Menu monday and recipe 17

I'm clearly falling behind with recipes this month, but I realized early on that would happen, so I'm not too surprised or distressed.  This week will be short as far as recipes go, as well.  I'm super busy the next few days, and then on Friday, we drive to LA to go to Ren Faire with Cindy!  Weeeee!  So excited by this!  But, it does mean that I'm unlikely to cook anytime on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.  Also, I need to make sure I don't have a ton of leftovers in the fridge when we leave for the weekend.  Also, Mu suggested we celebrate me being done with my first (most stressful) draft of my dissertation proposal.  And my friend Jane suggested dinner on another day.  So, this week will be less a week of recipes and more...two days.  Huh.  Well, I do intend to keep doing this past April, so I guess it's not the end of the world.  With all that, here's the plan for the next few days.

Monday: Sweet potato fries and salad (not really new)
Tuesday: Probably nothing, since Mu and I are gonna go to dinner, but I may cook something small to have lunch on Wednesday.  Oh, and I'll do fruit tupperwares again.
Wednesday: Either dinner with Jane or potato pancakes from last week, this time with green onions
Thursday: See Wednesday :)
Friday: Nothing, we'll be driving all day.  Although if we can't leave right after my lab meeting, I may cook something for the road.
Saturday: Nothing, unless Cindy wants to cook with me in the evening.
Sunday: Not sure.  Maybe soup when we get home?  We'll certainly need dinner when we get home, but will I really want to cook?  Unclear.

Yummy salad! Now if only I had bread for croutons...

So, today I spent most of the day finishing up the first draft of my proposal, which took an inordinate amount of mental energy.  After that, I really didn't want to do anything requiring a ton of effort.  Last week, we got sweet potatoes from the CSA, as well as romaine lettuce, arugula, and radishes, and I had tomato and cucumber and avocado at home...so, salad and sweet potato fries it was!  I really don't feel that I can count the salad as a recipe, since I've done it so many times and it's really not a cooked dish, but the sweet potato fries certainly count.

Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients
3 sweet potatoes (or however many you have)
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
paprika (or whatever other spice you want)

Preheat the oven to 450F.  Wash the sweet potatoes really well so that there's no dirt on the skin.  You can peel if you want, but the skin is yummy and nutritious, so you really shouldn't.  Cut off the very thin ends so that they don't burn.  Slice each potato in half, then in half again and then again.  You can cut thinner and smaller if you want -- I did, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary.  In a bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and spices.  Make sure the pieces are coated.  Spread them out on a baking sheet so that they're in one layer.  Bake for 15 minutes, turn each piece over, and bake for 15 more.  Cool slightly (but not too much) before serving.

Hanging out, cooling down

Recipe summary
Time: 40 minutes, 30 hands-off
Serves: 3 as a main dish (with salad)
Highlights/thoughts: I'm not a frequent sweet potato eater, and I'm really not sure why.  These were easy and delicious and filling, and went surprisingly well with my green salad.  Yum.
Would I make this again? Yes!  I expect to get more sweet potatoes from the CSA in the coming weeks, and I think this is the perfect thing to do with them.