Help The Students Event: Day 1

Welcome to the kick off of Help the Students event.  For the next month you will be seeing recipes that are student friendly.  Recipes that use simple, easy to find ingredients.  Recipes that are straight forward and easy to prepare.  You will also find tips, tricks, shopping ideas, economical ideas and special guest posts from fantastic food bloggers.

I thought I would kick off day one with a simple homemade oven fries recipe.  This guys are so versatile and great at anytime of the day.  Yes you read it right!  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – these are a hit!  My Dad used to tell me growing up that fries in brown paper bags are the best.

I have had them a few times at restaurants and I do agree with him.  A fun novelty that you can for sure create at home.

Ingredients

• 3-4 Baking Potatoes (sliced)
• 2 Tbsp. Olive oil
• 1 Tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 Tsp. Salt
• 1 Tsp. Black pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line cookie sheet with parchment paper
2. Slice potatoes and then rinse well and pat dry with paper towel.
3. In a large bowl add potatoes, olive oil, salt, garlic, black pepper and mix well
4. Pour out on a cookie sheet and bake 20-25 minutes turning occasionally until golden brown.
5. Remove from oven and serve on plate or in a brown paper bag.
6. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Ensure the potatoes are very dry before starting the baking process.  If any amount of liquid is present, the potatoes will steam and not become crispy.  Once they come out of the oven and screaming hot… hit them with a little bit of salt.

Freestyle Variation: Add some heat if you are in the mood by tossing with a little cayenne pepper or a few dashes of hot sauce.  A nice finishing touch is to add Parmesan cheese with about 5 minutes to go in the cooking process.

I hope you enjoyed Day 1 of Help The Student event.  Feel free to send along your recipe or tips if you would like to be featured this month.  Students all over the world will benefit from your experiences.  Have a super Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Hollar! How goes your Wednesday? Mine seems to be trucking along as well as it could for a work week hump day. As I thought last night what I could share with you today – it took me all of 30 seconds as I knew I wanted to share this fabulous frosting recipe. Super easy, very quick and oh my god – so good!

Ideally this is meant for cakes, cupcakes or dessert like recipes but I am pretty sure you could rub this on your old car bumper and it would be just fine!  You have to try this for your next baking expedition.  It is an old classic and very similar to my “famous” ( in my own mind) How to make boiled icing post but with a slight variation.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Water
• 1/4 Tsp. Cream of tarter
• 1/8 Tsp. Salt
• 2 Unbeaten egg whites
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

Method

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
2. Very slowly add the above sugar mixture to the unbeaten egg whites in a mixing bowl, beating constantly with an electric mixer until peaks form.
3. Beat in vanilla during the peak forming process.
4. Once stiff set aside and prepare to ice whatever you like.
5. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: You want to beat it long enough to form the peaks and create the stiff texture to ensure it “STICKS” to the cake.  You may want to use a timer if this is your first time and or nervous of making a mistake.

Help Zesty…. Help The Students

Remember back to my Turkey and Blueberry post from Monday, I mentioned that I had a fun announcement and idea that you could participate in and share.

For the month of September, I want to create a series of posts that share “fun, simple, healthy and cost saving meal ideas”.  A slight variation on the idea is that if I have enough participation I will post every day of the month or at least the weekdays.  So here is where the fun comes in – I am asking all the readers whether you have a blog or not to send me a recipe with a picture that fits the topic and I will post it and link back to your blog or give credit however you would like.

Sound fun?  I think so.  I committed to my niece that I would “Get Zesty” and share some simple ideas to get them through the dinner time on their own.  To join in and help students all over the world – just pop me an email and submit your recipe/idea and I will take it from there.  I would like to thank everyone in advance for taking the time to help.

Have a super Wednesday and I will touch base with you on Friday with something else yummy to eat and an update on the “Help the Students” idea.

Take care

zesty