Finally October! As much as I enjoy the summer, the heat, the long summer nights, the fresh whites in my closet and home – I absolutely love autumn, too. When the sunsets become golden, leaves change their colors, my decorations change to warmer, golden and bronze colors – and pumpkins can be found on every little table. I love pumpkins in every color, every size and shape – and especially cooking and baking with them. The receipe choices are endless and you can enjoy them in every meal.

This past weekend I had my besties over, cooked a lovely dinner at home and prepared some snacks – right before we had a girls-night-out! Now that it is finally October, I of course had to make autumn-inspired meals and snacks. Because duh. I started with serving some hokkaido (pumpkin) and sweet potatoe chips with a home-made guacamole dip.

May I say?
It was d e l i c i o u s ! And super simple in the making. I was always ‘afraid’ of making my own vegetable-chips. Don’t ask why, but they always seemed more complicated then they are. I didn’t want to put any work in and end up with soggy chips afterwards. Well, that thankfully wasn’t the case.

For these two little bowls I used about 300g Hokkaido, and 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes. Yet, there is no restriction in the amounts you use – the more, the merrier in this case (or the more to snack on). First, pre-heat the oven to around 200°C. Now simply cut the vegetables in thin slices (mine were about 3mm), throw them in a bowl, add around 2 tablespoons of olive oil (or any other vegetable oil) and throw on some salt and herbs of choice (I added some chili and paprika). Mix everything well in the bowl so that all slices are more or less covered a bit – but you do not want to use too much oil, either. Next lay them out on the baking paper, making sure they don’t overlap (otherwise they will become partially soggy!). Once all are spread out, place the sheets into the pre-heated oven. Leave them in for around 6-8 minutes, then lower the heat to 150°C and place a wooden stock between the oven door and oven itself. You want the heat to be able to escape slightly, so that the chips become crunchy (it’s the key to not having soggy ones!). Keep an eye on the chips, though after about 20 minutes, when they start turning slightly golden-brown on the edges, they are done! Let them cool off so that they become crunchy and you are ready to serve (or enjoy) them in no time.

The guacamole dip was super simple, as well. I merely pureed a ripe avocado (peel and take out the stone before), added a hint of fresh lemon juice, some salt and pepper!

Et voila – within less than an hour you have your own homemade vegetables chips. How cool? I am in love with these so I will make sure to making some more when returning from my travels. I will also try them out with beetroot – doesn’t that sound fancy? Speaking of travels, I will now need to rush to the office and later to the airport. London is calling from today until Thursday!