Baked sweet potato fries

These are about the easiest things EVER to make and they are delicious. Even P, who doesn't like sweet potatoes will eat these. So yummy and healthy! And you can use any different spices really- play with whatever you like- I just happen to be on a kick with chili powder right now so I wanted to try it. I also think this would be good with rosemary.

2 sweet potatoes
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

The line up. (minus the potatoes... and olive oil- man I've got to get better about this!)

I just cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, then cut each half into four long strips. I ended up cutting a lot of those strips in half because they were really thick, especially the strips that were from the middle of the potato. You can cut them as thin or thick as you like. I also leave the skins on- for nutrition- and think it's fine but feel free to peel the potatoes as well!

Then I just throw them in a bowl and toss them with enough olive oil to coat the fries. Then evenly sprinkle the seasonings over the top and toss till all the fries are equally covered.
Lay them out on a sheet pan lined with parchment or foil (with a little spray just so nothing sticks) and lay the fries out in a single layer.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until tender!

Lights!

They are FINALLY done! Not an easy process for some reason, we just couldn't manage to do this fast but they are finally completely up and finished- even after the electrician accidentally throwing away the chain for the entry hall chandelier and a diffuser falling and breaking in two! Amazing really! For a while I thought our house might permanently look like this:

Lovely right?

WRONG!!! Awful- this was our home for about a week and it was driving me nuts, but finally we pulled through and everything is done, so...

without further ado, I present you with some before and afters:

The Office:

Before

After

a  close up, cause it's so pretty :)

The kitchen:

before

pardon the VERY early before shots- apparently we seriously don't have a SINGLE picture from recently with the lights in them- I always tried to NOT include them in the picture because they were SO ugly!

diffuser looks kind of weird from this angle but it doesn't stick out like that normally

a close up of the breakfast room- which is missing it's diffuser currently but Golden Lighting has shipped the new one and it should be here VERY shortly!

The entry hall:

Which actually- this is the exact same fixture that was in the kitchen and breakfast room as well...

such a nice NASTY light they gave off- SO LONG!

all lit up!

We're getting a fence

SO EXCITED ladies and gentlemen! Our new next door neighbor, who has been re-doing their ENTIRE house- is putting up a new fence today!! We have a nice wood fence around our yard but anywhere there was already fence, they skipped, so we rely on the neighbor's fence for privacy/ being closed in.

Problem was that our sweet old neighbors, who were precious, were having trouble taking care of their house so the fence had been neglected for a long time. - See that back there behind P, you could see through it in spots! Anyways, now we have a brand spanking new fence!

being framed and putting up the posts, and...

DONE!

No more excuses for why we can't have a dog now!! WOO HOO!

Chili lime grilled chicken

We made this last weekend on the grill and it was delicious. I didn't even get to marinade it for long but it still had incredible flavor! Next time I am going to reserve some of the marinade to baste with while cooking!
Give this a try, you won't be disappointed.

Chili lime marinade
3 Tbsp olive oil
1.5 Tbsp red wine vinegar
juice of one lime
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
cayenne pepper to taste

I mixed this up in a Ziploc bag, then throw the chicken in and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour or more. Then throw it on the grill till the juices run clear!

This is great with some fresh corn on the cob too!

Enjoy!!