Monday, May 21, 2012

Baked Potato Bar

Friday night. Home a bit late. Andy's home even later. Leftovers in the fridge to use up, and not much else besides broccoli and potatoes in the fridge. Not much motivation to put effort into dinner, but no viable takeaway options around. (As an aside: I think I feel like a grown up these days, and the reason I've identified is because I look forward to Friday evenings in sweatpants, flicking between Better Homes & Gardens and Masterchef.)

Solution: baked potato bar.

Because I was in a hurry, I put the two plain potatoes in a pot of water, brought it up to the boil, then turned it down to very low for about 20 minutes. After taking them out, I pricked them all over with a fork, and did the same to two sweet potatoes. Rub all with oil, sprinkle with salt, and put in a baking tray. Since there was space in the tray, I added some chopped broccoli, sprinkled with lemon juice. 200 degrees (400F) and 45 minutes later we had soft-inside, crispy-outside baked potatoes.

To put on top, tomato chutney; leftover burrito filling; creamy mashed avocado; and hummus.

One of my potatoes, with hummus, avo, and chutney.

Good, easy, and not terribly unhealthy.


8 comments:

Hannah said...

OH DEAR HEAVENS THERE'S A SNAKE ON YOUR PLATE.

Hummus and sweet potato? I'm in.

Mel said...

Baked potatoes are such a great meal when you are short on time! I love having them when there are leftovers like chilli beans to use up.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE baked potato bars! But I've never tried with avocado!! I'll have to try it!! Thank you for rocking my world!! :)

Nadine said...

I hear ya. A successful Friday night is on the couch, with a DVD, and some nice snacks. When did I become like this!?!?!

Kate said...

Great idea, I'll be trying that one for sure! Think it'd be a hit with Sylvia too :)

Kari said...

Friday night for us is a movie recorded from TV and watched with all the ads skipped :P Adulthood is great!

We have baked potatoes at least once a week - sometimes with a side that involves some effort, sometimes more like you show here. I usually start the cooking off in the microwave and then transfer to the oven, but the nice thing about potatoes is you can't really ruin them.

DJ said...

I LOVE baked tattles! They lend themselves to just about every/any topping and they're an easy nutritious tea in our house too, especially with a big salad. Never tried baked sweet potatoes though - I'm sure that will change shortly! Though delicious as they maybe, that roast sweet potato in that first pic does kinda look like... Nacho was marking her territory? Ahem!

Joey said...

Putting avocado on anything and I'm sold! Especially if there's a bit of Masterchef to go with it!