Garlicky Oven Fries

In the mood for fries one night, we pulled up this four star recipe from a May 1, 2008, Vegetarian Times Issue.  Very tasty.

TIP:  Presoaking the potato slices in hot water helps remove excess starch so they brown and crisp like oil-cooked fries.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick wedges
2 tsp canola oil
2 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, coarsly chopped (or finely pressed)
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
1. Place oven rack in lowest position, and preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.  Soak potatoes in bowl of hot water 10 minutes.  Drain, pat dry, and return to dry bowl.

2.  Meanwhile, heat canola oil, olive oil and garlic in saucepan over medium-low heat.  Cook garlic 2 minutes, or until it begins to brown.  Transfer garlic to small bowl with slotted spoon.

3.  Pour oil over potatoes and toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Arrange potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet.  Bake 20 minutes, or until potatoes are golden on bottom.  Turn, and bake 10 minutes more, or until golden and crisp.  Meanwhile, stir parsley into reserved garlic, sprinkle over fries.  Season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Note:  We used dried parsley and combined steps 2 and 3 by mixing all seasonings together and tossing to coat the potatoes before baking 20 minutes on one side, turning and cooking another 15 minutes or so on the other side.   The results were still yummy.

Fresh Salsa

Another winner from Dora Gonzalez!  We like to add in other things we have in the crisper, or out of the garden, like lettuce, spinach, green onions, cucumber finely diced or whatever sounds best for the dinner it's going with.  Our boys enjoy salsa but if you show them something leafy they'll cringe.  So, so long as it is finely diced and they can't see it, they'll enjoy it (though we often omit the fresh onion if we're serving them...since they're getting that in whatever we're serving salsa with usually).  However those add-ins mentioned above are best if eaten right away.  (Yield:  Enough for garnish topping or a 1-2 person appetizer) Add more of everything if you're serving a larger group. 

1     chopped Tomato
1 T. chopped Onion
1     clove Garlic, minced
Salt to taste
Fresh Cilantro!

Mix all together and squeeze in Lemon or Lime Juice.

We really like to use our little 'Kitchen Miracle' gadget to slice dice and mix this all super fast...and the boys enjoy doing the mixing (another trick we use to get them to eat good things....they made it)!

Dora's Avacado Guacamole

This yummy recipe comes from Dora Gonzalez at church.  We love her recipes!

2 to 3 avocados (Peel, remove seed and mash)
Add:
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/2 lemon, juice of
1/2 t. garlic or 1 clove garlic (we'll often use even more)
Salt to taste
1 jalepeno pepper (if you like it hot)
Fresh cilantro if desired (We think this makes ALL the difference and is the BEST!)