Testing Out: skinnytaste.com Baked Seasoned Fries with Garlic Aioli

My last post was about the Kale panini I made and with that I ate these baked fries as my side.

Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/02/baked-seasoned-fries-with-skinny-garlic.html

Here's the breakdown of the cost for me (recipe obviously copied from that link):

• 2 medium-large Russet potatoes $1.25 for both (99 cents per pound at my Target)
• Cooking spray instead of using olive oil from the bottle ($2 for a can, but used literally a few sprays so 5 cents max)
• 1 tbsp herbs de provence (or use a combo of dried rosemary, thyme, marjoram) (5 cents max)
• NOTE: I don't have thyme or marjoram so I opted for just dry rosemary for this part
• 1/4 tsp oregano (2 cents max)
• NOTE: I used dry oregano from a bottle from Target
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (2 cents max)
• NOTE: I couldn't find SMOKED paprika, so I used regular paprika. Fries turned out just fine
• 1/4 tsp chili powder (2 cents max)
• 1/4 tsp onion powder (2 cents max)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder (2 cents max)
• 1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper (2 cents max)
• fresh lime zest
• NOTE: I omitted this because I couldn't be bothered to buy lime to just use the zest from the skin. Honestly the fries turned out just fine without the zest. I'm sure the zest could add a kick but to me it isn't necessary. Add it if you want to.

GRAND TOTAL: $1.47 for an amount that yielded the equivalent of one order of regular fries from 5 Guys Burger and Fries restaurant. Those of you who have been to 5 Guys knows their order of regular fries is a giant amount of fries. 2 medium-large potatoes sliced into 1/4 inch size yielded that much. This is approximately half the cost of spending on the regular fries at 5 Guys.

Here's my picture of the baked fries. You can click the recipe link at the beginning of this post to compare mine to hers to see how it turned out. I won't repost the website's picture because I don't have permission to use her picture, so that's why I'm just redirecting you to go to her recipe link.

Looks pretty legit doesn't it? Though you can clearly see I went seasoning-happy and overdid the seasoning.

WHAT I THINK OF THE FRIES AND THE TURN OUT:

First of all, these are BAKED fries, not deep fried in oil, so don't expect these fries to have that same crispiness like McDonald's, Checker's/Rally's fries or Buffalo Wild Wing fries etc. Having said that, it isn't necessarily soggy and limp. It still has a slight crispiness to it that makes it still feel like fries enough.

Second, I won't lie, I didn't measure out each teaspoon or tablespoon of seasoning and powders. I eyeballed it. Something to note, if you don't like your fries spicy, go ahead and omit the chili powder and crushed chili flakes that I decided to add, or simply go very light on those two. My fries last night turned out too spicy for my preference because I shook out too much chili powder and chili flakes. But I know next time to go light on it!

So, you probably got a hint or two now that these fries turned out "just fine" as I typed out, but really, these turned out GREAT. This fries recipe made it a point to NOT use salt, but rather, other herbs and spices to flavor it so that you can reduce your sodium intake for the day. We all know too much salt isn't good for us. And I'm happy to report that not using even the slightest amount of salt still yielded delicious fries.

My boyfriend was quite impressed. He honestly isn't a picky eater and generally likes everything, except that he hates seafood, but, when something catches his attention, he will make a comment about it, otherwise he will just tell me "thank you for dinner" at the end of the meal. But when he bit into these fries, he was like wow, these are pretty good! SCORE! It makes me happy when he gets impressed by my cooking haha! I feel accomplished.

These were VERY EASY to make. It's just SLIGHTLY time consuming to cut each and every fry by hand because I don't have an automatic fries-cutter like In-N-Out burger has. But after you cut the fries, all you got to do is spray them lightly with the oil spray, shake out all the seasoning evenly, and mix with your hands, place them evenly on a foil on a baking sheet, bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes depending how thick you cut your fries, and voila, you've got these fries.

NOTE: I did not make the garlic aioli sauce because I didn't feel it was necessary to add more calories when these fries were already flavorful, but feel free to make the dip. I'm sure it would taste great.

CALORIE INTAKE:

I am happy to report that the skinnytaste.com's estimate of calorie intake for one serving (1 potato, or half of a regular order of fries at 5 guys amount) is only 198 calories. Whereas fried fries from restaurants are MINIMUM double or triple the calories due to the oil used. My boyfriend ate 1 potato's worth of fries last night and I ate maybe at most half because I'm small, so really I probably only ate like 100 calories worth of fries last night and I ended the meal satisfied from my fries craving.


Alright I shall end my post here. I wrote a lot. Thank you for stopping by and reading! Hope this review helped you before you decide to commit time into making these in the kitchen.

See y'all in my next post! Happy eating!