Sweet Hits The Spot

Sweet Hits The Spot

"French fries…not traditional fries, but fries with a not uncommon twist. Sweet potato fries."

French fries. Believe me, these little delicious slices of heaven are not finding their way onto a fat free menu. They easily find their way onto fast food and restaurant menus, or as a fitting side to a sandwich or burger. I know very few people who aren’t tempted by french fries and know even less that truly don’t desire to indulge in this fattening treat. I have no intention of disregarding the delicious flavors in healthy food, but I cannot ignore that the food that is NOT good for us, is often music to our taste buds.

The ongoing struggle for healthy eaters is finding other options to some of the most tantalizing unhealthy foods. We can tap into a turkey burger or a very lean ground beef patty versus the regular burger that packs on the pounds. We can grab a diet soda versus a regular. We can sub in salad with low fat or fat free dressing versus the regular dressings or the other side dishes that are far heavier. We can order a burger with no bread to shed those excess carbs and calories. We can eliminate butter and cooking oils in our cooking and use extra virgin olive oil.

We always have options. And finding new options, simply provide us with more choices to keep our healthy diets more interesting. I love locating new recipes that allow this to happen and I recently came across one that grabbed my attention. French fries…not traditional fries, but fries with a not uncommon twist. Sweet potato fries.

All you need is the sweet potatoes and a few spices to be able to substitute this in for its unhealthy fattening  counterpart. You simply cut the potatoes into long strips (like a normal fry), toss them with pepper, chili powder and whatever spices you would like to mix in. Throw them in the oven and bake them for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees. What you get is a healthy fry…far less calories…no fat and a little extra room in your waistband.