Saving with Susen: Homemade French Fries

Hello Friends, continuing with our series of posts on making things ourselves, here is a new one. French Fries! :) Who doesn't like french fries? Of course they have many things in them you may or may not want to eat, when you buy them either at your favorite restaurant or even frozen at the store. Check out the ingredients on the back of the bag of frozen french fries. I would rather skip serving the hydrogenated fats, not to mention the other hard to pronounce items, to those I love. Plus a bag of frozen french fries could easily cost 2 dollars or more for a one pound bag. I don't know about you, but I can buy a ten pound bag of potatoes at most of my local grocery stores for between $2.00 -$2.50. You do the math, making it at home is almost always cheaper and healthier.

So are you ready? Here we go. All the ingredients are easily available and pronounceable.
My favorite!

The humble potato. So good for you! It has loads of potassium and vitamin C.

Potatoes are actually quite good for you. They come in many colors, red, white, and even blue! Often potatoes have gotten a bad rap, through no fault of their own. They are packed with good nutrition, it's what the humans put on them that makes them unhealthy. Think sour cream, cheese, butter, whipping cream, all things that contain cholesterol. These things, while they may be delicious, do not add to a healthy heart or vibrant lifestyle. But potatoes can certainly be prepared in healthful ways that don't include all the unhealthy fats. And don't think that they can't be delicious without all those high in cholesterol foods, they absolutely can!

After I wash and peel the potatoes, I slice them like this. Slice them as thick as
you think you might like your fries.

Then cut the fries into slices, whatever length you desire.

The next step is to add whatever seasonings that you would like to add. An easy way to do this is to put your freshly cut french fries into a plastic, gallon size storage bag. At this point I add about 2 tablespoons of canola oil, salt, and some onion powder. Then I close the bag, and shake well. After the fries are coated with this mixture I put them into a baking dish or onto a cookie sheet. I bake them at about 425F until nicely brown. You can add any seasonings that sound good to you, ex. garlic seasoning, ranch seasoning, whatever you like. Sometimes if they seem to be slow to brown, and they are cooked thru, then I will put them under the broiler for a minute or two. I always watch them when I do this because they can burn quickly.

Freshly flavored fries ready for the oven!

If I am short on time I will put the french fries into the microwave at this point, cook them for about 5 minutes and then put them in the regular oven. This shortens the baking time considerably.