Potato vs. French Fry

I’ve been attempting to lose the 40+ pounds I packed on during my recent pregnancy. I’ve been doing pretty well too. Eating right, hitting the gym 5 days a week. But last night – I’d had enough. All I wanted was McDonalds. Their new ad campaign is incredible and has been taunting me for over a week. I wanted a greasy burger dripping with cheese. I wanted french fries drenched in oil and salt. I felt myself going a little mad just thinking about it. We’re currently cutting the fat financially which prohibited me from making a McDonalds run. So, what’s a girl to do?

I started by washing up some potatoes. Maybe I was just hungry and if I ate something, I’d feel better. Even if it wasn’t what I really wanted. So, into the oven went the potatoes. It only took a couple minutes to realize that a baked potato just wasn’t going to cut it.

I dug out a couple cookbooks trying to find a recipe for french fries that promised “fast food” style taste. At last I found one. It called for 5 tablespoons of oil. Perfect. As I went to the cupboard to get the oil, the skinny girl inside me started scolding me. “Do you really want to do this?” “You’ve worked so hard to drop weight…think about all the hours at the gym and you’re just going to blow it like this?” (sigh) I hate that stupid skinny girl.

So, instead of 5 tablespoons of oil, it became several squirts of PAM. The recipe was very involved. Slice up some potatoes, let them soak in hot water for 10 minutes while oiling (PAM-ing) a cookie sheet and then dousing it with salt and pepper. Drain and dry the potatoes then roll them around in the oil (PAM). More salt and pepper. Cook covered 5 minutes, then uncovered another 35 – 45 minutes turning frequently to brown all sides. Salt and pepper some more.

Finally, after an hour, my french fries were done. They were awesome. I devoured them – the whole batch. It was only after I’d sucked the last bit of salt off my fingers from the final delicious fry that I realized what I’d just done. Regardless of the fact that I’d been “good” and altered the recipe to remove all the fat, I’d just eaten three potatoes. Three.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I have NEVER sat down to dinner and had three potatoes with my meat. I’ve never even thought of doing that. Three potatoes? It made me realize why a medium fry at Mcee-Dees has almost 400 calories in it. It’s because it’s got three potatoes in it!!