French baked

Homemade french fries rock my socks off!!  

This happy is two fold.  1. I love anything potatoes and as you can imagine french fries, drenched in ketchup, is extreme comfort food to me! 2. I have been on a major make my own kick... and being able to make my own french fries from real potatoes.. not a freezer bag... is too cool!

To start...I grabbed some potatoes!  The real kind.  The kind that grew in dirt.  The kind you want to give a nice scrube before you start.  Yup.. I used them with the skins on!

Did I mention yet that I got a Mandolin for Christmas?  It sounds like a fancy musical instrument doesn't it?  Well, aside from singing loudly in the car or making up a funny little ditty for Katie my musical talents are low.  So, I'm glad it's not a musical instrument.

It is instead a really fancy (and sharp) kitchen tool!  It slices in all shapes and thicknesses!  It even has a cross blade that lets me turn potatoes into french fry straws!  Here is a big pile of potato after meeting it's match with the Mandolin!  Mr. Happy went through four potatoes in about 1 minute after deciding he should save me from the sharp monster!

Purdy, aren't they?  MMmmhhmm!!  You see those skins in there too?  Delishious-ness!

Step 2.  I took the straws, slices, fry wedges.... and toss them in my ever popular gigantic clear bowl.  Added a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and cheyenne.  Come on.. fess up... you saw the cheyenne coming, right?  Then I gave it a stir.. and a toss with my hands. 

Bonus, doing the mixing with your hands leaves them nice and soft.  That's the olive oil working extra hard for you!  (Just don't put any of the pepper or cheyenne in your eyes!)

HEY!!  Where'd my homemade fries go? 

Oh, right.  They went on to the pan.  But, you see that extra little goop in the bottom of the bowl?  Be sure to drizzle that over your fries!  Lots of good flavor in that little goop!

See, told you they were safe in the pan!  Arrange them so they are mostly flat.  I use a little foil in the pan to make clean up easier.   Dang!  These looks so professional!

Oh.. another secret of mine.  Make a lot at once.  This way you can put some in a freezer bag and shove it in the freezer.  So, the next time you have a craving for homemade fries... it's as easy as opening the freezer and putting those little jobbies in the oven! 

Here are my extras in a freezer bag awaiting my next craving!  Oh.. and don't forget to write the oven temperature and cooking time on the bag so you don't have to look it up when you want to make them.  Good secret, right?

And voila!! Nummy... tummy tickling fries!  Let me tell you.. these didn't last long! 

So, I am thinking since I used the oven to make them.. they are French Baked instead of French Fried, right? 

Adding a little french baked into my dinner menu = happiness!

Also, having a huge glob of cold ketchup to dip my fries in = happiness!