Air Fryer Carrot Fries!

 Yes, carrot fries.  My sister sent me a group on Facebook called Easy Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes which I immediately joined.  (Eventually I will need to stop joining groups or I would spend all my time there but that is not the direction I am going. I am trying to get away from media....). The recipe they have for these carrot fries has some aspects I am just not going to do but this is what I did:

Cut up a cup or so of carrots into fry-like shape.  I did not have full length carrots, just "baby-like" carrots which were just big carrots ground down to baby size.  That was no problem. I just cut them in half lengthwise and if they were very large, I cut them in quarters.

At this point I put them in a bowl of water while I put the seasoning together. 

The seasoning I used was:

Granulated onion--1/4 teaspoon
Granulated garlic--1/4 teaspoon
Ground black pepper--1/4 teaspoon
Pink salt--1/2 teaspoon
Italian Herb Seasoning Grinder (Sam's Club brand)--1 teaspoon

 These seasonings I put in a small bowl and mixed well.  At this point I drained the carrots from the water then sprinkled on the flavoring and tossed well. 

Here they are with their coating of seasoning.  The recipe called for a good amount of oil.  (We are not adding oil to anything currently.  I will let you know how that turns out in a month or two or three...!). I thought I would try just tossing the wet carrots in the herbs. It worked just fine.  They were actually pretty nice even raw.

 I placed them on the rack in the Ninja Foodie Air Fryer we have (It has a nice big rack) and turned on the air fryer to 400 degrees F for 10 minutes.  At 5 minutes I shook them up a bit then put them back in to cook the rest of the 10 minutes.  I tasted one and decided to let them go another 5 minutes.

The verdict:  these are pretty darn good!  Dear One's verdict: they are not cooked.  He was thinking they would be soft all the way through like potato fries.   Because of that I will try again but par-cook the carrots and see how they go.  Will let you know another day!  BUT I will say that the bowl that was placed next to Dear One did go down pretty fast so I guess they were not THAT bad!

Food Friday: Air Fryer Roasted Cauliflower (Quick and Easy)

Today I found some cauliflower that was on the "past due date" rack at Piggly Wiggly.  I brought home three packages.  Most of it I put in the Instant Pot (which turned out to be a mistake because I went back to a knitting project and did not quick release the pressure as I needed to. That cauliflower was total mush, so I turned it into mashed cauliflower!  Can't waste.) and the rest I decided to roast in the air fryer.

To air fry cauliflower, break it up into small florets in a large bowl.  Sprinkle a small amount of Braggs Liquid Aminos and about a teaspoon of granulated garlic over the top.  Toss well then put in a pan in the air fryer.  We have the Ninja Foodie Air Fryer Oven so we just used the tray that comes with it.  I set it cooking on the Air Roast at 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes.  It worked great.  Other air fryers need experimentation to figure the timing.

This is what it looked like.  It was so good.  Dear One did not get a chance at it, though!  Using only the Braggs and the garlic was a risk but it panned out wonderfully well.  No oil.  No added salt,  there is naturally occurring sodium in it.  I don't really know that that means but I do know that some plants have sodium in them.  Like celery does not really need salt on it as it seems salty already.

Munchie Monday: Air Fryer Kale Chips

Yes!  You can make kale chips in the air fryer. At least you can in an air fryer oven, which is what we have.

Harvest your kale.  Wash. Dry. Remove from the tough ribs. Break into medium-sized pieces.  Place in a large bowl.  Add 1-2 teaspoons oil and a mixture of your favorite seasonings.  We always use granulated garlic, granulated onion, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper.  Toss and sort of gently massage until all the leaves are coated.

Place in your air fryer and let cook.  I used 250 degrees F for 5 minutes, but they were not done, so I gave them another 5 minutes.

These needed that 5 more minutes I mentioned.

Only one thing to remember when making kale chips:  when you eat them, make sure you brush your teeth right afterwards!  Kale bits left in the teeth do NOT make a toothy smile a lovely thing to see.  Trust me on this.

Munchie Monday: Air Fryer Eggplant Chips

On Friday I followed the sign to the "American Legion Farmers' Market" and eventually arrived at the correct spot.  It was indoors!  So nice because you never know when rain will be a hazard.  As it happened, I was there about 3:30 in the afternoon.  There were about a dozen "booths" to investigate.  At the very first one I spied some firm plump beautiful eggplants,  not something that has been a big part of our diet.  Ever!  So I made my rounds to all the other tables then circled back.  It was quite the thing to be so popular.  Everyone called out to me as I approached.  People are so friendly...!  As it happened, I was also the only customer in the building at that time.  Nice for me!

Anyway, I chatted with the nice girl about how to cook and use eggplants.  She suggested cutting them into thick rounds and making them the base for tiny pizzas.  What a novel idea!  I thought I would try it.  I did only buy one though since I was pretty sure it would be a hard sell at home, even though Friday is Pizza Day at the ole homestead on Trevino Drive!

Since Dear One likes the pizzas at Aldi, and even though he wanted me to remove the mozzarella from the top which was somewhat fiddle-y, I did bring home what he wanted but then while his was baking, I put the eggplant rounds in the oven to begin cooking.

Once his pizza was cooked I let the eggplant "pizza crusts" cook another 15 minutes in the oven, then transferred them to the air fryer oven where several of them overcooked a bit.  Well, I have never been averse to a little charcoal so I went ahead and ate several.  Dear One was a good sport and ate one bite of one pizza round. (Though pizza round is really a misnomer-there was no pizza sauce nor pizza toppings on the eggplant...just seasonings...)

These eggplant rounds were cooked at 400 degrees F. for a total of about 40 minutes.  They had been spritzed with a tiny bit of olive oil spray then sprinkled with onion, garlic, black pepper, cumin, and a tiny bit of sea salt.  They did not taste half bad.  They still were not crispy, which is what I was hoping for.

In this photo they have just been lollygagging in the air fryer for about 10 minutes...maybe a little too much!

Actually, in this picture they are in pretty good shape...this was after the first five minutes. Still not crispy enough for me. The picture with the dill pickle slices and tomato on a Beyond Burger burger had the full ten minutes.  You can see the char there a bit better. 

By the way, that lettuce was from our own garden!  There is nothing like harvesting delicious greens from your own back deck early in January.  Love it.