Another Round of Chips

After Monday's baked potato chip debacle, I decided it was time to try out the dehydrator. Again using my trusty vegetable peeler to get thin chips, I dismembered a lovely orange sweet potato, liberally peppered and frugally salted it, and scattered it across the trays. The good news is that the chips are crunchy and tasty. The bad news they shrank - a lot. This is obviously why no one sells packed dehydrated sweet potato chips - shrinkage. Oh, and they're ugly. They sort of shriveled into crispy bits. For me shrinkage only creates a problem in that I don't have very many trays and it took most of them for one sweet potato. On the other hand, a nice baggy full makes a good snack size and it is easy to remember that one bag equals one potato. Next time around I'll try some different spices and break out the food processor to speed up the "chipping" process. This might be a good way to have my chips and eat them too.

Normally I don't spend time worrying about how many calories are in what I eat or how healthy that food may or may not be. I spend many more hours contemplating the taste and texture of the food, which is all well and good until I stepped on the scale. Yikes! However, it occurred to me that since we are trying to eat at home more, this is a good opportunity to take control of the situation and eat something better, thus the dehydrated chips. And, since I'm being honest, chips are my kryptonite. If Superman loved chips as much as I do, even his great powers would not have enabled him to fly because he'd be weighed down by all those lovely, crispy chips - sea salt and vinegar, cracked pepper, Maui onion, green olive; corn chips, veggie chips, pita chips, tortilla chips. Need I continue? I love them all! How can something so light, so crunchy, so airy be so bad? I think chips were invented by Satan. Sin is always tempting, delicious, and expensive.

The price of chips is measured in the waist line - at least mine. So after thinking it over, I have decided to (gulp) watch what I eat. Five years ago my family moved to Arizona from Nevada. I was fortunate to have a few months off between jobs, and I wisely used that time to lose some weight, do some writing, and generally get myself together. For three years, I managed to keep that weight off and keep myself together. The last two years, though, have been iffy. I've regained the weight and questioned myself. Last week I turned 45 - halfway home, I think, and back to my top weight. For a little while I did what all strong, self-possessed, modern women do - I cried - but only for a little while. This week, I'm doing the other thing women are known for - I'm doing something about it. Wish me luck.