Twice-baked potatoes with Andy

A week or so ago we saw a recipe for really non-vegan twice-baked potatoes. Both Andy and I started thinking of ways to veganize the recipe (especially considering that it is near impossible to buy vegan cheese in Townsville). Tofu ricotta was a must. But beyond that, our ideas were very different. Andy wanted to make them Mexican-inspired, I wanted simple herbalicious taters topped with roasted capsicum dressing. We were planning a cook-off. Three potatoes meant that we would each get three halves to play with. But, life gets in the way of plans. A candlelighting ceremony at the Women's Centre honouring victims of domestic and sexual violence was on (a QLD-wide event, I think) was on, and it ended much later than I thought it would.

But, I came home to find dinner nearly finished, cooked by the lovely Andy. This is what I saw when I walked in the door:

The potatoes, which we'd baked the night before, were cut in half and scraped to perfection. The insides were mashed with some finely diced red capsicum, black olives, and mushrooms. The tofu ricotta was mixed in, as were some herbs and salt and pepper. The oven was even pre-heated. What a guy!

These are the pre-stuffed potato shells. Andy thinks that baking them a day early was a very good idea, since they are easy to scrape when they're cold. He put some BBQ sauce in one shell, and a bit of leftover tomato sauce from the lasagna into two others. Then it was time to stuff them. We baked them for 20 minutes or so at 200 (about 400 f). While they were baking, we quickly sauteed up some zuchhini with onions, threw together some guacamole, and made some garlic toast out of stale bread. The final result:

Perfection! And the best part--I had an extra half leftover for lunch today! So, even though I didn't get to make them my way, they came out wonderfully. We'll have to save the cook-off for next time, I guess.