Perfectly Crisp Sweet Potato Fries

Have you ever made sweet potato fries at home, only to totally fail and shamefully serve soggy fries to your family? I know the feeling all to well. 

I love making homemade fries with sweet potatoes or butternut squash because my girls love them! Sometimes, when I'm in a hurry and don't have time to soak, dry, bake, and flip, I have no choice but to serve soggy fries. That's just life and soggy fries happen. 

BUT, on other occasions, I make the perfect sweet potato fries and they create fights! Literally! When there are 10 fries left on the plate, Sophia starts hoarding them and quickly shoves the last  fries in her mouth before anyone can get their hands on them. We are usually eating the left over food on our kid's plates after dinner, but not when momma makes these!

Perfectly Crisp Sweet Potato Fries

What you’ll need:

2 medium/large sweet potatoes
1 egg white
Salt
Garlic salt, paprika,or any other herb/spice)

What you do:

Peel and cut potatoes into even strips. To make sure they cook evenly, try to make the slices as even as possible.

Soak potato strips in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes. Drain and pat completely dry.

Preheat oven to 425 F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, add egg white and beat until foamy.
Add potatoes, salt, and other spices. Toss around to coat.
Spread potato slices onto baking sheet, making sure they are not overlapping or over crowded.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Take out and flip the fries over.

Bake for another 15 minutes or until completely cooked.
Reduce temperature to 200F and dry/crisp fries for 15 minutes. 

***Occasionally vent the oven to allow the steam to escape. This will help crisp up the fries more. ***

ENJOY!

XOXO

Tuesday Thoughts

Whoa! I'm kinda exhausted and it's only Tuesday guys! Today's been a whirlwind of stuff and I'm finally sitting down (for a minute) to write down some....

Tuesday Thoughts

1. I need to stick to my To-Do lists. They really make life so much more manageable.

2. Don't attempt to sing & dance with a jar of mayonnaise in your hand. I did, and the jar dropped and busted open all over my kitchen floor. That will really put a damper on your happy sandwich makin' mood.

3. I really hate when I get done with an errand and have an hour or so until I have to pick up Sophia from school. I just don't know what to do with my life & that hour. Should I go all the way home and get 30 minutes of work done, go to the store and spend money, or just drive around hoping that Nelpe will take a nap?

4. I feel like I've done a lot of Christmas shopping, but haven't really bought for anyone but my girls....and that's a problem. Especially since I told myself time and time again that I was going real small this Christmas since we're trying to sell the house. We don't need anymore stuff in the already cluttered house but I can't stop clicking on that Purchase button. It's an addiction.

5. I had to get breakfast for a meeting this morning and I got some donuts and coffee from Dunkin Donuts. I tried a cup of the coffee and I'm pretty sure that DD is just making black colored water and selling it. (Its kind of like when you start drinking Craft beers and then have a Michelob Ultra and it tastes like water.)  BUT I did eat a Blueberry donut and all my nasty coffee thoughts went away...

6. Speaking of Dunkin Donuts, they have some cute holiday donuts to bring to teachers or coworkers. ;)

I hope you all had a wonderfully productive Tuesday! 

XOXO

Shopping Days & Anxiety Week

Happy Happy Monday!! This Monday is not your regular Monday...it's CYBER Monday! A day all online shopping addicts rejoice! 

All of you who participated in Black Friday might have already emptied the wallets for the week. I used to be ALL about Black Friday...waking up at 3 a.m. to go to the outlets, then heading to Walmart afterwards to get some junk $200 TVs, and finally getting home around 10 a.m. to go to sleep and dream happily about all my great purchases! I would seriously almost drain my bank account on Black Friday. That was then...this is now. Four years ago was my last Black Friday shopping extravaganza and probably my last. 

This year stores opened on Thanksgiving at 6 p.m....how do you feel about that? I think it was lame and sales were actually down this year so HA! I'm laughing at you big box corporations trying to ruin the holiday of Thanksgiving. Black Friday is called Black FRIDAY for a reason. I don't know how many emails I got about Black Friday sales starting the Monday before and then on the Saturday after I got emails about "Black Friday sales extended!" Please...just stop and keep it on Black Friday. That's why it used to be so fun and exciting because you had to rush to get those sales that were only available on that day...now it's like "OK this sale has been going on all week...soooooo why am I waking up early and putting up with traffic, circling parking lots, and standing in long lines at the registar?!

Online shopping is where it's at people. Especially with most stores offering the same exact deals online plus free shipping, why not online shop?! And speaking of online shopping... you should totally shop at www.WeTheYoungApparel.com ;) 
***Enter Code: CYBERMONDAY at checkout for 20% off entire purchase!*** Yes sir!!

And I'll end my shopping rant with that shameless business plug.

So, onto this beautiful first week of December! School is back in session, which is why I'm sitting at my computer right now writing this and getting work done. This is the busiest week on my calender for the rest of this year. I'm doing my first market booth for WeTheYoung on Saturday, so I've been spending countless hours getting everything ready for that. On top of tagging and steaming clothes and designing the layout and look for the booth (which I still don't know how I'm doing it...), I have 3 parties and 1 meeting (which I'm providing food for) this week. 

To add one more layer of fun to the week, we are getting our house ready to put on the market and pictures will be taken on Wednesday. Do you know how nearly impossible it is to keep a house clean with 2 kids and 2 dogs making national disasters in your living room every hour on the hour?! I'm sure some of you do know and can feel my anxiety level through the computer screen. 

You know what I say to all of that? Bring it on!!! And bring it on with truckloads of espresso!!! I'm just going to smile right through this week!

Have a great Monday & great week people!!
XOXO

THANKFUL

How is everyone feeling today? Still stuffed from yesterday's food events?

I'm feeling a little stuffy but not with food. My nose is stuffed up and my voice sounds like I'm a veteran smoker. Besides that, Thanksgiving was wonderful! Spent time with family, both immediate and extended, eating food and just enjoying each other's company. The girls had a blast playing with their cousins and the weather was chilly and holiday perfect. 

We started off the day with a 5k Turkey Trot

then headed home to cook and get ready for the big dinner event at my mom's house. 

At my mom's, the turkeys were cooked (one fried and one baked)

and then carved. 

After eating turkey, mac-n-cheese, sweet potato casserole, many different vegetable casseroles, brussel sprouts, stuffing, salad, and rolls, we washed all that down with cake, pie, cookies, and caramel popcorn (all homemade). Goodness :) 

After all food was devoured, we spent some time outside by the fire, going through the Black Friday ads (Sophia showed Grammy EVERYTHING she wanted) and watching the kids play outside. 

The perfect Thanksgiving....

I hope everyone enjoyed time with their family and/or friends! If you were working or did not get to spend Thanksgiving with family, I hope you had a great day anyways!

XOXO

 

Chicken Pot Pie & Thanksgiving Menus

Last night was the beginning of our Thanksgiving festivities. Katie (brother's wife/sister-in-law) made a delicious homemade Chicken Pot Pie for us! When she asked if we wanted to come over for some Chicken Pot Pie, I thought about the last time I actually ate a chicken pot pie. (I like saying "chicken pot pie"!) I believe the last chicken pot pie I had was more than 10 years ago and it was a frozen Marie Challender. Sorry Marie, but you've got serious competition. Katie's chicken pot pie was beyond good and I will not go another 10 years without Chicken Pot Pie. I will now demand Katie's chicken pot pie a numerous times a year!

So today is Thanksgiving Eve...it might as well be called Black Wednesday for grocery stores. A day when grocery store parking lots are jammed packed, all the cans of sweet potatoes and chicken broth are sold out, and you have to park all the way in the back and actually walk more than 100 feet to the store. Goodness...

It's still early in the morning right now and I'm already making my strategic plan for grocery shopping today. I have officially waited until the last minute to get my supplies for our Thanksgiving menu. My excuse is that school is out and grocery shipping with two youngin's is one of the furthest things down the list of fun. But it's come to the day that I can no longer avoid it. 

My responsibilities for Thanksgiving this year are the Macaroni & Cheese and a vegetable side dish.
When I told my husband I was making the mac-n-cheese, he told me to find the fattiest recipe I could find because it would be the best! (Sticks of butter makes everything better) Since it's Thanksgiving and we're all setting our scales back 10 pounds anyways, I'm going to go ahead and just make the ultimate cheesiest mac n cheese I possibly can. But, to even out the playing fields, I'm also going to bring a brussel sprout side dish. ;)

These are the two recipes I'll be making for Thanksgiving this year:

Creamy Gruyere, White Cheddar, and Parmesan Macaroni and Cheese by Solid Gold Eats

Pan Seared Brussel Sprouts with Cranberries & Pecans from Rachel Schultz

I can't wait to eat tomorrow!!! 

XOXO

Adopting New Thanksgiving Traditions

Hey guys!! How is your week starting off? 

If you're working, the good news is that it's a short week since Thanksgiving is Thursday...unless you work in retail. If you do, then this week just might be your biggest nightmare {screams of horror just thinking about Black Friday}.

I want to know about Thanksgiving family traditions. Because I'm looking to start some :)

The traditions we have in my family is everyone coming to my mom's house to eat food, food, and more food. We usually do 2-3 turkeys! One fried, one baked, and one smoked. Good stuff all around.

So I guess our only "real" Thanksgiving traditions are what's put on the table and who comes to gather around the table. We've gone back and forth throughout the years on different ways to some how go around the table and say what we're thankful for. Whether we write them down on a piece of paper or just go around the table one by one. Nothing has really stuck. The times are changing in my family since my siblings and I are growing our own little families and I think this is a good time to start some new traditions.  

Of course I took to Pinterest to look at what other people do on Thanksgiving (besides cook and eat delicious food) and found some awesome ideas! 

Five Kernels of Corn - just from my preliminary findings there are many different ways to do this.

StoneGable Blog

Thankful Tree - Starting at the beginning of November, ask the kids what they are thankful for. Write each on a different leaf and glue, tape, hang with string, etc onto a tree of choice. 

SimplyVintagegirl

Blessing Jar - This is very similar to the Thankful tree in that it can be started earlier than Thanksgiving (or just on Thanksgiving day). Everyone in the family writes down things they are thankful for through the year or month. The pieces of paper are read out loud during Thanksgiving dinner. 

Thanksgiving Tablecloth - Start with a plain white tablecloth and set out a pair of permanent markers for family and friends to write down what they are thankful for along with the year. Use the same table cloth every year and watch the blessings grow!

 The 2 Seasons

I think I may be starting some new traditions this year! Check back Friday to see which one we adopted!

XOXO

Conversations with Sophia

Last night as my husband and Sophia finally got into bed around 11 p.m., I asked what they had been doing. His response was "Oh you know... Sophia just being a handful". His definition of a handful at that hour was Sophia asking for thing after thing, not letting him "enjoy" the Sunday night football game. (It's comical for him to actually think he would be able to sit down and enjoy an entire football game in this house)

Sophia’s usual 9 p.m. requests are blueberry yogurt (no other flavor is accepted), pretzels, water, and to read her 134 bedtime books.

My response to my husband was, "yeah that's what my entire week looks like". 

This morning marks the start of an entire week of no school for Sophia. It's not bad if I don't have any errands to run and entirely push my to-do list aside. I know little “work” will be accomplished this week and I’m ok with that. I have to be ok with that or I’ll have an anxiety attack.

So this morning, when Sophia woke up at 9 a.m. I asked her what she wanted to do today. She told me she wanted to do the following three things:

1. Paint a picture of a rhino
2. Paint her bucket the color orange
3. Play on the playground.

Sounds like an easy day, right?! Jokes on me…

These requests made me laugh with wonder. I always have the best conversations with Sophia. They make me smile. Kids are so fun to talk to at this age because half the things they say come from somewhere, but I don't know where.

This is a little segment I like to call: Conversations with Sophia

The Bunny we don’t have

S: We need to put Bella and Rome outside.
Me: Why?
S: So they don't eat our new bunny!
Me: What bunny?
S: We're getting a bunny and Bella and Rome need to go outside!
Me: Oooh Ok, but Bella is going to be sad!
S: Of course she is going to be sad because she loves the inside but they will eat the bunny so have to go outside.
(We have no bunny and don't plan on getting one)

Possesions
S: Mommmmaaa! Are you on my iPad?
Me: Yes
S: You can't be on MY iPad!
Me: What?! Why not?!
S: Well because you don't let me use your computer!
Me: Haha you're totally right Sophia! But this is the family’s ipad so I’m going to use it…. J

The Green & Orange Fruit

S: I ate all my snack and lunch today!
Me: Alright! Good job!
S: But not the green and orange, just the yellow. I don't like green and orange ones. They aren't my favorite. (She's talking about melon and cantaloupe)
Me: Ok I'll tell dada not to put them in your lunch anymore.
S: Well…well maybe I can tell him? Please?

XOXO