On the Lighter SIde... Baked Potatoes
Well folks, I did what I often do on weeknights around 5 pm...I called my husband at work and asked what he had for lunch. Is this some type of obsession I have for him (or food)??? Not exactly, it's my way of deciding at the last minute what to make for dinner. You see if he had tacos for lunch, I rule out all things Mexican. You see?
He said "chicken breast strips from Popeyes"...I'll have to lecture him later about that (hee, hee). Anyway, I decided to use that 5 pound bag of Idaho potatoes sitting in the dark corner of my kitchen pantry and pull together a "Potato Bar". This my friends, was actually easier than I thought it would be.
Anatomy of a Potato Bar:
I threw 4 potatoes into my microwave/convection oven and set it to sensor cook for "hard vegetables". Then I preheated the oven to 400-degreese (I'll explain why I did this later). I ran off the to the grocery store while they were cooking and bought a few items I was missing (shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, fat free sour cream--a staple in my house but I happen to be out, and green onions). When I got back to my kitchen, the potatoes were tender and the oven was preheated. I rubbed a wee bit of canola oil on the outside of each potato and set them on a baking sheet and let the outside crisp up a bit in the hot oven for 15 minutes.
I opened up the bag of cheese, put a spoon in the nonfat sour cream container, chopped the green onions, and put out the pepper grinder and whipped butter or less fat margarine (either one has less fat, around 7 or 8 grams of fat per tablespoon than stick butter or margarine. I even had time to steam a little broccoli and saute some mushroom slices (which I bought already sliced)--in case anyone was going to want to get a little fancy with their potato.
About 20 minutes after hitting home from shopping, I was yelling, "dinner's ready!" (about 5 times) before we were all seated at the table enjoying our personalized potatoes. I will definitely be repeating potato bar night in weeks to come (after all that 5 pound bag of potatoes is now a 2 1/2 pound bag).
Related Topics: Low carb diets deny calories, Mashed potatoes
He said "chicken breast strips from Popeyes"...I'll have to lecture him later about that (hee, hee). Anyway, I decided to use that 5 pound bag of Idaho potatoes sitting in the dark corner of my kitchen pantry and pull together a "Potato Bar". This my friends, was actually easier than I thought it would be.
Anatomy of a Potato Bar:
I threw 4 potatoes into my microwave/convection oven and set it to sensor cook for "hard vegetables". Then I preheated the oven to 400-degreese (I'll explain why I did this later). I ran off the to the grocery store while they were cooking and bought a few items I was missing (shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, fat free sour cream--a staple in my house but I happen to be out, and green onions). When I got back to my kitchen, the potatoes were tender and the oven was preheated. I rubbed a wee bit of canola oil on the outside of each potato and set them on a baking sheet and let the outside crisp up a bit in the hot oven for 15 minutes.
I opened up the bag of cheese, put a spoon in the nonfat sour cream container, chopped the green onions, and put out the pepper grinder and whipped butter or less fat margarine (either one has less fat, around 7 or 8 grams of fat per tablespoon than stick butter or margarine. I even had time to steam a little broccoli and saute some mushroom slices (which I bought already sliced)--in case anyone was going to want to get a little fancy with their potato.
About 20 minutes after hitting home from shopping, I was yelling, "dinner's ready!" (about 5 times) before we were all seated at the table enjoying our personalized potatoes. I will definitely be repeating potato bar night in weeks to come (after all that 5 pound bag of potatoes is now a 2 1/2 pound bag).
Related Topics: Low carb diets deny calories, Mashed potatoes
1 Comments:
thank goodness! I'm glad to hear that you don't put your sour cream in special bowls and stuff. I always feel a little guilty about throwing the plastic container on the table and shoving a spoon in it!
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