Cheap and Healthy Cheesy Bacon Fries

If pressed, I could create a recipe book filled with meals featuring french fries as the main course. (Dare me, and I’ll have that e-book ready by next week, lol.) Homemade cheesy bacon fries is one of my favorites and just happens to be both cheap and healthy, hence it’s the recipe for today’s post.

Cheesy bacon fries is a spinoff of those restaurant versions—but without all the artery-clogging grease. For a few years, the Aussie Cheese Fries appetizer at Outback Steakhouse was my prime on-the-go dinner meal.

A little while back, Men’s Health came out with The 20 Worst Foods in America. Can you guess what was the #1 worst food? Yep, Outback Steakhouse’s Aussie Cheese Fries topped the list at 2,900 calories and 182 grams of fat. Oops! My bad.

Here’s my healthy and cheap recipe for cheesy bacon fries. The calories and total fat grams vary depending on what ingredients you use, but rest assured that just about any homemade version of this french fry meal will be less fattening and more nutritious than those restaurant ones. The cost also varies, but shouldn't be more than $2 per generous serving.

Stuff Needed:

• oven
• baking pan
• mixing bowl (if preparing fresh potatoes)
• cooking oil (if preparing fresh potatoes)
• potatoes
• knife or vegetable slicer
• spatula
• Mexican shredded cheese
• turkey bacon OR natural salami
• frying pan (if preparing with turkey bacon)
• microwave

STEP 1
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. This temperature may vary a little, depending on the age of your stove and the altitude where you live.

STEP 2
Either buy a healthy bag of frozen french fries (Trader Joe’s carries a decent one) or peel and slice however many potatoes you desire (or can fit into your baking pan, lol).

STEP 3
If you are peeling and slicing fresh potatoes, you’ll want to put them into a mixing bowl, pour in a tablespoon or two of cooking oil (depending on how many fries you have), and coat each raw french fry by lightly tossing them. I recommend using virgin olive oil, as it has been identified as the most heart-healthy oil around (for now, anyway).

Whether you are using fresh potatoes or a frozen bag of french fries, now is the time to dump them onto a baking pan. Spread the veggies around, ideally ending up with a single layer of fries, but really, it’s not necessary to be a perfectionist about it.

STEP 4
Put the french fries into the preheated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. It’ll probably take 20 minutes to cook the fries, but the early timer is just to make sure your meal doesn’t burn, in case you have a fast-cooking oven.

If you’re baking fresh french fries, it’s a good idea to flip the veggies over with a spatula halfway into the cooking process. This will help prevent one side from burning while the other side ends up still on the raw side.

STEP 5
Skip this step if you are adding natural salami on top of the cheesy bacon fries. (I know, I know; the recipe says this is cheesy bacon fries, but salami is such a tasty substitute that it deserves recognition.)

If you are making the traditional homemade version of cheesy bacon fries, then now is the time to cook the bacon. Use turkey bacon to cut down on fat. When the bacon is done cooking, set aside until needed.

STEP 6
When the french fries have been baked to perfection, use a spatula to transfer them to dinner plates.

STEP 7
Sprinkle shredded Mexican cheese over the french fries. If desired, use a different mix of cheeses. (This food is going into your mouth, so make it happy by using your favorite cheeses.)

STEP 8
Break up the bacon slices into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle on top of the cheese layer.

STEP 9
Put the prepared cheesy bacon fries into the microwave and cook for half a minute or so, just long enough to melt the cheese. Make sure the dinner plate you’re using is microwavable.

And that’s all there is to this cheap and healthy meal. Dip your fries in ranch or sour cream (or both) if it you must, but remember to use the condiments in moderation to keep this meal healthy. Happy eating!

Low Calorie Salad Ideas (for the Sweets Lover)

Having a salad for lunch or dinner can be an economical and healthy meal choice, but it all depends on the ingredients used. I've found that eating a sweet salad curbs my candy cravings. If you're a "sweet-aholic" like I am, the following list of low calorie salad ideas should be helpful. Here's to eating cheap and healthy without forgoing great taste!

My favorite low calorie salad ideas that pack a sweetened punch:

• dried cranberries (I especially like the cherry and orange flavored kind from Ocean Spray)
• raisins (they go really well in a broccoli salad - yum!)
  
• bell peppers (the orange, red, and yellow varieties add a healthy sweetness to salad)
• pecans (a little goes a long way in a salad, especially if you break them into tiny pieces, so calories shouldn't be a concern)
• kiwi (unusual salad ingredient, yes, but this fruit goes well with spinach - just be sure to dry the kiwi slices well and add a crunchier salad ingredient for best results)
• apples (this fruit goes well with just about any type of salad)
• grapes (I usually pair them with chicken in a romaine salad)
• carrots (good for when you want a touch of sweetness - goes well with raisins and green cabbage)

Those are some of my low calorie salad ideas for adding sweetness. What are your favorites?

Yummy Salads!

I am a huge fan of eating salad for the main course. Having a salad for lunch or dinner saves money on meat and it contains all those nutritious vegetables. What's not to love?

Well, apparently, my 5-year-old thinks there's very little to love about eating salad. I'm hoping it's just a phase. But until then, I've had to modify my usual beloved salad mixes just to please the kiddo.

Here are a few tricks I've learned for getting a fussy kid to eat salad:

• Offer salad dressing choices your child likes. Sometimes having the right salad dressing handy can make a world of difference!
  
• Garnish the salad with your kid-friendly toppings, such as croutons, nuts, and sweet peppers. My kiddo fiends for my homemade croutons (which are really easy to make—no oven required; I'll post the recipe soon).
  
• Add fruit pieces to the salad. The fruit can be fresh or dried. What matters most is that the fruit flavor works well with the overall salad taste and that your kid likes the fruit. My kiddo especially likes fresh grapes, dried cranberries, and apple slices in her salads.

What type of salads and salad toppings work well with your child's taste buds?

Making Healthy Brownies

Baking brownies is an enjoyable and relaxing activity for me. But one thing I do not need is to add extra calories to my diet, so I've learned a few tips over the years to making healthy brownies. It's really not that hard to slash unnecessary fat and calories from baked goods and still retain flavor and texture.

Below are my favorite replacement ingredients for making healthy brownies. If you don't feel comfortable doing them all, at least try one or two replacements. Every bit you do in the name of healthy eating helps!

• instead of oil, I use applesauce (or baby food, if I'm in the mood for an exotic-tasting brownie)
• instead of sugar, liquid Stevia can be used as a sweetener (a few drops go a long way!)
• instead of butter, extra applesauce works just as well (even water is an acceptable substitute)
  
• instead of all whole eggs, replacing one with 2 egg white parts is fine
• instead of melted chocolate, Walden Farms Chocolate Dip is a tasty calorie-free replacement

Be forewarned that using some of these ingredients may cause the brownie batter to be more gooey and harder to handle. This is normal; just shape the batter into a normal cake-like fashion when you put it into the lightly greased baking pan. (Making healthy brownies is worth the added effort!) I also find that the cooking time for these healthy brownies takes nearly half as long, so that's a plus. Happy eating!