Small Changes: French Fries

This is a bag of frozen french fries. Check out that ingredient list. It isn't very long, but do you know what those extra things are? Shouldn't fries just be potatoes and oil?

They can be.

I make my own oven baked fries. 
I make them at least twice a week.
Sometimes more.

It's super easy and takes only a little longer than the frozen bagged ones, plus they taste better.

I use a Pampered Chef bar pan (stone ware) because they are pretty much non-stick without being poisonous. They are easier to make the fries on than a regular metal cookie sheet.

You can use any kind of potato that you want. My favorite are the golden potatoes. They have a rich flavor (I usually get the organic ones when I can). You can use white ones, red ones, or russets.

I keep the skin on. Wash the potatoes and then slice them into the size and shape that you want.

Put them on your pan and then drizzle with olive oil. I prefer olive oil because it's heart-healthy and tastes great. 
I've recently become a fan of coconut oil and it too makes excellent tasting fries.

Then all you do is bake them in the oven for 45 minutes at 450 degrees. Take them out and toss them every 15 minutes or so.

They will turn a light golden brown. You can then salt them when you take them out.

I also like to add some minced garlic when I take them out. If you've not had garlic fries then you're truly missing out.

So instead of a long list of ingredients, you've got three:
potatoes
oil
salt

And you know what those three are.

I challenge you to look at the ingredients of the items you buy and see what small changes you can make on your own.

After all, doesn't this look better than any bag of frozen fries?

  You can also do this with sweet potatoes. Here are some that are ready to go into the oven:

 You can play around with different vegetables with this recipe. We've used turnips, which have a very strong flavor but are good with mustard. We've also used rutabegas, they are milder than the turnip, and so very good.