Sweet-Potato Chips & BLATTO's (Bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato, turkey & crispy onion sandwich)

Sweet Potato Chips
Sweet potatoes (baking potatoes or yams work too-in fact these might have been yams)
Canola oil, for frying
Seasoning  *(I used a roasted garlic and sea salt blend, but you can use any seasoning you wish)

Start by pouring a minimum of 1" oil (I use Canola or Safflower oil) into your deep fryer. My crockpot doubles as both, so I just set the temperature to "fry" and know it is ready when I dip the tip of whatever I happen to be frying at the time into the oil - if it sizzles it is ready. Do not over crowd your oil. Only put enough items to be fried to make a single layer.  For chips you really need to have either an extremely sharp knife and very steady hand - or much easier, a mandolin slicer. (I LOVE my mandolin!)

Slice your sweet potatoes as thin as possible. Once the oil is hot enough, fry chips in batches - they only take a few seconds. You will see the center of the chip bubble up, this is where I use tongs to flip them. By the time you get the 8 to 10 chips flipped it is time to remove them to a paper towel to drain and season. After seeing how easy these were to make, I am excited to experiment with other root vegetables so watch for future postings. =)

The B.L.A.T.T.O. Club Sandwich

(Bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato, turkey and French fried onion)

I finally got that roast turkey sandwich I was craving...but as you may be figuring out about me, I always have something leftover in the fridge I need to use up. Tonight I needed to work an avocado from our taco nights, plus there were the French fried onions leftover from last nights green bean casserole. Hence, the B.L.T. grew into the B.L.A.T.T.O. - - -

Discoveries ~ 1) Just like fried chicken, when you store your French Fried Onions, do not cover them if you want to keep them fresh. 2) When frying sweet potatoes, it is harder to tell when they are 'done' than when working with a regular potato as they are so much darker in color...to get the chips evenly crispy, fry any thicker chips together (as well as any extra thin strips simultaneously). It's no big deal, they taste great if not quite done...I'm just a major crunch freak so coming across an occasional chewy chip center doesn't do it for me.

Ideas to try ~ This is the first time I have made sweet-potato chips but I have made sweet potato fries before and they taste REALLY great with a sweet-salty seasoning (equal amounts of super fine sugar and salt). I've also added a dash of cayenne pepper to the sugar/salt blend...mmmm mmm.

I can't wait to peruse the produce department for other root veggies to try this on...sugar beets, rutabegas, carrots...wow, who doesn't want to play - seriously!