Don't just bake it twice. Make it better.

I had a little more time to cook today and I had been craving twice baked potatoes, but I'm trying to cut back on calories.
Still, I decided to indulge myself.
I'd seen a recipe for a baked potatoes that were stuffed with a variety of vegetables so I decided to make version of that with what was on hand in my fridge. I didn't want to go overboard with cheese and some veggies, when baked, just cry out for cheese so I had to select carefully for flavor and their ability to stand on their own - without gooey melted cheese.
Leafy green spinach and bulbous leeks are just packed with vitamins and other good-for-you stuff. Leeks are high in fiber. Not to mention they taste great together.
Basil is an often overlooked herb that has been shown in a number of studies to have potent antioxidant, anti-cancer, antiviral, and anti-microbial properties.
Those basics, coupled with the otherwise bland potato are good, but I needed a bit of color and a little more taste and so I added roasted red peppers to the mix.
So, here we have it - a tasty, less cheesy, less caloric twice-baked potato.
Twice-baked (Better for You) Potato
4 large baking potatoes
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small leek, thinly sliced
2 cups of spinach, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, divided
3 tablespoons of  roasted red peppers, roughly chopped
1/4  cup of fresh basil, chopped
Pepper to taste
  • Bake the potatoes until tender when gently squeezed and let them cool slightly.
  • Heat the oil  in a medium skillet, then add the leeks and cook until very soft, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
  • Add the spinach and the basil and cook for a few minutes more until the spinach is cooked and any liquid has been absorbed.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Cut a section out of the top of the potatoes and scoop out the insides, leaving a small  rim of potatoes in the skins.
  • Mash the potato flesh  you took out until it's smooth, then stir in the leeks, half the cheese and the pepper.
  • Put  the potato skins ona baking sheet and fill them with the potato mixture, top with the roasted red pepper and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
  • Bake for 15 minutes.

Vegetarian.

 

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