Oven Baked Garlic Sweet Potato Fries with Feta Yogurt Dip

I have been experimenting all summer long to perfect oven baked sweet potato fries. And I think I might have finally come close with this recipe. The dip was inspired by my favorite food blogger and you can find her take on these fries here, but I personally like my tweaks better. Then again I may be a little biased but you really  won't go wrong with these perfectly crispy fries accompanied by the creaminess of the feta yogurt dip.

Through my experimentation I discovered several things: 

1) I'm not a huge fan of using butter on my fries and prefer to use vegetable oil to coat the potatoes. I find the butter to be a little heavier and I like to think these fries of a healthy snack. But honestly, butter does make your potatoes richer so feel free to sub in butter instead of oil!

2) Stick your cookie sheet in the oven while it's preheating. That way you will hear a nice sizzle when you put the potatoes in and you will get an awesome sear on the outside.

3) Having too little or too much oil is a bad thing when it comes to baking fries. With too little oil your fries don't get crispy, but too buttery and your fries get greasy.

4) I like to steam my potatoes so they are al dente when I stick them in the oven. Steaming them with Ziploc steam bags takes two minutes and that way you don't have to stick them in the oven for a long time.

In my opinion, my go-to college midnight snack!

Garlic Sweet Potato Fries

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled (if desired) and sliced into thin 1/2-inch (thick) strips
2 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

Feta Yogurt Dip

3 ounces crumbled feta
1/3 cup greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and place a cookie sheet in the oven while it is preheating.

2. Take the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1/2 inch think strips. In a large bowl toss well with olive oil, garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper. Make sure the sweet potatoes are evenly coated with oil.

3. Once oven is preheated, spread sweet potatoes out in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, remove and flip, and bake for another 5 minute. Depending on how well you cooked the potatoes before baking, you may have to cook for a longer or shorter amount of time. Essentially pull the fries out when they are fully cooked through.

4. Once cooked, remove the fries and add parsley tossing to coat. Serve with the creamy feta dip!

For the dip:
1. Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Ta-da!!

Tahini + Tzatziki

To educate some of ya'll, tzatzki is essentially a tangy, cucumber yogurt dip. Tahini is a paste of sesame seeds and olive oil and is used as a base for many Middle Eastern dishes such as hummus, baba ghanoush, etc. I served both of these sauces together with my baked falafel and they were the BOMB. 

Tzatziki

1 cup plain yogurt 

1/2 english cucumber
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and blend thoroughly. Serve chilled. 

Tahini Sauce

Yields approximately 1/2 cup

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup water

1. Toast sesame seeds in pan until lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from heat and grind with remaining ingredients in a blender until smooth. 

Tips:
Tzatziki usually calls for fresh dill, so add a tablespoon in your dip if you have some! I unfortunately had an abundance of mint, so I chopped up five leaves and added that to my tzatziki. Fresh herbs make a difference so use them if you have em!

Quinoa with Mango and Curried Yogurt

My mom is on a restricted diet because of her health, and this motivated me to try out different gluten-free options! I've never cooked quinoa so I took it up as a challenge to make it as dinner for my family. 

Here's what I learned from cooking challenge: 

1. I actually love the taste of quinoa and you can cook it just like rice! It's simply another grain substitute so imagine rice but smaller, more tapioca like.  I'm actually going to buy a bag and take it with me to college.

2. There are three different ways you can cook the grain. You can cook in the microwave with the 2:1 water ratio, on a stove top,  or in a rice cooker! I chose the latter with the 2:1 ratio because I thought it was the easiest method. 

3. The recipe calls for WAY too much quinoa. I used only about half of what the original recipe called for and it still fed all three of us for dinner + we had leftovers. Don't worry the recipe I posted has all my modifications. 

4. I'm not sure how I feel about this recipe. I'm going to cook it again but I'm not in love with it. See that's my whole problem. I can't decide how I feel about it. My dad was not a fan of the recipe but that didn't surprise us much because he the only grain he likes is white rice. My mom and I liked the recipe but added some chili-garlic sauce for an extra kick and found that to really help the flavor. It definitely wasn't bad but not drool-worthy like my BBQ chicken paninis. Maybe we're just crazy because it has 4 forks on epicurious and 95% of people would make it again. 

Either way, I wanted to share my cooking-experiment and let you try and see for yourself! Plus, the quinoa was just screaming to be photographed. 

Quinoa with Mango and Curried Yogurt 

Modifications to Original Recipe from Epicurious.  Makes 4 servings or 6 side dishes. 

1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons curry powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil
1 1/2 cups COOKED quinoa or 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 firm-ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 fresh jalapeno chile, seeded (if desired for less heat) and minced
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup salted roasted peanuts (2 1/2 oz), chopped
Chili garlic sauce (optional)

1. Whisk together yogurt, lime juice, curry powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking until combined.

2.  Use a 2:1 water ratio to cook the quinoa. If uncooked use 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa and cook in a ricecooker.  Cook until fluffy and dry, 10-12 minutes. 

3. Toss quinoa with curried yogurt and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Serve warm or at room temperature.