Spicy Oven Baked Steak Fries

I love me some fries...

But dang it, they are fried...you know in oil! 

Now in this day and age you can't go around eatin' french fries all the time.
And I LOVE me some fries!

So I discovered oven fries a couple of years back, and tricked myself out into thinking..."they are just like french fries".  And you know what?  They really are....maybe not a crispy, but every bit as tasty and a lot healthier. 

And I LOVE me some fries!

So here's a different version, a spicy steak fry.  I mean these babies have KICK!  You can certainly reduce the heat if you feel the need, but they are slammin!

These are really easy to make using nice russet potatoes.  I like those best for my oven fries.

Let's make some Spicy Oven Baked Steak Fries.

So you'll want to wash and peel them.  Then slice the potato in half lengthwise, and cut each half in half again so you have planks.  You'll have about 4 plank or more per potato.  Lay each plank down flat and slice in to medium or large sized steak fries.

Once you've done that you just need to drizzle with a nice olive oil, then sprinkle on the spices.  I used, salt, cracked black pepper, cumin, and red pepper flakes.

Lay them out flat on a large baking sheet.  Bake them in a 450 degree preheated oven for about 15 min.  Then turn them over to brown on the other side and cook for another 10 min. 

All done!  Spicy Oven Baked Steak Fries....Smokin"!

Spicy Oven Baked Steak Fries

serves 4

2 large russet potatoes
olive oil for drizzling
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t cumin
1/4 to 1/2 t red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Wash and peel potatoes.  Slice potatoes in half and then in to planks.  Slice each plank in to medium or large steak fry wedges. 

Drizzle olive oil over potatoes.  Sprinkle with all seasoning, tossing to cover.  Place potatoes flat on a large baking pan.  Cook for 15 min.  Take out and turn over to brown the other side.  Return to oven and bake another 10 min. or until golden brown.  Serve warm.

Creamy Feta and Red Onion Dressing

Some may disagree, but sometimes the best topper to a salad is the dressing.

Today I wanted to share with your a creamy feta dressing that's a little bit zippy.  This dressing has bite.  It will liven up your salad, making you say Mmmmnnn!

It's creamy, cheesy, and a little zippy.  Oh, and it's super simple to make and keeps in the fridge for 5 days.  You can also use it as a dip with cut vegetables.  Yum!

Let's make dressing:
Place sour cream, milk, feta cheese, red onion, and cracked black pepper in a medium bowl.  You can adjust the amount of milk to make this thicker or more thin.

Stir until well combined.

I hope you make the dressing and try it on your salad tonight!

Creamy Feta and Red Onion Dressing

1/2 c lite sour cream
4 T 2% milk
1/3 c crumbled feta cheese
2 T chopped red onion
1/2 t cracked black pepper

In a medium bowl combine all ingredients and stir together until well blended.  Serve over salad.

French Toast Waffles

Sunday Breakfast

Time to slow down, savor the weekend with family, and have a nice hearty breakfast. 

I think I may have mentioned that I LOVE breakfast!  There's something so homey about eating a great breakfast.  Most days I don't have time...it's more of a grab and go thing.  But when the weekend comes...oh boy, look out!  I always make a special something for breakfast!

I love pancakes, waffles, biscuits, french toast, muffins, bagels, hash browns, and we can through some eggs in there too for good measure.

So when I came across this recipe from Cooking Light for French Toast Waffles, I thought, "How cool!  French toast that looks like a waffle...how'd they do that?"

Well it's easy as can be and comes out tasting great, and looks really cute too!  You just make your french toast, and then cook it in a waffle iron instead of a skillet.  The iron make those cute little waffle dents in the toast, and still toast the bread up all nice an custardy!  How cool is that?

So let's make some French Toast Waffles.

Get out your waffle iron and spray it with some non stick spray, then let it heat up while you get the french toast ready.

Take your milk, Splenda, melted butter, cinnamon, vanilla, and eggs and place them in a medium bowl.  Whisk until everything is incorporated and light.

Cut some french bread in to 1/2 thick slices and place it in a 9x13 pan.  I used some day old french bread that I made in my bread machine, so my slice were long, almost like two pieces together.  Woohoo, bigger pieces!

Pour the custard over the bread.  Make sure to push the bread down in the custard so that it is completely soaked.  Let the bread stand in the custard for about 5 minutes.

Tick-tock, tick-tock...hard to wait....!

Place the pieces of bread in the hot waffle iron.  Close the lid and cook 5 - 7 minutes.  Check to make sure they are done and golden brown.  As you see my bread was long and my iron only hold 2 slices.  Your may hold 4 if you cut them smaller, or have a larger iron.

Repeat with all pieces of bread.  Serve with some heated syrup and some bacon, and it's chow time!  Man, I'm getting hungry just writing this!

See how cute they look?

Make sure to carve out some time to have a Sunday Breakfast, or any day will do!  Oh, and try these cute French Toast Waffles...they are fabulous!

French Toast Waffles

Adapted from Cooking Light
serves 4 (4 waffles each)

Ingredients

Cooking Spray
1 cup fat-free milk
1 tablespoon Splenda
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
16 (1/2-inch-thick) slices day-old French bread (about 7 ounces)

Preparation

Coat waffle iron with cooking spray, and preheat.

Combine milk and the next 5 ingredients (milk through eggs), stirring well with a whisk. Place bread in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish; pour milk mixture over bread, turning to coat. Let stand 5 minutes.

Place bread slices on hot waffle iron.  (mine holds 2 slices, large irons may hold up to 4 slices) Cook for 5 - 7 minutes or until done; repeat the procedure with the remaining bread.


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