Cabin Fever Chips

My adjustment back into a full-time stay at home mom has not been flawless. Some might call the bumps little hiccups. I would refer to it at pole jumping the obstacles and praying I land on the mat.

The good news is this time around is much better. Last time I was full-time stay at home mom we had just moved to a new state, I was 8 and a half months pregnant with Dos and then after she was born she was colicky and refused to poop for weeks on end. (Really. Her record was 21 days without a bowel movement and the story of that explosion is one we’re saving to tell her future mate. Priceless.)

At that point I had two kids in diapers, 18 months apart, a husband working well more than 40 hours a week, and lived in a 900 square foot apartment.

Ah. Those were the good ‘ol days.

This time it feels less like putting ground glass in my eyes and more like bliss interspersed with stark, raving lunacy. A full 95% of the day can be awesome but that 5%… oh, that 5%.

I hit a wall this afternoon. I looked out the window at our snowy and beautiful winter wonderland and considered how far I could get before anyone would need me to wipe their behind, offer animal cookies, refill a sippy cup, or mediate over a toy.

Then I realized I would have to put on my winter gear and figured it took less effort to simply lay in the kitchen floor and moan. (Yep, that’s me, the Proverbs 31 woman… not.)

So I moaned for awhile then groaned and finally whined and decided to dine.

I had a bag of potatoes looking me in the face from my prone position and thought, “Hm… I want potato chips!”

In the days before I even knew what a breast pad was I worked for a very schee-schee private club and the kitchen made these potato chips with sea salt and rosemary. They were divine. (And my very first pregnancy craving. I ate them with chocolate and virgin Bloody Marys. I have no excuse except I was incubating.)

So that’s what I did this afternoon and it redeemed the day. I’m actually still working on the potato chips because I didn’t do it right and they were pretty awful. But the longer I cook them the crisper they get and I have moderate hopes for the future.

So, here’s what I’ve learned through trial and error about homemade potato chips:

1. Start with a high temperature. Like 400 or more. I started with 350 and am still cooking the thick slices more than an hour later.

2. Slice thinly. I got nervous about slicing my fingertips off with the butcher knife and some of my potato slices are almost .25 inch thick. That’s too much of the potato per chip ratio. The ones that are little slivers are nice and crispy.

3. Toppings. I’m still experimenting with toppings but so far I’ve found sea salt with rosemary is fantastic and Lawry’s seasoning salt is also excellent. Separately, not on the same potato chip.

Not sure how I went from stay at home mom to potato chips in this post but I’m glad you came on the rabbit trail journey with me today!

What is your favorite thing to do when you have cabin fever?