Monday Meal Makeover - Homemade Potato Chips

I'm not a huge potato chip fan, but I became less of a fan recently when I learned that most potato chips are actually made with corn byproducts and other synthetic (read: not found in nature materials) -- rather than potatoes. Kind of misleading if you ask me. So my husband (I give him full credit here) was craving something salty and when I imparted my newfound knowledge on him - he set off to recreate the "potato chip". And what he came up with is really easy and yummy.

INGREDIENTS:
whole potato, washed with skin on (as many as you want to make)
olive oil spray
sea salt

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spray cookie sheet lightly with olive oil spray.
Thinly slice the potato either long way or short way (your preference) and place on baking sheet.
When all slices are on baking sheet, lightly spray top of potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt to your taste.
Bake 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown and "pop" off the cookie sheet with a spatula.

These taste really yummy with ketchup or salsa.

One word to the wise - they don't keep for very long and need to be stored in a breathable container. So plan to eat/use them within 24 hours or so of making them.

Here's the comparison:

Lays Potato Chips:
1 serving size= 1 oz (little more than half of a single serving bag)
150 calories
10 g fat
1 g fiber
WW=4 points

Homemade Potato Chips:
1 serving size= 1/2 large potato (about 2/3 cup)
130 calories
1 g fat
3.5 g fiber
WW= 2 points

My New Years Resolution

Holy smokes!  Just three more days until 2010 officially begins!  How are you doing on those New Years resolutions?   Did you know that only one in four people actually make resolutions?   Worse -- only six percent actually manage to keep them.   I'm happy to report that for the last three years I've been part of that six percent and I'm hoping not to break my streak in 2010.

I have three resolutions this year.  Two of them are rather personal, so I'm just going to keep them between my husband and myself.  If I accomplish them, I'll let you know!    The third is where I need your help.

Last year my resolution was to reach my goal weight.  I did this in March!  51 pounds gone forever.   Now I'm struggling to maintain the weight loss.  I haven't regained anything back, but I have my weeks.  So I decided my New Year's resolution is to steal a page from the movie Julia & Julie (if you haven't seen it, highly suggest it!).   I'm going to keep a blog hoping to inspire all of you to make easy healthy lifestyle changes.  While the main blog is actually on my website: http://moonlightinspired.com   I'll be posting the information here and on my Facebook page as well.  I hope you enjoy and I invite you to please please please give me feedback and ideas.  I need your help to keep this going!

birthday time

My little guy turned two last week so I've been busy with him, redecorating his room, making his cool baseball cake and preparing for his birthday party tomorrow.   All the cleaning is finally done (bathrooms, kitchen, floors shampooed, pool and spa cleaned out)...  now for the fun part --  THE COOKING!

The party is a Pool BBQ.  So we're serving up some traditional BBQ foods with a healthy twist :)

The menu includes:

Hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, grilled veggie kabobs, veggies with dip, fruit and yogurt, guacamole with chips and hummus with pitas/celery.

So I'll be posting the recipes this week! 

So what do you serve at your birthday parties?