Homemade Potato Chips - Part Two

Um, so.... IF you make the potato chips I wrote about on March 7, just one more "little" note....

DO NOT MAKE THEM IN A TOASTER OVEN.

I was cravin' some of them today, so I whipped up a little cookie sheet of my chippies and thought to myself that it would be more efficient in terms of energy to cook 'em in the toaster oven - smaller oven, less heat needed, etc. Whether or not that's true I have no idea. But it sounded very green and smart.

So I turned on the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. Then I went into my home office to do some email.

After several emails and a little surfing on the internet, I could smell them cooking and thought YIPPEE they are ready, and headed back out to the kitchen.

And they were in flames.

Yep. I'm not exaggerating. This was a orange-flames-coming-out-of-the-toaster-oven-needed-a-fire-extinguisher-and-now-a-new-toaster-oven experience. Seriously.

Go ahead and giggle as you picture me walking quickly in circles, trying to stay calm as I thought through my options in quick succession:

1. throw water on it - oh wait, it's an electrical appliance plugged into the wall
   
2. grab the burning tray with an oven mitt - oh wait, that might light my hand on fire
   
3. use the "I think it's expired and I've never used one" fire extinguisher that I actually have

Clearly, I opted for #3.

So let's review:

• DO NOT COOK KELLY'S HOMEMADE BAKED POTATO CHIPS IN A TOASTER OVEN
• Own a fire extinguisher

Now I'm on to the internet to price some toaster ovens.... and fire extinguishers....