healthy french fries

don't they look delicious?? They are!

White potatoes aren't usually part of my daily diet, but I like to have them now and then. They are a raw and healthy vegetable after all. But still, I consider them a "splurge" and so don't eat them often.

If you have an addiction to fries, try this healthy version at home:

First of all, to save yourself heaps of time, you'll need one of these handy dandy slicers. Just put the potato on the grid and push down. In seconds, a whole potato is chopped and ready to go.

They really don't get much more perfect than this.

I soaked my fries in cold water for about 30 minutes. I read that this improves the crispiness of oven-baked potatoes. Although, no matter what I do, I can't seem to get my fries to crisp very well. They are usually either soft or burned to a crisp.

So after soaking, I drained them and patted them until dry with paper towels. Another important piece in the crispness puzzle. This next part is what I do differently than most recipes, instead of dumping the olive oil over the potatoes, I have a spray bottle with olive oil in it that evenly coats the fries and uses WAY less oil. It's something like 1 calorie per squirt. Then I sprinkle with sea salt and toss them in a big bowl to make sure they are all coated well.

To add some variety and awesome flavor, you can add other spices here. Some of my favorites are chili powder or rosemary & garlic.

Next I line a cookie sheet or two with parchment paper. After the oven has been preheated to 450 degrees, I bake them for about 30 minutes. Actually with this batch, I probably baked them closer to 40 minutes but after 30 you really have to watch them so they don't burn.

And the finishing touch is to stick them under the broiler for a few minutes. Watch closely! They will burn quickly. You just want them to have a nice brown crust on them.

And here they are! I love to use these galvanized pails for a rustic touch.

They are SO delicious and my whole family loves them. They were raving about my burgers and fries being better than McDonalds. Haha....I would hope so!

I might share my turkey burger recipe for you later.....keep an eye out!