Homemade Microwave Potato Chips

These are really good and so easy - I read about them at Gayle's and followed her link to the original recipe at RecipeZaar
The RecipeZaar one is fairly complicated and has comments by 260 other cooks. So I read some of the comments and took the information I thought would help me and started cooking some potato chips.
Jeff was pretty skeptical when I told him what I was doing, but when the first batch was done, he taste one and then took the plate to the living room and ate them all before I could get the 2nd batch cooked.
They don't taste just like Lays or fried chips but they are very much like the baked chips made by PopChips and Kettle brand.
We had some yesterday with our lunch sandwiches, and made more today to have with our hamburgers.

Here's what worked for me
wash the potatos well, I did not peel mine. Then slice them as thin as possible. I used a vegetable peeler first, then switched to a mandolin. It is important that the slices be uniform in thickness so they will cook at the same speed.
Soak the slices in water for about 15 minutes, then rinse and dry them on towels.
Put a sheet of parchment paper on a microwave safe plate - I used a Corelle platter.
Put a single layer of potato slices on the paper.
Spray very lightly with a Pam type cooking spray.
Sprinkle on seasonings - salt, Cajun, Barbecue, whatver you like
then microwave. Mine took 8-10 minutes to get light brown and crunchy.

You can re-use the same piece of parchment paper for the following batches.

And they will keep for a little while, if you don't eat them when you first make them. We kept some in a covered container and they were just as good as today as they were the day before.

Getting ready for a new decade

well, actually, I am just getting ready for the new month. I don't have a crystal ball to know what will happen in the new decade, but I am pretty sure that in January, I will be feeding my family.
I've been reading about the Eat from your pantry challenge and I think it is a good idea. I will be on a plan that works for us, just like Money Saving Mom says.
My goal will not be to just eat from the pantry, I like keeping a pantry stocked and hope I don't empty it. But I will be trying to stick to a $100 a week budget - yes, that is higher than some families spend but it works with our income and saving goals just fine.

So, I spent some time this week cleaning out, inventorying and rearranging the pantry.
One area I do plan to use down is our frozen food. We don't have a big freezer, just the freezer space on top of a normal size fridge and a small extra fridge. I made a list of everything frozen and was amazed at how much is in them.


I think we have plenty of nuts and dried fruits....

Aren't these old-fashioned jars nice? I got 8 of them from my son that likes to thrift-store shop.

My eat from the pantry guidelines
use up the frozen items
eat from the pantry as much as possible
continue eating our normal amounts of fresh produce and dairy
stock up if a great sale comes along
$100 a week budget

So, who is else is doing their version of the pantry challenge?

Giveaway - free cereal from General Mills

This contest is closed and the winner is Dawn!
Thank you all for entering and congrats to Dawn.



We've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that is epecially true for children. General Mills has improved the nutrition on some of their childrens cereals by lowering the sugar content.
General Mills, through MyBlogSpark, provided me with 4 coupons for boxes of their cereal, they are good on any GM cereal up to $6. They don't expire for a long time.



I am passing these coupons on to YOU - so just enter by leaving your name and I will pick a winner New Years Day. One reader will win all 4 coupons.
If you don't have a blog where I can contact you, then please leave your email in your comment.
To print a $1 coupon on GM cereals, use this link to do that. If you want to know more about GM cereals and children, read here.