Homemade Potato Chips

For all of 2011, I told myself... I'm going to make potato chips.  I can do it.  I mean, how hard can it really be??  But I time after time, I talked myself into not making them.  It wasn't until November when we had dinner with Beth, Michael and Manuel that I finally decided that I was really going to do it.  What happened during dinner??  I was inspired.  Manuel was telling me about how his sister was craving jalepeño potato chips.  Hey... I crave those too!!  Instead of buying her a bag chips, he went to the store and bought everything to MAKE the chips for her!  Color me impressed... I vowed from that moment, that before the year was over that I was going to MAKE potato chips.  Aaaannnnndddd..... I procrastinated until December 29!!

YES.... they were so incredibly yummy that we ate the whole batch in one sitting.  My kids were crazy impressed to see that chips can be MADE!  If anything, I feel like that was the best reward of making potato chips.  I really love when my kids see where food comes from and how it's made.

And how potato chips are made is one of the easiest things I've ever done!  (Yes, I say that a lot, but it's true!!)  This is all it takes:

Homemade Potato Chips

2 lbs russet potatoes

Peanut or canola oil (I used both.)

Sea salt

Slice the potatoes very thin with a vegetable slicer or mandolin. Soak the potato slices in cold water. Drain, then soak again.  (This step will help eliminate some of the starch which means crispy chips!)

Place 2-3 inches of oil in large pot (one with high sides is best) to 375 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Drain the potatoes and pat them dry.  (Remember water makes oil "pop"... so dry them well!)  Place a handful of potatoes into the hot oil and fry until they are golden brown.  This takes a few minutes, so be sure to gently toss them around to ensure they cook evenly.  Remove the chips with a slotted spoon and drain. Season with sea salt or whatever other seasonings you like :)  Repeat frying with remaining potatoes.

Ok... now as awesome as the homemade potato chips were, I do have a couple of issues that I feel are important to share.  One thing that I wasn't crazy about was having a hot pot of oil on my stovetop.  In fact, that was my main reason that I kept procrastinating on making the chips.  Of course, it wasn't as bad as I had made up that it would be... BUT.... having kids that like to be actively involved in whatever I'm making in the kitchen made me a bit nervous.  In order to have them be involved in the chip making, I kept them at a distance from the oil and had them pat the potatoes dry to prepare them to be fried!  The other thing is that when I was done frying the potatoes, I was left with a pan of used oil.  I was so perplexed as to what I should do with it that I let it sit on my stovetop for a day!  Not completely sure what to do with used oil, I dumped it on my compost pile.  (Yes, I know... it was probably the wrong move.)  Any ideas?? What would you do??


That being said, I think that everyone should make homemade potato chips.  The end result is so much more rewarding than tearing a bag open.  And even though I'm not crazy about all the oil,  I would totally make potato chips again.  It's definitely something special...  potato chips are a rare treat in our house (I bought 7 bags in 2011!).  I'm hoping that making potato chips will trump buying them.  BUT...  I'd like to try making them differently.  I think my first stop will be here.

Plastic-Free Food: Day 2

After my near meltdown on day one and feeling like there was no way that I could go 100% plastic-free with our food... I was nervous about day two... BUT... day two was AWESOME!!  Really all it took was me focusing on what we could eat instead of thinking about all the things that we couldn't eat.  I quickly reminded myself that I did the same thing when I stopped eating meat... focused on all the things I was going to "miss out" on instead of thinking about all of the possibilities.  From experience... I know that the possibilities are endless :)  SO....  Once I stopped thinking about all of the foods that come in plastic... all of these ideas as far as "what" to eat came to me.

So hear is a run down of our plastic-free meals:

One of the easiest and plastic-free breakfasts is a smoothie.  I usually make smoothies with Almond Milk, but almond milk comes in a plastic lined paper container... so there's no buying it.  Sure I could've used local milk... but I'm not a big milk drinker... and prefer almond milk in smoothies.  SO.... I bought raw almonds in bulk and MADE almond milk!!!!!! ;)  To make the smoothie, I just threw in fruit that I had in my freezer...bananas, local blueberries, and local peaches!!  YUM!

Along with our smoothies, my kids also finished up the rest of the pancakes from the previous day.

For lunch, my husband and I had taco salads using romaine that I cut up, black beans, and the leftovers from taco night.  (The taco night leftovers are finally gone... I'm a little bummed... as I don't know what I'll be eating tomorrow)  I made my kids cheese pizzas with the whole wheat tortillas that I made on day one along with applesauce and peaches.  

For the pizzas: My kids spread out some tomato sauce on each tortilla and we topped each tortilla with (paper wrapped) cheddar cheese that I shredded (in my food processor).  I popped the "pizzas" in the oven at 400º until the cheese melted.  My kids LOVED it so much they asked if I would make pizzas EVERYDAY!! 

Ok... now dinner is where I get super excited to share!!  On day one, I was panicking all day about what I was going to make.  BUT... thanks to the rain that was pouring down outside... I knew that I only wanted to make one thing... and that one thing was SOUP!!  So I grabbed a cookbook that I picked up from the library last week, and made vegetable stock.  As I was cutting up the vegetables, I kept thinking how strange it is that I've never made vegetable stock.  I used to make chicken stock all the time and keep it in my freezer... but hadn't made stock since I stopped eating chicken last fall.  Instead, I started BUYING vegetable stock... and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why I've been buying vegetable broth in aseptic containers!!  Besides the house smelling AMAZING... it's so easy to make vegetable stock-- cut up vegetables... throw them in a pot with some water and simmer.  

So here's our Day 2 plastic-free dinner menu:

Vegetable Barley Soup-- I used Moosewood Restaurant New Classics cookbook for the stock and changed up their Vegetable Barley Soup for what I had on hand.  All vegetables and barley used to make the stock and soup were bought unpackaged and never put in a plastic produce bag.

French Bread-- yup!  I busted out my bread machine and threw in the ingredients and let the machine do the work while I made the soup.  The smell of bread baking was.... mmmmm :)

Before I made our soup, I read this quote... and it just made me feel happy about making my soup from start to finish....

"Everybody LOVES soup.  It fortifies the body and soothes the soul.  It's one of those comforting first loves that quietly sustain us from infancy into venerable old age."

Seriously, that soup renewed me :D

If you're interested in our plastic waste from last week... you can check that out here:

Show Your Plastic-- Danielle: Week 1

Rethinking Party Favors

The other day I got a text from my friend that read:

"Unless u can help me come up with a cool party favor, I'm just NOT doin it!!! I'm not givin JUNK!!!"


I immediately called her and said, "Take a stand!! Don't give party favors!" I said that because I really hate party favors. I always find it kind of ridiculous that kids expect a gift for going to a birthday party and giving a gift to their friend. I certainly don't remember party favors when I was a kid. The only time we ever walked away from a party with something (other than bellies full of cake and ice cream) was when we did a craft activity such as decorating shirts with puffy paint.

At our house, we don't usually give out party favors for our kids birthdays and when we don't I am always left feeling like a cheapskate. SO... for my friend... I decided to think about it... BECAUSE some people just feel better giving party favors... and if they're gonna give them... the least that I can do is put some thought into it and help them come up with something besides a bag of plastic junk that will most likely end up in the trash can/landfill/oceans.


So here's what I told her:

• Pencil Holders: Last year, for my son's 7th Birthday party... I wasn't going to give out party favors. Then I had some Smencils from our fundraiser... so I bought some to support the initiatives of the non-profits that I'm directly involved in. THEN... I looked under my kitchen sink and there were SO many steel cans. I decided that I was going to reuse repurpose the cans and make pencil holders for the kids. Here's how: I ran the cans through my dishwasher to make sure they were free of all gunk, let them dry thoroughly, then I spray painted them. (I did purchase acrylic markers for the kids to decorate their "pencil holders.")

• "Sponge Balls." These are great in place of water balloons :) My mom and I made them for my daughter's pool party last year. We had a total of 4 friends invited plus a few brothers...so it wasn't too much work. The kids had a blast playing with the sponge balls in the pool, however, they didn't really hold up well to the older kids throws.

• Cloth Napkins-- Put the kids names on their own reusable cloth napkin. Use fabric paint to let the kids decorate their napkin with their handprints.

• A Growable Favor-- Get small peat (or terracotta) pots, fill with dirt, plant a seed (flowers, vegies, etc) and if you want to make it fancy: tie a ribbon around it.

My friend and her 6 year old daughter decided on giving a planted sunflower seed in a peat pot :) I am SO grateful that my friend asked me my advice AND took it... woo hoo!! Now there are 23 kids (and their parents) who have seen a different kind of party favor!!

By the way, my kids are super excited to add the sunflowers to our flower garden!!

Here's some bumble bees enjoying one of our sunflowers from last year :)