Saturday, June 14, 2014

Crispy Oven Fries

I came up with this recipe a while ago after hours of reading other people's recipes for oven baked French fries. I try my best to eat pretty healthy so I'm always looking for alternatives to my favorite fatty foods lol!



So after my eyes starting burning from staring at my phone screen I got up and headed to the kitchen. I wasn't equipped with a full recipe just what I saw most recipes had in common: thinly cut fries, an egg wash, a coating. Everything else just kinda happened, so here's what you need




Crispy Oven Fries
makes 2 servings

1 large potato (Idaho and russet are best)
1 egg
~1/2 C bread crumbs
Seasoning
Oil

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400. Wash your potato and cut into slices lengthwise then into ~1/4 in fries. I have a natural cut slicer to do this for me, it's so awesome and was only $5 from Big Lots


Crack the egg into a bowl and whip. Pour the bread crumbs and seasoning into a separte bowl or plate and mix.


Dip fries into egg wash and let excess run off then coat with breadcrumbs


Lay fries on a cookie sheet making sure to not overcrowd them


When all fries have been breaded, drizzle a little oil over them to help them crisp up


Bake for 10 minutes or until bottom of fries have browned, then flip and bake another 10 minutes until nicely browned


When you remove the fries place them on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil and enjoy!






Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Three Bean salad

Feast in 5 minutes!

I haven't done a post on just a side and technically this could be a main dish but for the purpose of this post it'll be a side only =)!


Like most of the recipes I make this one is one of those "whatever I had on hand" type deals so this actual batch was a two bean, one pea salad. I normally use garbanzo beans, black beans and edamames but you can use whatever your favorite beans are. This time I only had garbanzo and black beans in the cabine so I used one can of each, drained and rinsed


The veggies are also, of course, interchangeable as well. I tend to stick with sweet peppers, cucumbers and broccoli but I didn't have any broccoli in the fridge so I substituted it with some of my own home grown sugar snap peas, fresh from my garden!! 



As far as measurements, I used about 15-16 peas that I broke into pieces, roughly half a cucumber and 5 mini sweet peppers


Next I added my "secret ingredient", about 1/2 a pack of dry buttermilk ranch dressing (you can use more or less for taste) and enough apple cider vinegar to get everything covered a bit


Then mix everything up and eat! You can eat this room temp or cold, but the longer it sits in the fridge the better the flavor! Also if you like it a bit creamier you can add mayo with the seasoning and vinegar, I usually only add mayo when I'm making pasta salad but do what you like best. I also went back and added some cilantro because I had a bunch in the fridge, you can toss just about anything in this salad and it'd be awesome! 


Try it as a main dish with a baked potato for a meatless Monday dinner, or serve it as a healthy side with burgers!