Sweet Potato Fries

Did you know....that sweet potatoes are an excellent source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, fiber, iron, and a slew of other vitamins and minerals?

Did you know...that there are over 400 varieties of sweet potato, ranging from white to dark purple? (Did you know...that the only variety I've ever seen or eaten, and you've probably seen or eaten, is the creamy reddish orange kind?)

Did you know...that Christopher Columbus brought sweet potatoes back to Europe after his first visit to America in 1492?

Did you know...that studies show that roasting sweet potatoes leaves more of the healthy compounds intact than boiling sweet potatoes? (no worries, these little guys are roasted...)

These sweet potato fries are one of the most easy and fun side dishes that I've ever made for a quick weeknight meal. They are very inexpensive - at my grocery store, sweet potatoes are running <$1.00 apiece, and you only need a couple for this recipe. Let them bake while you're getting the rest of your meal ready. I served these fries along jerk-seasoned turkey burgers and it was so wonderful knowing that these weren't fried in grease. The sweet flavor is very prominent and these fries definitely don't go well with ketchup (in my opinion). We ate them plain but it would be fun to try them with ranch or honey mustard.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Fries

2-4 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed and patted dry

olive oil

salt

1. Heat oven to 400. Peel sweet potatoes with potato peeler (or you can leave the skin on for extra nutrients!)

2. Slice sweet potatoes into thin strips - and try to slice them evenly, so they cook evenly. I found the easiest way to do this was chop the rounded ends off, then cut the potato in half again and again until I was left with little strips. Remember, the thinner they are, the quicker they look.

3. Place potato strips on large baking sheet so no fries are overlapping. Drizzle with olive oil and salt; shake the pan to coat evenly (another option here is to spray with Pam, or even better, use an olive oil spray can to evenly spray olive oil onto the fries.)

4. Bake for 20 minutes, and flip the fries. Bake another 20 minutes. Test for tenderness somewhere along there - if you like them, you can remove them early. If you want crunchy, let them go longer. Have fun!