French Fries

We tried a different way than usual. Not the healthiest for sure! Pretty good but nothing mind blowing. Recipe found here. It says that the sugar solution does something to the carbs so that it doesn't soak up as much grease-so they get crunchier and they are a little more healthy.

• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 large russet potatoes - peeled, and sliced into 1/4 inch strips
• 6 cups vegetable oil for frying
• salt to taste

1. In a medium bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water. Soak potatoes in water mixture for 15 minutes. Remove from water, and dry thoroughly on paper towels.
2. Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Add potatoes, and cook until golden, 5 to 6 minutes. drain on paper towels. Season with salt to taste.

Sausage and Zucchini Soup

This one is wonderful if you love soup. If you just like soup, it's pretty good. I'm not really big on it but it was especially nice for something different, and it warmed up nicely for Patrick the next day.

1lb hot or sweet Italian sausage (I would double next time)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
28oz diced canned tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained
3C water
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 medium carrots, sliced
5 celery stalks, sliced
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

Slice sausage and cook with onions and bell pepper over medium-high heat in a pan about 10 minutes or until sausage is browned. Drain fat.

In an 8qt Dutch oven (or I just used my soup pot) add tomatoes, water, potatoes, carrots and celery to sausage mixture. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 20 minutes or until vegetables are just tender. Stir in zucchini and simmer 5 to 10 minutes more or until zucchini is tender. Serve hot. (I added a tiny bit of sour cream-yum!)

Sweet Potato Fries

I had a recipe that I tried for these a long time ago, but I didn't like it. So I made up my own.

However many sweet potatoes you need, cut into circles (fry-shape is a pain to me)
Olive oil
Allspice
Nutmeg
Cinnamon

Put your sweet potatoes in a gallon ziploc bag. In a bowl, mix olive oil and spices together until blended, and then pour over the sweet potatoes. Seal and mix together until coated. To cook on the grill, seal in individual foil packets, cooking for 20-30 minutes on the upper part of the grill, turning once. For the oven, bake on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about the same time, turning once in the middle.

Grilled Fries

I started out using Bobby Flay's recipe from here-but I ended up just using it as a guideline. Here's what I used:

3 potatoes
olive oil
chili powder (enough for a small coat)
garlic powder (same amount)
McCormick's Cinnamon Chipotle Rub (see here) (enough to make it smell tasty)

I chopped up potatoes in fry fashion, coated them in a little olive oil and then sprinkled on the seasonings and mixed to coat. I split them onto three pieces of foil, sealed the pouches, and cooked on the upper part of my grill, turning once, for about 30 minutes. Super yummy (and better than the potatoes I charred two days ago!)

Twice Baked Potatoes

Super easy, and a favorite!

-However many potatoes you want... 2 is MORE than enough for Patrick, Maya and I. It ends up essentially doubling the potatoes!
-Cheese, shredded, around 1 cup
-Bacon (I cheat and get the "real" bacon bits in the salad aisle... not the crunchy ones, the soft ones in the yellow package)
-Sour Cream (16oz)
-Salt, pepper, garlic powder

Bake or microwave the potatoes. After they've cooled, cut them in half and carefully scoop out the innards. Preheat the oven to 350. Mix with above ingredients, however much you want, really... sometimes I use all the sour cream and sometimes I don't-depends on how dry the potatoes are. Place the potato skins on a baking sheet, carefully scoop the potato mixture inside, and bake around 15 minutes or until you can tell the cheese is melting and it's getting a little golden brown on top. Put chives on top if you would like, or play around with some of the ingredients! We always have this with steak and green beans... a "classic" dinner for us.

Just as a flashback... this is the first time we made it, back at Spring Arbor :)