Cheese--I mean, Garlic--Fries

OK, I must confess up front: These are not the kind of cheese fries you are likely expecting. In fact, it might be unfair to even call them cheese fries (but don't shoot the messenger!).

I'll admit that when I clicked through to the recipe on Cooking Light's website, I was a little bit disappointed, too. Because I would have given my left leg for a "light" version of real CHEESE FRIES. C'mon now.

Looking back, I should have known it was too good to be true.

Still, these sounded good and had great reviews, so we decided to go ahead and make them.

A bit time consuming? Well, cutting potatoes into thin strips can take a few minutes. Baking them for an hour eats up some time, too (obviously). But we planned ahead and they were worth the trouble. Overall, a good texture--I did overcook them a little bit--and great flavors. Really garlicky, and the parmesan added a punch. Yum.

For our fries, I used dried parsley because fresh herbs are always too expensive at my grocery store. And lord knows I'm not going to find them anywhere else around here at this time of year. I just used less of it since dried is always more potent than fresh. We also left the skins on the potatoes because, well, they're good that way.

OK, and now that I've gone back to Cooking Light to cite the recipe, I realize that I am a dirty, dirty liar. They aren't actually called cheese fries, but garlic fries. Whoops. I had done a search for cheese fries and these guys came up, so I guess in my mind, I wanted them to be cheese fries. *sigh* What an idiot. Don't mind me.

Just uh... yeah. Where was I going with this?

Garlic Fries
(Source: Cooking Light)

Ingredients:
4 tsp. canola oil
3/4 tsp. salt
3 lbs. peeled baking potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips (we left skins on)
Cooking spray
2 tbsp. butter (used margarine)
8 garlic cloves, minced (about 5 teaspoons)
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley (we used 1 tbsp. dried parsley flakes)
2 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag, tossing to coat. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet (we had to use two baking sheets) coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 50 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning after 20 minutes.

3. Place butter and garlic in a large nonstick skillet, and cook over low heat 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add potatoes, parsley, and Parmesan cheese to pan; toss to coat. Serve immediately.

I used less potatoes than the recipe called for, but we still ended up with way too many, even for two really hungry people. Next time, we will probably halve this recipe so we aren't tempted to eat so many.