Garlic Roasted Potatoes

Who needs french fries when you can make garlic roasted potatoes?? They're a delicious, much healthier alternative: Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with a whole lot of flavor. The key here is the garlic. Not only is garlic one of my favorite ingredients and a part of pretty much every recipe I put together, it also has crazy benefits to our immunity. Garlic is not the only beneficial ingredient in this recipe: potatoes are a great source of carbohydrates! Why are people so afraid of carbs? Whenever I go back home to Lebanon and all the health-conscious ladies in my family attack me with questions on how to improve their diet and lose 10 pounds in 1 week, they seem to be so proud when they cut out carbs like potatoes, rice, and bread in order to shed the pounds off quickly. I cannot stress enough how important and necessary carbohydrates are for our body. Carbs are a great source of energy, so please do not cut them out completely. Carbs will not make you fat. Everything can make you gain weight if you eat a lot of it. Think smaller portions. I know you've heard this before, but "moderation is key" is really the best advice I can give you. You see, these garlic roasted potatoes are only healthier than french fries in the sense that they don't contain the "bad fats" that french fries do because the potatoes aren't deep fried. Deep-frying potatoes, and thus creating "french fries," causes the fat (the usual vegetable oil) to turn into "bad fat" and can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and other stuff you don't want. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy french fries on occasions. I emphasize portions: eating a normal serving of french fries (equal to 1 potato - about 15- 20 fries) every once in a while isn't going to kill you. Having said that, once you try these garlic roasted potatoes, you're not gonna even crave french fries anymore! Plus...these have garlic.... need I say more?

Here we go:

Ingredients: (for 2 people)

2 medium potatoes (wash well, leave skin on and cut into cubes)

4 cloves of garlic, minced (I use my mini food-chopper because I'm lazy)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon parsley dehydrated flakes

1 teaspoon corn starch (for extra crispiness!)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 400 F

I have a trick for mixing all of these together as it never seemed sufficient enough to just mix them in a bowl. What I do is I put all the ingredients in a deep tupperware, close the tupperware sealing it well, turn on the radio and find some music you can shake to, and shake the tupperware upside-down and right-side up ... You get the idea.

When they're all mixed together really well, place them in a non-stick pan in a single layer, and bake for 25-30 minutes (turn them over half way) then broil on high for 5 minutes (keep watching them or they will burn fast - i learned this the hard way) until they are crispy and have browned a bit on the top (see picture --( thanks to my talented husband :)).

Serve right away and Enjoy :)

Simply Vanilla

In my opinion, a house is not a home without that sweet, warm aroma of a freshly baked homemade cake :)

I called this cake 'Simply Vanilla' as it is probably the simplest and most basic vanilla cake you'll ever come across. However, it is also probably the tastiest vanilla cake I have ever made! And as a bonus: it's guilt-free! (Take my word for it, i majored in food science!)

Well.. it's only guilt-free if you're able to resist that second or even third slice :)

So, this was actually a lemon cake recipe my mom gave me, and i altered it into a vanilla cake recipe and cut down on the oil and omitted an egg - i couldn't help myself :) - i never have been able to follow recipes exactly the way they were given to me...

So, I made 'Simply Vanilla' yesterday and i figured it's the perfect start to my blog!

OK here it goes:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 2/3 cups of sugar

1/2 cup of oil

1 1/4 cup milk

4 teaspoons of baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of salt

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, oil, salt and milk and mix with a whisk

(or an electric mixer) for 2 minutes.

Step 2: Add in the eggs, baking powder and vanilla. Mix for 2 minutes.

Step 3: Using a spatula, transfer the mixture to a standard size cake pan. Please resist the urge to lick the spatula unless you're in the mood for some salmonella.. yummy!

Bake for 40 to 50 min at 350. Cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean from the middle.

Et voila!! Bon appetit :)