Ingredients:

• 8 new potatoes
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Serves 4

Directions:

Preheat the oven the 450°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

Rinse and scrub potatoes. Cut into quarters and place on baking sheet.

Pour olive oil over potatoes, sprinkle with chopped fresh rosemary, garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Toss the potatoes with your hands until they are fully coated. Arrange on the baking sheet in one layer for even cooking.

Bake, turning once, until potatoes are lightly browned and easily pierced with a knife, about 25 minutes.

Make this recipe faster:

Reduce the baking time in half by first microwaving the potatoes. Place potato quarters in a microwave-safe dish; cover. Microwave on HIGH for 6 minutes. Uncover and proceed as recipe directs in Step 3.

Make this recipe lighter:

The recipe is lighter already by using olive oil as opposed to butter or margarine which can be used for a richer taste, so you can’t make this much lighter but you can make it “fattier”.

Substitutions:

You can almost always substitute fresh herbs for dried herbs. You typically reduce the measurement by 1/3 when using dried because they are much more aromatic than fresh and have a more concentrated flavor. In this case I would change the rosemary from 1 tablespoon fresh to about 1 teaspoon dried. You can use garlic and salt separately if you do not have garlic salt.

When do we EAT? Can we Entertain first?:

The potatoes can be prepared 4 hours ahead of time and refrigerated. Reheat in the oven or microwave before serving. A 200°F oven for about 10-15 minutes should bring them to temperature. If they get too dry, just toss a very little olive oil on them and continue heating.

Let’s change it up a bit…

You can do a bunch of different variations of these potatoes. Add 1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns and bake at 375 for 30 minutes in a shallow baking dish. This is more of a baked than roasted though. Change up the rosemary with other seasonings or add a little parmesan cheese or crumbled bacon but remember cheeses and meats add calories to the dish!

Nutritional Benefits:

By keeping the peel on the potato, the skin provides extra flavor and vitamins – just be sure to scrub them well. Though these are the all fearing carbohydrates, they are not that bad as long as they are cooked properly and eat with moderation. Potatoes also offer Vitamin C helping build connective tissue and heal wounds as well as Vitamin B helping the body create red blood cells. Bet you didn’t know that potatoes a substantial amount of potassium which helps keep those nasty Charlie horses away.