Food For Thought: Aunt Jess's Blog

Well…its a snow day here in Boston, but no snow yet… Many schools were cancelled or let out early and I have a feeling many kids are getting antsy right about now. Let’s do a cooking project! Its dinner time in a couple of hours, so how about a side dish for dinner. One of my favorites is sweet potato french fries. They are delicious, colorful and very good for you. Sweet potatoes are a root vegetable and are a good source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. The Vitamin A is in the form of beta-carotene and this and Vitamin C are both very beneficial antioxidants, which are very healing and powerful for our bodies. And, along with all of this, they are sweet and taste like dessert. What a find!

1. Preheat oven to bake at 400 degrees. The oven rack should be placed in the middle.

2. Grab a couple sweet potatoes (or regular potatoes, if you prefer) and wash and peel them.

3. Slice potatoes into long pieces (like a french fry). You can make them as thin or thick as you like and keep the skin on.

4. Now its up to you and your taste buds. If you like spicy, mix the slices in a bowl with 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tesp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and about 1 TBSP vegetable oil. You can swap the spicy to simple salt, pepper and vegetable oil. Feel free to experiment. There is no right or wrong.

5. Once all of the ingredients are mixed evenly, spread on baking sheet and place in preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through and the edges are crispy.

Serve as soon as you can, to get the best flavor and texture. You may not even need to dip them in anything, they will be so tasty. If you do, then honey mustard is always a favorite of mine or you can never go wrong with good old fashioned ketchup.

WOW! Its really starting to snow here in Boston now, just as I am finishing this up. What perfect timing! I’m off to make my sweet potato fries. Let me know how they come out and what kind of fun spices you used or sauces you dipped them in.

Happy eating and snow day!

-Aunt Jess