Homemade Potato Chips

Each year my family vacationed in Florida we would invariably visit a large flea market to wander in awe at the miles of booths selling everything from Alligator belts to designer sunglasses (I'm SURE they were authentic).  It would be hot and often stinky and the crowd ranged from biker dudes to senior snowbirds just in for the winter, but it was an eyeful for a young girl and there were certain purchases we couldn't wait to make..think loud T-shirts and shell jewellery, new flip flops and five-flame bottles of hot sauce with cartoon pictures of some person's hair on fire and eyes bugging out.  Then there was the concession area.  This is the first time I realized that all "chips" were not made equal.  There was one vendor who served up warm, fresh potato chips by the basket load to a line of people, 15 deep.  They were our treat and a tradition we looked forward to every year.

Homemade chips are something I have wanted to try making for a llllllloooooonnnnngggggg time.  The convenience of the grocery store variety has often won out and our family has been known to munch on a bag or two.  But when I started trying to buy "more responsibly", the cost of our Friday night snack went up two-fold!  Yikes!  So in saying that, I decided to try making my own.  Local potatoes, sea salt and a bit of oil is all you need.

I have a new Mandoline - it helps me slice things evenly.  Hooray?  I mean, hooray!

You think this is thin, right?  My mandoline can go thinner....

I think I'm going in the right direction.  It's a potato, and it's thin!  Now what?

Potato chips in their infancy...waaaaaaa!

OK.  So I found a couple of left over candy cane beets and thought they would look cool all sliced and such....

Sort of psychedelic, man. 

Toss in a very little bit of oil, season with salt and line on a baking tray.  Into the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 min.  (Please note that I had multiple trays going at a time - this amount would NOT satisfy our chip craving come 7pm)

These.

Were.

Good.

 xo

Jen