How to Make Potato Chips in the Microwave

I was really surprised at how delicious this recipe for healthy microwave potato chips was.   

The men in our family loved it, too.

It was also surprisingly easy to make.

It is important to slice the potatoes thin, so it is best to use a mandolin.  Also it only makes a small batch at a time.

How To Make Microwave Potato Chips  from http://www.thekitchn.com

What You Need

Ingredients
1 or more potatoes or other root vegetable, scrubbed clean
Salt and other seasonings, optional
Olive oil, optional

Equipment
Mandoline
Bowl of cold water
Microwave-safe plate
Paper towels

Instructions

1. Thinly Slice the Potato - Cut the potato in half. Slice one half on a mandoline, aiming for slices 1/8 to 1/16-inch thick. Immediately put the slices in cold water. Repeat with the other half of the potato and any other potatoes you are preparing.

2. Soak and Rinse the Slices - Rinse the slices in cold water until the water stays clear. If you have time, let them soak for a few extra minutes before rinsing.

3. Dry the Slices - Dry the slices between two clean dish cloths or spin them in a salad spinner.

4. Season the Slices - Arrange as many slices as will fit in a single layer on a dinner plate lines with a few paper towels. Make sure the slices do not touch or else they stick together. If desired, sprinkle with salt or other spices. For richer-tasting chips, brush the slices with olive oil first.

5. Microwave the Slices - Microwave the slices at 100% power for 3 minutes. Flip them over and microwave at 50% power for another 3 minutes. Remove any chips that are starting to crisp and brown. Continue cooking the remaining chips at 50% power in 1 minute intervals until they are all crispy and golden.

6. Repeat with Remaining Batches - Transfer cooked chips to a bowl and repeat microwaving with the remaining slices of potato.

Storing - Chips will stay crispy for a few days if kept in an airtight container or zip-lock bag. You can also prepare the raw slices ahead of time, store them in cold water in the refrigerator, and bake them off as you want them.

Tame your wild plastic grocery bags

This may be one of my favorite things from pinterest.

Football fold grocery bags for compact storage.  It is easy, fun and dramatically reduces the space they take.

You can go to this link for instructions with pictures, but basically you fold the bag in fourths lengthwise, fold from the bottom up in triangles and tuck the end in.  Just like when you made footballs out of paper in school.

Drop several into the bottom of your small trashcans so when you change bags there is a new one ready right there.

broccoli cabbage salad and no-bake nutella cheesecake

Annie pinned a recipe for a broccoli cabbage salad. I made it today for lunch along with the guacamole bruschetta. It was so yummy. So so so yummy! It was also really easy. I mixed red cabbage, broccoli, craisins, and chopped almonds. I put poppyseed dressing on it and mixed it really well. So good.

I also made no-bake nutella cheesecake. This was to die for! It was easy and looked pretty.

Chore Cards

My children and chores have not been very compatible lately. Heather pinned these Chore Cards on Pinterest, and I LOVED the idea - so I made some! The kids get to begin using them tomorrow. They can get their cards punched for walking the dog, doing their homework, practicing their instruments, sorting the laundry, taking out the trash, cleaning their room, etc. I made each of them there own chore chart to go with the cards. This way they know what is expected daily, weekly and as needed (emptying the trash, for instance), without being reminded. I'm really excited about this - let's hope it works!

Here's a pic of the ones that I made: (at the bottom it says "Do your chores, get a punch. Punch them all, get a prize!" Noah told me he didn't want to get punched, that might hurt!)

Yummy Recipes

Tonight for dinner I made the Low Country Shrimp Boil that I found on Pinterest under One Pot Wonders. It was SO yummy - everyone in the family found something that they liked and ate. I threw in some rolls and it was a wonderful dinner. I also made the Oven Baked Ham & Cheese Sliders and my whole family loved them. It's the first time I've made recipes that everyone liked. Yay for Pinterest!

Tuna and Avocado Wraps

Tried this recipe for tuna and avocado wraps.  Perfectly delicious.  I will never use mayonnaise in tuna again-avocado was much better.


Ingredients (serves 1)

1 (5 oz) can of wild albacore tuna in water
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1/2 jalapeno, diced small
1/2 medium avocado
1/2 lime
Kosher salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
2 butter lettuce leaves

I left out the jalapeno, added celery and used a whole avocado.

dinner and dessert

We had a "pinterest" dinner and dessert. For dinner we had "guacamole bruschetta" and for dessert we had "salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars". Everything was delicious!!! I added balsamic lime chicken on top of the guacamole and it was wonderful.

Guacamole Bruschetta

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ratatoille

I found this recipe for Ratatouille on Pinterest.  I loved the idea of it but it seems like lots of work.  So I made up my own simpler version.  It is really delicious and so easy to make.  Find my new recipe below the original version.

Ratatouille – as seen in the movie!

November 23, 2007 by mylifeofcrime

Ratatouille’s Ratatouille
As envisioned by Smitten Kitchen

½ onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.

Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside. (Tricky, I know, but the hardest thing about this.)

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Serve with a dab of soft goat cheese on top, alone, or with some crusty French bread, atop polenta, couscous, or your choice of grain.

Simple Quick Ratatouille

½ onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bell pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small eggplant
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 tomato
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp tomato boullion (or chicken)

Cut vegetables into about 1 inch chunks.  Saute onions, garlic and peppers in olive oil until slightly browned.  Add remaining vegetables, water and boullion.  Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes.  It tastes great even if you don't have all of the vegetables.  

Italian buttercream

I have been wanting to switch up what kind of frosting I use. "American buttercream", what I normally do, is super sweet and most people scrape it off. Pinterest is great for finding new recipes, and this Italian buttercream recipe is a real keeper! It is quite a bit of work and I could never have done it without my KitchenAid, but it is heavenly, both the texture and the taste. The picture is of the cake I made today, frosted in Italian buttercream and covered in dark chocolate ganache. The buttercream recipe can be found here.

Growing Scallions

I loved the idea of growing scallions in the window sill.  I had green onions in the refrigerator, so I put them in water and watched them grow.  They grew like crazy, but the water smelled awful.  I don't like bad smells in my kitchen, so I trimmed off the tops and planted the green onions in potting soil.  I planted them just a few days ago and they are already growing beautifully and NO smell.  Now when I want scallions I can just snip some off of my plant.  ( I would post a picture of the plant, but my SD card isn't working.)