What We had for Dinner
Mine is Veggie- not nearly as much fun I know…
For those of you that followed my old blog(s), you know that I love to cook, I even considered myself a food blogger. And ultimately it is what got me back into sewing, hence the apron. I wanted to cook healthy meals and be a positive example for my children.
In the earlier years it was easy to cook fresh foods for my kids, they ate it, they didn’t know what it was, but they ate it (I used to give them veggie dogs). I have always tried to lead their food choices by example. But as they get older their reach grows and they are influenced by so many other things, often times making healthy food choices harder.
For example: They will not eat potatoes anymore, unless they come in the form of a french fry or a chip. I blame that mostly on restaurants. Now that they are in school, extra curricular activities and out with friends, meals are more & more often eaten outside the home. As most parents know, fries or chips are just about the only side you can get with kid meals, and I am not talking about McDonalds, (sparing you my views- we just do not go there). I order a salad, they order fries… I am not going to force them to eat what I eat, so if I can not beat the status quo I will join it. I will make my own fries at home.
Firstly I tried thick cut oven baked “fries”, and sure enough they ate them … then I tried roasted potatoes in cubes, exact same method, different shape and that was an absolute no go.
I like oven baked “fries”, they are healthier and you can spice them up anyway you want but they are a pain in the butt to cut evenly. Quite frequently I bake some to a crisp and others remain slightly under cooked. Secret #1 for this post- I have terrible knife skills.
So I bought a French Fry cutter, secret #2- as a teenager one of my jobs was at New York Fries (shh). Finally I have a tool that makes us all happy. I don’t have to do all that slicing and they get “fries” again…
Billie helping out- It is way harder than it looks…
First cut the bottom off of one to three russet potatoes to make them steady as they are in the cutter.
Use a lot of pressure and try to press evenly. I had to put my slicer on a lower table and use my body weight to press down.
Once they are all sliced, rinse and soak in water spiked with baking soda 1/2-1 tsp for about half an hour. While they are soaking preheat oven to 425f, and line one to two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Drain and pat dry. Place in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, I used 2 good glugs or about 2 tbsp. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and or other flavours.
Spread out evenly on your baking sheets in a single layer and bake for about 20 mins, rotating the sheets half way through top to bottom if they are on different shelves.
Remove from oven and serve immediately!
Yum, and though they know that I baked them, they don’t get the whole fried thing of french “fries”- hence the quotation marks.
* just because it looks unhealthy doesn’t mean it has to be…
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