'Tater Chips

I have a confession to make.  I had never made real potato chips.  I usually made too-thick baked potato slices.  Blech.  I slice them too thick, oil them too much, and cook them at too low of a temperature.  So I stopped making them. 

The other day, I felt like making John some yummy snacks, and I know how much he loves good potato chips.  We had potatoes, so I figured, why not?

First, I sliced the potatoes in half so I had a manageable pieces of food to handle with the mandolin. 

Then, I sliced them.  Really thin.  In the past, I have had a problem with the mandolin.  I end up hurting my hand because it is not slicing easily.  This time, I checked the thickness thing and realized I had it backwards.  In other words, I was making it thicker when I wanted it to be thinner.  DUHHHH!  So this time, it was EASY.  The slices were really thin.  

The next decision to be made?  What to fry them in.  I settled on duck fat.  We had purchased it a few weeks ago and hadn't used it yet. 

When the fat was all liquidey and hot, I placed the potato slices in a few at a time, making sure not to overcrowd them.

When the edges started to buckle, I flipped them carefully.  I say carefully because I burned my finger on the first one.  Ouch. 

Eventually, they all browned up and were ready.  I salted them as they were removed from the pan. 

John ate them in five minutes flat.  I think that would make it a success, don't you?

This recipe was also posted on Two For Tuesday at A Moderate Life

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Super Snack Saturday!

Most of the posts this week have been of meals, dinners to be exact, so I thought the weekend would be a good time to share some of the OTHER things we have been eating.  

Waffles with Peanut Butter/Honey/Banana Topping
Home made peanut butter, sliced bananas, and honey were thrown in a bowl...

Warmed....

And served over a toasted waffle!  The waffle was leftover from when we made them last weekend.  I just froze the extra, and when I felt like a fancier breakfast, stuck it in the toaster!

The other big snack-o-the-week is a riddle.

  

What do you get when you mix 2 apples...

a mandolin slicer...

and cinnamon?

Why, apple chips, of course!  Especially when the are baked at 250 for an hour or so!

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Adventures in Granola

For a self-proclaimed granola freak like myself, store-bought favorites get costly very quickly.  Considering the fact that I would eat granola for breakfast and snacks, and can make full meals out of granola bars, I have to reel myself in.  When that doesn't work, I need to make my own.

Enter: Katie at Kitchen Stewardship.  She posted her granola recipe ages ago, and I have been faithful to it ever since.  I love it.  It is so simple and delicious.  Check it out...

Granola Before:

Granola After:

 TaDa!

Now the harder part is the granola bars.  I don't like them to be crispy and hard to bite into.  I don't like them to be so chewey they hurt my jaw.  I don't like them to be cookie-like.  I am a bit too picky.  

Over the course of my granola bar making, I have made ONE batch that was perfect, to me.  Unfortunately, I did not bookmark the link to the recipe and it is now lost forever into cyberspace.  I do make them often, however, and I thought I would share my latest attempt.

Based upon this recipe (also from Kitchen Stewardship, although I changed it), I dove into this version. 

The biggest changes I made were using the granola above, subbing 1/2 homemade peanut butter for 1/2 of the butter, and omitting the flour.  

The liquid ingredients were melted together in the pan,

 And then the granola was added in.

After it was all stirred up and mixed together, it was pressed into a pyrex pan lined with parchment paper. 

 I then assembled the add-ins...

And pressed them into the tops of the bars.

The extra parchment paper got folded over the bars and I pressed it down with ALL MY STRENGTH.  Then, since all my strength is still not much, John helped.  

The result?  Pretty crumbly.  I'm not sure why, maybe it was the peanut butter substitution or something.  They were delicious, though, so I'll keep trying. 

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Pizza Friday and Snack-y Saturday

Whew!  What a crazy week!  In between all of the snowstorms I've barely had time to breathe, let alone cook!  

In spite of all outdoor inconveniences, I managed to make Leftover Pizza on Friday and a yummy cauliflower snack on Saturday. 

Remember last week?  I know it was a loooong time ago.  Here.  I'll refresh your memory.  I made roasted veggies on Sunday.  Then, I reused them on Wednesday.  Well, after all that there was STILL a tiny bit left.  So, in brilliant Pizza Friday tradition...

I rolled out the dough...

 

Slathered it with Ricotta...

 

Added the rest of the roasted veggies...

And baked it at a ::NEW  BAKING TEMPERATURE!:: of 425.  

 

It made the crust amazingly brown and crispy!

 

Why did we never think of that before?!

On to Snack-y Saturday.  When I made allll of that roasted veggie deliciousness, we discovered that there was a BIT too much cauliflower.  And broccoli.  A huge serving bowl full.  I utilized the raw cauliflower in a recipe.  Of course, now I can't find the exact recipe.  But it was really good, trust me. 

 

I remember that I sauteed 2 pans full (1 layer in each pan) of lightly salted cauliflower with 1 1/2 tbs coconut oil in each.  I left it sitting on each side until they were brown.

 

Then I stirred in the sauce.  It had water, garlic powder, honey, diced onions, and a bunch of other things in it.  I am going to try to find the recipe asap and post it. 

 

I just kept stirring it all until there was no liquid left. 

It was so easy, as long as the cauliflower is cut, cleaned, and dry.  

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Here, chicky chicky chicky!

Have you ever roasted chick peas?  I have!

I took about 2 cups of dried chick peas and soaked them in water overnight.  Then, I drained them and let them stand for about 8 more hours.  I've heard that makes them more digestable, if you know what i mean.  

Anyway, then I mixed them with a little olive oil and a lot of salt, and spread them on a sheet.  They are SO photogenic!

 

  

  

  

  

Whew!  Now, that that is out of my system.....

I baked it at 350 for about a half hour.  MMmmmMMmm.  It was a great snack!

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Snack Time!

Here's a sneak peek at some of the snacks I have been noshing on:

 

 

I've been really into the fruits-n-nuts combos.  Oh, and the middle photo is veggie stix and cheddar cheese.  

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