even more french fries!

I had a lot of leftover oil from deep frying the piroshkis a few recipes ago. Here are the sweet ones, I put strawberry jam on the inside and dusted them with confectioner's sugar afterwards.

My set up.

I also had a bunch of leftover potatoes so I made french fries. I experimented with two frying techniques, just frying once and doing a double-fry (aka once at 325 and again at 375). I didn't use a thermometer, although that would've helped. I put small pieces of potato in the oil to test if it was hot enough- if the oil isn't hot enough you get soggy, greasy fries- not good.

One fry.

Double fry.

I seasoned mine with cajun seasoning and smoked salt. Next time I'll try soaking the potatoes in water for a few hours before frying- I read that this make them crispier.

Garlic Fries

One of my favorite things to eat is french fries, but it's hard to find a recipe for oven-baked fries that are good. They usually turn out soggy and greasy, but these are GARLIC FRIES. I found the recipe here. And it's easy to make because you pre-cook the potatoes in the microwave (or par-boil them if you don't like using the microwave).


I also added some of Trader Joe's chicken seasoning. I paired mine with sriracha mixed with ketchup. These have the same outer crunchy layer because of the corn starch- good trick.

Granola

I was never a big fan of granola until I had Jamba Juice's Chunky Strawberry (without peanut butter). It's kinda expensive though so I decided I'd make my own granola. It's great as cereal with soymilk and with yogurt in the morning. There are a LOT of granola recipes and I wasn't sure what Jamba Juice did with theirs so I started with David Lebovitz's recipe and added somethings and took some things out too.

I used rolled oats, sliced almonds, dried cranberries and puffed rice cereal. I didn't have rice syrup so I used maple syrup. The apple sauce is ssooooooooo good! It really made the granola stand out. I learned the hard way that puffed rice cereal tends to burn, so next time I'd add it in half way or towards the end of the baking time. I'm also going to try some pumpkin seeds and some more sea salt at the end. This recipe made WAY too much- even though I halved it. Luckily it didn't seem to go bad.

Banana Cream Pie and Rice Krispies

I don't normally like pies because cooked fruit rarely appeals to me, but banana cream pie is an exception. Especially if there is a graham cracker crust. This recipe was great and I knew it before I even made it because you need 6 bananas! Unfortunately, only one photo.... and that's of the pie chilling in the fridge. I used a whole vanilla bean instead of 1/2 and I definitely tasted the difference. Also you want to eat this within a few days- bananas turn grey after awhile ): even if hidden under delicious pastry cream.


I was really happy to find THE recipe for Rice Krispies. Yup, the original. They taste different from the packaged variety- probably because they add a bunch of other junk to it. I added an extra 1/2 cup of marshmallows (mini) because I like them. The trick is to melt everything over a very low heat so you don't burn the marshmallows. And when pressing the rice into the pan, spray a sheet of plastic wrap with pam and use it pam-side-down to press the rice into whatever shape you want.

so good- these disappeared in 2 days.