potato
Do you ever get a craving for a salty snack? I do. Since we’ve been talking about making do recipes I was thinking about snacks and grabbing a bag of Funjans doesn’t really fit into the cheap meals we’ve been talking about. But I’ve got a make do snack that does-Granny’s Oven Potato Chips.

Granny and her Mother Gazzie and baby

When Granny was a little girl (that’s her above with her Mother Gazzie) she was beyond a picky eater. She said she’d rather go hungry than eat certain foods-and sometimes she did.

One thing Granny did like was potatoes. She said sometimes when she was hungry (probably from not eating what was on the table) she’d slice a potato really thin and cook it on top of the wood cook stove. Once they browned on both sides she’d sprinkle them with salt and scoff them up.

Now Granny makes them in the oven for her and Pap’s after supper snack. She peels the potato and slices it thin. She spreads them out on a lightly oiled cookie sheet, sprinkles them with salt, and puts them under the broiler of the oven.

easy oven potato chips
You have to watch them close. Once they began to puff up and turn light brown, Granny takes the pan out, flips the potato chips over and puts them back under the broiler.

Once the other side is browned they are done. Doesn’t take them long to cook under the broiler, but you do have to keep a close eye on them.

Granny’s oven potato chips are quick, easy, cheap and tasty. Do you have any make do snack food recipes?

Tipper

 

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37 Comments

  1. I can eat potatoes in just about any way. Even raw. When I’m cutting them up for something I ALWAYS eat a few and sometimes peel one just to eat raw.

  2. Tipper, I love that old photo, but then I love all old photo. Those chips really made me hungry for some, I love them on the top of the woodstove even better, How about “Hoe cakes” you like those?? We used to have one special hoe just for that purpose, those things really bring back the memories that are meant to be shared.

  3. Oh how I love crisps! Surely, I do try to avoid them and replace them with a healthier snack but I am often unable to resist the temptation of deep-fried crisps. I’ve also tried oven crisps – ah well, the ones I can find at the supermarket, but they weren’t tasty! I don’t think I have the time and patience to make them, so , at the moment, I’ll just stick to “Lays”..Light!

  4. I loved Cinnamon toast and still do especially if I am sick. Also cinnamon/sugar on biscuit dough and rolled up, cut and baked. Also like applesuce or fried apples (warm) and put on toast. This isn’t a snack but when money was tight I made spam and boiled potatoes mixed up with a can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of milk. Actually wasn’t bad. Also made creamed tuna on toast.

  5. Don,
    You are totally right about the picture! You know of all the pictures Tipper has shown us, that one whith her standing beside her Granny as her Granny holds her little brother on her lap and Tipper is holding what appears to be a bottle of Johnson Baby oil is my favorite.
    Bradley

  6. Tipper,
    I’m really late on this. Just had some Ritz crackers for a midnight snack. Ritz crackers and peanut butter are staples for me when I’m hiking. Energy and salt (and the salt helps make sure I drink plenty, which is especially important for some of the stuff I do).
    Maybe it’s just me, but other than the lighter color hair, Granny sure looks a lot like pictures I recall seeing of young Tipper. Look at those beautiful eyes! (But it’s more than just the eyes). And it’s also clear where Granny got her eyes and good looks.
    A suggestion: post some photos of Granny, you, and the talkative twins at about the same ages.

  7. how beautiful that picture is of granny i adore old photos..
    and potatoes are my favorite of all time… and those chips look delicious.. ill have to try them..
    i guess in our family popcorn was the choice.. as it could feed the hoard of kids.. lol and didnt cost too much. thanks for always giving us a great story and sharing your families history.
    big ladybug hugs
    lynn

  8. cornbread crumbled up in a glass of milk (or buttermilk) sprinkled with pepper is good. Popcorn,of course. Light bread folded in half and dunked in a glass of milk is good, too. I like to toast a piece of bread and spread it with applesauce and eat it at night. Love the picture.

  9. Yum~we make ours very similar to that. Sometimes I make them to eat with hamburgers.
    We eat popcorn for snacks (not microwave) and also like to put butter/sugar/cinnamon on homemade bread or flour tortillas and toast in the oven.

  10. Those look great, Tipper. They made my mouth water… Guess it’s time for dinner. ha…
    I am not much of a snack person –especially salty snacks. When I do eat them, I usually eat pretzels. Ever made your own pretzels???? YUM.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

  11. Hey Tipper, my favorite snack growing up was cheese toast. Put a slice of am. cheese on bread sprinkle lightly with sugar and put under the broiler til cheese bubbled and turned a light brown. I still make popcorn in a pot on the stove; popcorn poppers just don’t cook it right. One of your readers asked about a biscuit recipe, I put one on my blog this morning!

  12. One of my favorite snacks was fried potatoes and onions. We didn’t have them as a meal but for a snack.
    Also peanut butter and crackers….still a favorite snack for me. I always have a jar of peanut butter and a box of saltines.
    Cinnamon toast was high on my snack list too.
    I look forward to the biscuit blog. I will certainly have some things to say about that!

  13. LOVE that photo! And your pics made me hungry! Off topic here, but did you see where Charlie Louvin passed away? On fb, The Bluegrass Legacy has had some great clips of him today…what a talent.

  14. Tipper,
    Your mom sure looks a lot like you
    when you were little. Those tater
    chips ( homeade ) are tastey! I was wondering if anyone else ever
    ate homeade tater chips. Even when
    I can’t get ’em thin enough, they’re still good with milk and
    a chunk of cornbread. We use to have them quite regular, cooked on
    mama’s old wood stove…Ken

  15. Tipper, I just found your site today and spent over an hour devouring it. Love it! I try to make homeade chips instead of buying store made ones. They always taste so much better. One snack my mawmaw always had was home seasoned oyster crackers, I never got her recipe and am sad Ive never found the exact recipe, all I know was it had a lot fo dill in it. any suggestions about the seasonings?

  16. Hey Tipper,
    When growing up we buttered, saltine crackers, put under the broiler and toasted them…
    Took one piece of cheese, back when cheese slices were real cheese and thick, folded it in halves until it was the size of quarters or smaller (one slice would do a whole sleeve of crackers, it was so thick) put on top and pop back under the broiler until bubbly (watch don’t burn) or ate them plain if we were out of cheese..
    We loved these with a glass of milk…
    Popcorn was popped in a pan with oil the old time way. Then butter melted and poured over it and salted.
    That was generally our salty snack. I was probably 13 before I remember dining on potato chips. As I think about it, they were only bought for those family picnics on Decoration Day as a convenience. My parents never routinely kept them in the house…
    Today we buy the cheap, huge bags of tortilla chips usually low fat/sodium ones….spread on a pan…sprinkle with grated cheddar. Melt in the microwave or under the broiler. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes and if you have some salsa that adds to the fiesta. Most of the time we are out of salsa..We still do popcorn, microwave of course.
    When we have tomato soup, I butter and toast a whole pan of saltines and add cheese. Well, not a whole pan, but enough…

  17. I make the same thing,using olive oil. Sometimes I add rosemary or smoked paprika for a bit of fancy. Lovely photo of Grandma Gazzie and her kids!

  18. Got to make some of these. I remember eating cornbread and milk with Daddy after supper.Still eat it often.Popcorn and crackers were other favorites.

  19. I can certainly remember these when I was a youngster and I still have the craving today. Good post!
    Whitetail Woods Blog / Deer Hunting and Blackpowder Shooting at it’s best.

  20. Our snack was popcorn also and a real treat ice cream, sometimes homemade.
    I love the potato chip recipe and am definitely going to have to try it. I still have a lot of taters left over and that would be a good way to use them up before they start going bad.

  21. Tipper,
    Since I first became aware of your blog -thanks to a friend- I have enjoyed it so much. Reading posts from all the people that write in. I love the photos etc.. Well I could go on and on but one of the best things has been all those receipes. While reading this morning I just had a great idea. My mother-in-law made the best biscuits I ever had. This was not just my opinion; even the kids from the big city would eat them cold like candy. I’m serious. They had all the best attributes that a good biscuit must have.
    Here is what I was thinking; I wonder if some of your readers has a good receipe for biscuits. I’ve seen some good receipes from your blog about just about everything.
    As for as biscuits go, I believe it is all in the mixing. Just knowing the ingredients is not enough.
    My mother-in -law’s biscuits were chewy to an extent but not tough. I think she used lard. She rolled them out by hand. She used buttermilk. My wife swears that she baked them at 500 degrees. We know all this but we can’t duplicate them! I do know that there were no SECRET INGREDIENTS.
    I’ve eaten biscuits that were so crumbly you almost had to wrap them with duct tape to keep them from falling apart before you could eat them. Soda crackers would be better than that.
    So what I am saying is does anybody out there have a good receipe? If anybody would have a good receipe Tipper, one of the women -maybe a man- on your blog would know about I just know it. You know, I just realized I say “I just know it all the time.” Guess I better stop now before I let my mouth over load my mental capicity! Anyway, I sure could use some ideas for biscuits.
    Bradley

  22. what a great idea and i will try it. these are healthy snacks, potatos are good for us and healthy as long as we don’t add fat, thanks for sharing. love the photo

  23. Tipper–Mom used to make “potato chips” occasionally, although I think her approach was a mixture of frying and then baking. One tip on either chips or great roasted potatoes–Cook the taters, skin and all, in a microwave until they are almost done. Let cool a bit and then slice as thin as you wish. The frying (or roasting) process is then a lot quicker.
    My favorite snacks as a boy were all supremely simple. When I got home from school in the fall I could scarcely wait to head out squirrel hunting, but invariably I was peckish (what teenager isn’t?). Basically I would enjoy one of three snacks–a raw turnip with a chunk of cornbread, a raw onion with a chunk of cornbread, or a cold sweet potato from a batch Mom had baked the day before. Doesn’t sound like much now, but I sure loved that food then (espeically if the sweet potato was a “white” one, which you seldom see today). Of course any of those three snacks would be accompanied by an apple (Dad had a small orchard).
    Jim Casada
    http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

  24. I haven’t done this for years. Great reminder! I must do them once again – maybe for the Superbowl. I do use Olive Oil.

  25. I’m always frying up sliced potatoes in the fry pan when we have steak or eggs, or both! These are likely more healthy though.
    My quick evening snack is an ice-cream cone. I don’t make eiher one, but it is oh, so good!
    Love the photo. It’s priceless. 🙂

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