we like to eat

sweet potato fries are a staple in our household. we probably eat them three times a week. usually i buy the spicy julienne cut fries by alexia foods, which are delicious! but two weeks ago i decided to try my own hand at making them myself, and the result was actually really good. i think the word "fries" has gotten a bad reputation nowadays, and rightfully so, but sweet potato fries (when they're baked) are actually pretty good for you. they have lots of vitamin A and the serving sizes on most bags are pretty generous if you ask me, for much less calories than, say, a small fry at chickfila would be (yikes, don't even look it up. it will ruin fries for you).

anyway, for anyone who wants to try making their own, you can make enough for two people from one sweet potato for whatever a sweet potato costs, which is like 50 cents? and here's a big secret: i don't even use sweet potatoes. i use yams! weirdly enough, i've never been crazy about sweet potatoes (i think i'm the only person in the family who doesn't like my mom's sweet potato casserole, which is mostly butter and sugar anyway), but yams have a milder sweetness and the same texture. so i just buy yams and i'm not even sure anyone would know the difference (besides me). basically "sweet potato fries" is a huge misnomer because they aren't sweet potatoes and they aren't fried.

i peel the potato, then cut it into strips of equal thickness, otherwise some will start to burn before others are finished. i do about 1/2" to 3/4" thick. 

then i put all the strips into a bowl and toss with about a tbsp of cornstarch, which helps keep them crispy (yes that's my running route inked onto my palm). 

i drizzle maybe 1/2 tbsp of olive oil over them, then coat generously with salt and cinnamon. 

then i arrange them on a pan sprayed with non-stick spray, so that they are spread out flat and ideally not touching each other...though mine usually are. 

bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then flip them and bake for another 5-6 minutes, or until they're browned enough to your liking.

i think maybe mark still prefers the spicy fries, but he humors me because he knows i like to make things from scratch sometimes.


and since i'm sure everyone is dying to know, this is a poem i printed...in our home! mark spent a lot of time on the phone with customer service so now we are up and running. such a relief. and if you're wondering about the title and want to read something really cool, here's where i got the idea for the poem (which is a work in progress).