Hot potato

Let me tell ya, baked potatoes are wonderful! I (could) have evidence to back this up...but it was gone so quickly, I couldn't get a picture! Let me explain.

Potatoes are pretty cheap. Veggies can be cheap. Meat, well, I'm sure you have some leftover from something. If you don't have leftover chicken from your meal the other night, you may need to plan a little more in advance.

A (somewhat) quick and easy meal - Baked potatoes with yummy toppings:
You'll need the following:
2 (or however many you're feeding) large potatoes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash, scrub and pat dry potatoes. Poke a lot of holes in them with a fork. Set gently on the middle rack. That's right, no sheet, no foil. Bake for an hour to an hour and 20 minutes.

Also, you'll need these:
Grab whatever veggies you have on hand (last time I used: zucchini, green and red peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes), grab some leftover shredded chicken from when you made tortilla soup the other night (oh wait, you didn't do this? right. I did. I'll share this delicious recipe next time), grab a pan and some oil.

Once your just about 10 minutes from grabbing your potatoes (with an oven mitt) from the oven do this: Warm pan, add oil. Saute onions & peppers, until slightly tender. Always start with dense things and work your way down. Toss in the zucchini. Wait and stir about 3 minutes. I hope you've already added some S&P to this mix. Toss in the chicken. Warm that up. Now, add your tomatoes and garlic. Let them warm up a little and toss them around. The tomatoes will add a little juice to the oil/water from the onions and peppers and make a great little sauce. Throw in some fresh basil after you've removed the pan from the heat. Let it settle down while you get the potatoes.

Cut the potatoes in half(ish) length wise. Scoop a bunch of the veggies/chicken mix onto the potato. Add a bit of cheese or sour cream or chives or whatever you like on top. Enjoy.

The topping possibilties are endless. I've done "taco" topping with ground beef. But you won't eat that. You could do a Mexican topping, or sorts, with black beans and corn. Let your mind go wild!

Also, as a side note of being hot, running outside when it's 95 degrees (and it feels like 112) is dumb. And exhausting. And sweaty. A good lesson, although it just makes me want to run when it's a little cooler (say, 8:30pm) to show myself up.

If 95 was bad, imagine how ridiculous the potato must feel in 400. Sheesh.