Instead of posting a recipe for today (mostly because I don’t have one …) I decided to make yam fries, as per the recipe posted here on Kyla Roma‘s wonderful blog. (If you haven’t checked it out yet, you probably should!)

I’ve never made yam fries before, but they’re freaking dee-lish (Rachael Ray whaaa?) so I figured I’d be all domestic and make them from scratch.

First, it started off with peeling the freak-of-nature giant yam (FONGY):

This guy was huge! Kyla’s recipe called for two medium yams, but the grocery store only had steroid-sized ones. They aren’t easy to peel either, with all the funny dips and bumps.

So after peeling, it was time to cut into fry-sized pieces, and I managed to do so without losing any of my fingers; Good thing too, as I was home alone and probably wouldn’t have been able to drive myself to the hospital. I put them in a bowl as I prepped the “glaze”:

The glaze consisted of olive oil, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. (Note to self: cayenne pepper, like many other peppers, will make you sneeze if anywhere near the nose.) I honestly didn’t think it was going to be enough to coat the julienned FONGY, but it did quite nicely! Here’s le glaze:

I also noticed that the syrup comes right off the tablespoon if you use it for the oil first! Yay!

It was now time to toss my fries onto my baking sheet and spread ’em out nice and even like. I thought I was going to need a bigger sheet, but it worked out okay!

So from there they went into the oven for 30 minutes, with a quick toss half way. While I was waiting for them to cook, I made the yummy sauce consisting of mayonnaise, ketchup, hot sauce, cayenne and lemon juice. It was really tasty!

My fries came out of the oven a little mushy but still AMAZING. A couple got stuck to my baking sheet where I didn’t hit it with cooking spray but there was so much for little ol’ me to me!

So final verdict! AWESOME! I may have added a little too much cayenne as it was slightly spicy (or maybe that was the powder stuck in my  nose) but over all, they were really good and EASY to make! Thanks Kyla for sharing that with everyone!

Do you like yam fries?

Yeah, okay, not everyone likes meatloaf and it has a little bit of a bad rep, but who hasn’t grown up without having “Mom’s Mystery Meat?” (Unless you’re a vegetarian). It’s a good stick-to-your-ribs dish, and with the right spices, it’s amazing.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced (I use three large cloves, but I love garlic!)
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup bread or cracker crumbs
• 1 tbsp freshly chopped oregano or 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp ketchup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a skillet over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic in the oil. Remove from stove and set aside to cool. (Now, I skip this part normally, but it does add a nice flavour to the meatloaf in the end!)

In a large bowl, combine beef, eggs, bread crumbs, oregano, mustard, salt, pepper and onion and garlic mixture. Form a loaf and place into a loaf pan. Cover evenly with ketchup. (I don’t put the ketchup on top since Kyle doesn’t like it.)

Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Allow to rest and enjoy!

Suggested sides: Potatoes, rice, green beans