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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Sweet Potato Fries


A couple of weeks ago, Geoff and I visited the restaurant Blue Mesa. We were intrigued when we discovered that there was something other than tortilla chips in the chip bowl....they were sweet potato chips. And they were good!! So this sparked an idea in my head (scary...I know!). I thought that maybe instead of cutting up regular potatoes and spraying them with olive oil and sprinkling them with Tony Cachere's Cajun spice and kosher salt and then baking those in the oven....I could do something similar with sweet potatoes. And a reason I really liked this idea...was that the sweet potato fries (if they worked out) would count as a vegetable. And this would come in very handy with a toddler who is very picky about the vegetables she eats. It was worth a try.

So here's what I did. I didn't think that cajun spice and kosher salt would do the trick for sweet potatoes...and since I don't think I have ever even bought a sweet potato before...I just googled "sweet potato fries" and found Sarah's Cucina Bella. I didn't use the exact ingredient amounts, but I did use these ingredients...just dumped the stuff in the zip-loc baggy until they looked like I wanted it to. Moral of the story.... It worked. Parker ate a few of them...



...but hey...I am happy with that!! I think it helps that they look like actual french fries...just a little more golden. And Geoff and I really like them as well. Definitely something I will do again. I do not like sweet potatoes (or at least I used to not like sweet potatoes)...I do, however, love french fries...and although these do not taste exactly like french fries...they do have a similar texture and kind of trick you into thinking that you are eating something bad.

And here's just a little more food for thought (no pun intended...hehe)...these things are really good for you!! I think we'll be seeing more sweet potatoes in our house real soon...

The following information was obtained from: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=64


An Antioxidant-Rich, Anti-Inflammatory Food

As an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene) and a very good source of vitamin C, sweet potatoes have healing properties as an antioxidant food. Both beta-carotene and vitamin C are very powerful antioxidants that work in the body to eliminate free radicals. Free radicals are chemicals that damage cells and cell membranes and are associated with the development of conditions like atherosclerosis, diabetic heart disease, and colon cancer. This may explain why beta-carotene and vitamin C have both been shown to be helpful for preventing these conditions.

Since these nutrients are also anti-inflammatory, they can be helpful in reducing the severity of conditions where inflammation plays a role, such as asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

In addition, sweet potatoes are a good source of vitamin B6, which is needed to convert homocysteine, an interim product created during an important chemical process in cells called methylation, into other benign molecules. Since high homocysteine levels are associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, having a little extra vitamin B6 on hand is a good idea.

4 comments:

Kelli @ Our Growing Family said...

Our house LOVES sweet potatos!!!! In fact, we are having them with steak tomorrow night! I will have to try the fries one night.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you hadn't ever had the sweet potato chips at Blue Mesa, they are so good. Those fries do look delicious. I actually made sweet potatoes with steak last week for Blake...rosemary & garlic give the sweet potatoes a great taste. Look what Blake has done to me...
Emmy

Jamie said...

We make sweet potatoe fries at our house quite a bit. I really do like them. We cut them in really thin strips and it makes them crisper, which I like better because sometimes sweet potatoes can be kind of mushy!

Viv said...

I'm not overly fond of sweet potatoes either but I'll bet we will try them too. David loves them, tried to bake one like Daddy used to do(he would brush them with bacon grease first though so I didn't want to do that). Anyhow, the baked ones did not turn out too tasty, so we'll have to try the oven crisper type. I know they are good for you! Thank you so for the idea!

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