Hiatus - Sweet Potato Chips

I'm on hiatus. From P90X that is. I'm going to do Week 4 next week. This way I'll make up the days that I missed. So my reasoning for taking some time off from P90X can be summed up in one word: Balance. Physically, I can balance pretty well. However when it comes to my schedule and commitments, I need some work to balance things. I'm rather all or nothing. I get involved to the extreme. If I join an organization, I don't just join it, I usually run for a leadership position (sometimes doing multiple leadership roles at the same time). If I decide to exercise, I have to do a workout EVERY day, and it's a huge deal if I miss a day. What I'm trying to work on right now is balance. I started a FE review course last week, which means that a lot of my time these days is going to be taken up by class and studying. I'm trying to balance class/studying with work and exercise, right when football season starts. And no, I'm not a big football fan, but I decided back in July that I was going to try to be more interested and engaged in football. So that's something else on my plate. I also have a lot of different interests and activities that I want to do, and I need to prioritize those. It's a work in progress.

So I mentioned last week that I didn't feel great after eating a salad with carrots and apples on it and I was curious as to whether the it was the apples or carrots that was making my stomach angry. Yesterday I ate the same salad, minus the carrots, apples, and sundried tomato dressing (Spring mix, Baby Spinach, Tomato, Cucumber, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Mushroom, Celery, Bell Pepper, Cabbage, Pumpkin Seeds, Walnuts, Almonds, Chopped Egg, Sundried Tomatoes, Grapes, Strawberries, Mandarin Orange, with Chipotle Chicken), and felt just fine. Today I ate the same salad again with carrots and Pesto Chicken instead of Chipotle Chicken. Again, I felt fine. Leaving apples as the culprit. Sadness.

Yeah, I haven't cooked meal stuff lately, so I've been hitting up the salad shop close to my office. And I also admit that my salads have no theme. I literally just take everything I like individually and mix it together. It sometimes ends up as odd flavor combinations, but I'm okay with it. If you're not, then I suggest not eating the same salad as me. Problem solved.

And now for recipe time...

Baked Sweet Potato Chips

1 sweet potato

1 Tbls olive oil

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 300F. Whip out your mandoline or a really sharp knife and slice your sweet potato into ~3 mm slices. (No I didn't measure it, though I bet you thought I did.) In a large bowl, coat/toss the sweet potato slices with olive oil and the seasonings (you can use whatever seasoning you want: basil, parsley, rosemary, etc.).

Spread in a single layer on a tinfoil-covered baking sheet.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until edges are crispy and center is still soft, flipping halfway.

Tip: crumple the tinfoil before spreading it over the baking sheet; the chips won't stick to the baking sheet as much when you're done baking.