.father's day.

Hi everyone,



I hope you all had a great Father's Day with the significant men in your lives. Thursday night I came up with the great idea to sneak Jim off for the weekend with the girls. I looked online for decent hotel rates and didn't find anything so I gave up the idea.



Then Friday morning, when I woke up, I decided to check one more time. I found a great rate for a great hotel in St. Augustine, Florida. I made the reservation and started packing and getting the house picked up. I can't ever just leave the house a mess! Jim got home around 11:30 on Friday and I had everything ready to go. We loaded the girls up and we were on our way! Talk about sweeping him off his feet, right?



We had a great time. Took some tours, walked around the historic district, ate great food. The baby had a difficult time going to sleep at night, but she was such a good kid. Both of the girls were.



We got back this afternoon and I quickly figured I better make something for the husband for Father's Day. Not that he expected anything fancy after our little escapade. So tonight I made avocado turkey burgers with sweet potato fries and a strawberry salad. It was delicious!



The turkey burger was really nothing fancy. I had some frozen (gasp!) patties in my freezer, that I whip up for lunches. The sweet potatoes are yummy and help curve the craving for real potatoes -- which I am trying to give up on right now while losing weight. The salad is one my sister Ronda makes. I changed it a little bit to work with the things I had in my fridge. It was pretty darn tasty. In this entry, I will post the recipe for the sweet potato fries. Tomorrow I'll post the salad recipe.

Sweet Potato Fries



Here's what you'll need:

• Sweet potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Coarse salt (like sea salt)
• Garlic
• Lemon
• Chipotle (optional)

Peel your sweet potatoes. I used 3 and we had way too many for just the three of us. I could have easily gotten away with 2.

Cut the sweet potatoes into slices -- like french fries!

Lay the slices on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. I used less than 1/4 cup. Don't go crazy with it. You just want to lightly coat the slices.

I love being able to find a nice product at the commissary on base. I picked this French Grey Sea Salt by McCormick up the other day. Love that!

Sprinkle some of the salt on top.

Mince a clove or two of garlic. Sprinkle that on top too.

Use a zester or the fine grate on your cheese grater to take off some of the zest. Don't get the pith (the white part under the yellow skin). It'll give you a bitter flavor.



Sprinkle that on top of the sweet potatoes too. Mix everything together so it's all nicely coated and distributed.



Pop the tray into a preheated 400* oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.

If you want a little spice added to these fries, finely mince one chipotle pepper and mix mix that in too. The flavor will pair nicely with the sweet potatoes!



Pull from oven and serve hot.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dg2vfjqm_68g4gnbpfd&hl=en