Sweet Potato Fries

My 1 year old is eating solid foods now and some day it is a challenge to come up with healthy things to feed her. I have been reading about what a super food the sweet potato is and have been looking at different ways to bring this vegetable to the table. The vegetable is a excellent source for vitamin A, vitamin C, Vitamin B-6, dietary fiber, potassium, and iron, why wouldn't I want to serve it to my kids. So thinking of ways to eat this that did not involve the use of forks, or pureeing the sweet potato where a challenge until I remembered how many people keep telling my how good sweet potato fries are. French fries are a great finger food, my daughter has never had them that I know of (a question for my husband perhaps?) so why not make her first experience a healthy one. I looked up some sweet potato french fries recipes and realized that I was going to want to bake them and not to season the fries so much that the nutritional benefits of the sweet potato were lost. I was amazed at the amount of recipes that called for tons of sugar my only thought was why bother adding sugar to something that is already so sweet. So here is what I came up with:

Sweet Potato Fries

1 sweet potato, peeled

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the sweet potato into strips about 1/2 inch thick. In a bowl large enough to hold the potato strips mix olive oil, salt, and paprika and toss potatoes making sure that each is coated. Place seasoned fries on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 45 minutes for a slightly crispy fry. Serve immediately.

Dean and Don's

There is a great seasonal produce place that open in April, closes in November and other than the farmer's market is the best place to gt fresh produce around here. John, Emma, and I headed over to see what was in this weekend. Wow did we find some tasty treats. John wanted a watermelon, instead of a whole one we found an already cut up one that was the right size for us, and allowed Emma to try her first bite of watermelon. I found a perfect 1/2 cantaloupe to enjoy the prosciutto sitting in my fridge with. There were pre-season strawberries that if I did not know when the right part of the season was I would not have know they were early based on the flavor of these ones. John found some shortcakes to go with so this morning we enjoyed strawberry shortcake sans the whip cream for breakfast. Plus I have two strawberry recipes that I want to try out so those are on the menu in a day or two. There was local asparagus that had some of the deepest purple tips I had ever seen. Navel oranges, new potatoes in a basket, and an apple for John rounded out our purchases. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the tomatoes that are on the menu tonight, some great beefsteaks that smelled fresh picked. I am in fresh fruit and veggie heaven and the kids are loving it too.