Sweet Potato Fries, Recipe

Crisp - and - Yum-my

Sweet. Potato. Fries! ♫

Doesn't that sound like it should be part of a jump rope chant? And I realize that most of you would have no idea what on earth I'm talking about. But when I was in grade school, two kids would stand about 12 feet apart, each holding the end of a thick rope and swinging it, and the rest of us would be lined up, chanting the jump rope ditty, and ready to run into the center of the virtual elliptical prism* created by the twirling rope, making sure we don't catch our feet or hands on it. I was really, really good at jump rope. Unfortunately, it was not a sport that anyone really appreciated. And the effects of all that jump roping (jumping rope?) is totally not in evidence today.

And maybe I'm the only person in the Blogiverse who'd never made sweet potato fries before, but there it is.

SO, I had a chuck roast with garlic and red wine slow-cooking in the CrockPot all day. About an hour before dinner, I decided to make some sweet potato fries.

Sweet Potato Fries, Recipe:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2 large sweet potatoes, pared

Cut sweet potatoes in half at the equator (of the potato, of course), then stand each half on its equator and slice from top to bottom, about 1/4 -3/8 inch slices. (This will keep you from cutting your fingers off.) When that's done, slice each of those into 1/4-3/8 inch thick straws. I think mine were actually more like 1/4 inch or less. I really get into cutting up vegetables (and meat) into very small pieces. It's therapeutic. I love it!

Place sweet potato straws into a gallon Ziploc bag.

Put 1/2 T. corn starch in the Ziploc bag too, and toss this well so that the corn starch is evenly distributed. I read that the corn starch, as much as I didn't want to use it, helps make the fries nice and crispy. I wanted crispy. Uncrispy is totally unacceptable.

Place 1/2 t. Penzey's Hot Curry Powder into the bag. Toss to distribute evenly.

Place 2-3 T. olive oil into the bag and toss to coat the sweet potatoes thoroughly.

Turn out onto a jelly roll pan that's been sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray.

Sprinkle a little salt and a little cayenne over the fries. (Yes, we like things hot.)

Bake for 15 minutes, then use a pancake turner to flip the fries over and 

Bake another 15 minutes.

Some of mine got really dark. You might think of it as a failure. I loved them. They were very crispy. But then, I like burned potato chips too. Ever notice how quality control has virtually eliminated those wonderfully burned potato chips??

Anyway, I think the whole thing was a success. They were delicious - and hot!

*Know how hard it is to describe this in words??!

And did you jump rope as a child? And do you remember any of the chants?  

***

Buy Any Five, Get One FREE

'Pumpkin Spice'

Natural, Handcrafted Vegan Soap

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch

and at 

Our ETSY Shop 

-This post may be linked to one or more of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and Mosaic Monday and Barn Hop and  Get in My Tummy and  Cure for the Common Monday and  Clever Chicks Blog Hop and  Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and    Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and Efforts and Assets and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Knick of Time Tuesday and  Creative Showcase and Memories by the Mile and Crafty Texas Girls and  Tweak it Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday  and Love Bakes Good Cakes and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Wildcrafting Wednesday and   Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and Whatever Goes Wednesday and  All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Girl Creative, Thursday and  Creative Things Thursday and Be Inspired and Time Travel Thursday and Thrifty Things Friday  and  Friday Fences and  Thursday's Inspiration and  The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and Creative Things Thursday and   Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and Freedom Fridays and From the Farm and   Anything Blue Friday and Junkin' Joe and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and Share Your Creativity and   A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and Sunlit Sunday and  Market Yourself Monday and  Saturday Nite Specia-------------------
--

GF Chicken Sausages and Sweet Potatoes, Recipes

A quick and easy dinner!

When we were visiting our daughter and family in Indiana, she served us grilled chicken sausages. I couldn't imagine sausage of any kind sitting well in my stomach, and I questioned her on it. She  said they were gluten free and didn't have any poisonous additives and preservatives. Nevertheless, I proceeded cautiously. To my delight, they tasted great and I didn't get a headache or any of the other nasty symptoms that come from poison in my food.

The brand is Alfresco.

This link will give you the nutritional information.

I just signed up for the Alfresco newsletter in order to get free coupons. Info on the newsletter is in their FAQ section.

The sausages pictured in the first photo are actually ones we had for dinner the other night. I didn't want to take time to get the grill ready*, so I sliced them in half and pan fried them in a little olive oil.

The Sweet Potato and Yukon Gold Fries were simply sliced thin, then tossed in a ziploc baggie with a little olive oil and spread out on a jellyroll pan. I sprinkled the minutest amount of brown sugar on them, and then sea salt and pepper, then baked in a 450 degree oven until tender but crispy on one side. I've done this before without the brown sugar and liked it better then. The brown sugar idea was from The Barefoot Contessa. She's got a ton of good ideas, but I didn't think this was one of them.

The salad was a combination of cherry and regular garden tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh oregano, and fresh zucchini, pared and cubed, (oops, I guess that was the next night!) then tossed with a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.

I loved this dinner and would be happy to make it a regular!

*As good as these were pan fried, they taste way better on the charcoal grill.

P.S. Update: I scheduled this more than a week ago. The boys go home today. It has been a sweet and fun (albeit a bit exhausting) time with them. I will miss the funny things the 5 year old says, the sweet hugs and kisses from the 2 year old, and the knowledge that the 8 year old is perfectly capable of ruling the world, or at least a John Deere dealership. 

Bridger and Misty will spend the next two days sleeping.

***

'English Rose'

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch


  You'll find me at These Linky Parties:
Mop it Up Monday   and  What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Make it Great Monday and Made By You Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous  and  Get Your Craft On and Tip Me Tuesday  and  Inspiration Board and You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Two Maids a Baking and What's Cookin' Wednesday and DJs Sugar Shack and  Cast Party Wednesday and The Shady Porch and   We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Mom on TimeOut and  Link it Up Thursday and Crafty Friday (Thursday) and Mandatory Mooch and  Petals to Picots and  Threading Your Way and Lisa's Gluten-Free Blog and Favorite Things Friday and I'm Lovin' it Friday and Maiden d'Shade and It's a Hodgepodge Friday  and Foodie Friends Friday and Creative Bloggers and  Serenity Saturday and Overflowing With Creativity and  Home and Family Friday