Oven-Baked Parmesan Herb Fries

YUM. Literally, that's it.


Oven-Baked Parmesan Herb Fries

1 pound of russet potatoes
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/3 teaspoon of oregano
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of rosemary
1/3 teaspoon of basil
1/2 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning
1/3 teaspoon of thyme
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
3 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse and slice potatoes into fries. Mix up spices, cheese, and olive oil in a bowl until incorporated. Put potatoes and seasoning mixture in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Seal the bag and shake until the fries are evenly covered in the seasoning mixture. (At first I thought this sounded like unnecessary extra work, but it really works a lot better than trying to spread the mixture over the fries on your own.) Once coated, dump the fries out onto a foil-lined, greased cookie sheet. Add extra spices or oil if you wish! Bake the fries in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until crispy. It'll vary for different ovens!


These are delicious and much healthier (or, less terrible at least) than "fried" fries. Hope you enjoy!

A Quick Break

...from the Smart, Pretty, & Awkward posts to give you guys a recipe that my sweet roommate and I tried a couple weekends ago. Of course we found it on Pinterest, and then adapted a little bit to fit our personal qualifications.

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

(I know, I know...a recipe for a milkshake? Milk + ice cream + shake, right? But you know, if you're going to add some liquor...that calls for a recipe. Am I right or am I right?)

2 cups vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cream
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 ground graham cracker crumbs
2-3 ounces of bourbon

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend together well. Makes about 4 servings (depending on serving size!).


Complicated, right? But for real. They are de-lish. Except they are pretty sweet, so it can be a little heavy! Just a fair warning! ...oh, and there's a couple shots of bourbon in there too. Be wary of that.

Happy fall! 

Pumpkin Spice & Cinnamon

Last night at 9:00 PM, I thought it'd be a good idea to make cupcakes. This should come as a surprise to no one. I made a huge mess of the kitchen and ended up spending almost as much time cleaning as I spent on cooking. But guys...they were DE-LISH-US. Like, really. Not to toot my own horn or anything...but TOOT. The cupcake-y part was a really nice, almost bread-like texture, and the icing was just sweet enough to be icing, but cream cheese-y too. Here's the recipe (I think...I'm so bad at just throwing stuff into a bowl without measuring...oops!)

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

2 cups flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup Crisco
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
(a little less than) 1 cup pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together Crisco, white sugar, and brown sugar until fully incorporated. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing throughly. Stir in milk and pumpkin. Once fully mixed, add in flour mixture a little at a time, until just mixed. Fill each cupcake tin 2/3 of the way full. Cook until light golden brown, about 20 minutes in my oven. Let cool before icing.


Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
1/4 cup of Crisco
(about) 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix together cream cheese and Crisco until smooth. Add in powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing until incorporated. You may need a little less or a little more powdered sugar, it just depends! Then add cinnamon and vanilla and mix until throughly blended. Ice cupcakes and enjoy!!


Hope you're all enjoying fall! Clearly I am! Next, I will have a recipe for Pumpkin Pie Bourbon Milkshakes...get ready for that folks.

Have a good weekend all! We'll be in Dallas, spending the weekend with an assortment of my best friends, my family, Rex's family, and The Avett Brothers!! Cannot wait!