside of the sweet potatoes into a medium or large mixing bowl. (I usually cut the sweet potatoes in half and then remove the peels with my hands, and I just peel the bananas like normal)

Use a fork or a hand-held electric mixer to mash up the sweet potatoes and bananas, then add the cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and blend. Add a little bit of coconut milk (or other milk) if the mixture doesn’t have enough moisture.

Melt the coconut oil and stir it together with the coconut and pecan pieces, then sprinkle it over the top of the sweet potato-banana mixture (you can also just evenly distribute everything on top if you don’t want to stir it together first). Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the topping is golden brown. Serve warm.