Garlic and cilantro fries

The last several days has me scouring pinterest for recipes, new DIY project ideas, crafts, and home decoration inspiration. It was actually on that site that I realized how amazing some of these home cooks are and how excited I was to know that so many people are willing to share recipes! It's quite awesome.

Growing up, it was a common understanding that if someone wanted to know your recipe, you wouldn't just hand it over...you had to teach them how to cook it.

That's how I learned to make mole, Mexican rice (Spanish rice is yellow, not orange/red like Mexican rice), frijoles de la hoya (pinto beans-of course I under cooked and over cooked plenty a pot of beans before I could be comfortable saying this) and the list goes on.

It's also where I learned how to substitute ingredients if I didn't have anything of this spice or that one. My grandmother has quite the creative mind when it comes to cooking.

She's about to celebrate her 80th birthday at the end of the month. She has over thirty grandchildren and several great-grand children, and nine children of her own.

Gramma had to cook for a lot of people. There are 10 seats at her dining table. When

we get together, we often eat in waves at the table.

The rest of us that aren't so patient take our plate to the living room and eat it sitting on the couch or another chair, using our knees as a table.

Today, my breakfast brought me back to gramma's house, partly. It consisted of chorizo (spiced ground beef) and egg tacos (that she taught me how to make) and garlic and cilantro fries-a recipe I pinned earlier last week. They look yummy in the picture. I don't know how people make their food look so yummy in photos. My photos barely look delectable (even though they are delicious). Anyway, thetalkingkitchen's recipe looked simple enough so I made them this morning.

by lafig

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 20-25 mins

Keywords: potatoes cilantro garlic

Ingredients (2-3 servings)

• 5-6 yukon gold potatoes, cut into thin fries
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 – 3/4 tsp sea salt
• pepper
• 1/4 c. loosely packed cilantro leaves, finely chopped

I replaced the "Yukon Gold" potatoes with Russet potatoes because I have those coming out of my ears ($0.89 at the local market for a 10lb bag would have you buying a few bags too).

I love potatoes.

Because I only cooked for myself this morning, I made one potato and fractioned up the rest of the ingredients (almost 1Tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, small handful of cilantro leaves).

I added finely chopped garlic to the olive oil mix and some onion powder (I love onion powder-but that's another blog). Added the potatoes to a plastic container, added the oil and shook away!

When I put them into the oven (for 15 minutes), the aroma of warm garlic immediately filled the room. I'm so glad I added the fresh garlic!

The chorizo and egg tacos were easy. I used store bought beef chorizo, cooked up about 1/4 cup before adding in the (previously mixed) egg. The grease (I know, yuck but yum!) cooks the eggs and chorizo so it is really not necessary to add anything else to the pan. Adding any sort of spice to the eggs will be washed out by the flavor of the chorizo. I only add some shredded Parmesan cheese to the egg before tossing it in to cook.

Once they're finished, I cut up some avocado and added slices in the taco.

Avocados are 7/$1 at the market so I add avocado to everything. This entire meal is about 700 calories. Crazy, right?