Monterey mashed potatoes

Wash one poblano pepper; deseed, cut in half, and spray with olive oil. Roast until blackened. Place in plastic bag for 10 minutes and peel off skin. Dice.

Clean 4 potatoes (biggish? not huge, but not really medium either), cut into pieces and boil for 20 minutes or until soft. Mash with milk (or cream), 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add diced poblano, 2 T. chopped green pepper, 3/4 c. grated cheese, 3 T. butter. You may also add sour cream or cream cheese; I omitted these because of calories.

I used a potato masher and worked in the same pan I cooked them in (less cleanup), but I finished smoothing them with a heavy spatula.

Sweet potato fries

Sweet potato fries are just going to be softer than white potatoes. If I figure out some way to correct that, I'll let you know. But sweet potatoes are so healthy. Prepare yourself for a different experience than the word "fry" suggests, and make your body happy.

2 large sweet potatoes
olive oil

You can spice these any way you like, but I used: black pepper, a little thyme, a little cayenne, and paprika.

Cut the sweet potatoes into "steak fry" wedges. In a large bowl, toss gently with olive oil and spices. Spread on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Instead of mixing in salt with the spices, at this point I sprinkled the fries with pretzel salt.

Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes, turning once or twice. You can also broil them for the last 3-5 minutes, but watch them carefully. A little black is okay, but you don't want to blacken them entirely.

I eat them without ketchup. In fact, I can eat them leftover & cold straight from the refrigerator. But if you say "fries" to my husband, he's going to put ketchup or bbq sauce on them. Happy eating!