Triple Cheese Twice Baked Potatoes

Ah the pleasures of the flesh. No silly, not that kind of flesh. Potatoes. Come on, this is a food blog, the only porn you’ll ever see on here is food porn (unless a sneaky spam bot successfully gets itself into my comments…). Yesterday mid morning, I was struck by an intense desire to eat (another) something I haven’t had for a seriously long time. In fact, the last time I ate it, my sister cooked it for me, which is saying something since she doesn’t much like to cook, but this is one of the things she does and can do. Twice Baked Potatoes. Our mom use to make them for us. They were routinely our requested food for birthdays and holidays. They are my favorite comfort food. I would like to be able to spin it and find a way to make this more healthy or even more tasty, but frankly my mom had it right from the start. Some people might find the combination of potato, cheese and sour cream the anti-health, but if you pair this with a nice fresh salad and indulge in moderation, then you are good to go. I think that is one thing people need to remember, if you are cooking with good, organic, fresh ingredients, like I am, you should feel free to indulge once in a while, again in moderation. There is a place for organic chocolate cake in our lives just as there is a place for a delicious kale carrot salad. Ironically, that is exactly what I was craving this morning, along with twice baked potatoes. Since I wasn’t able to have my twice baked potatoes yesterday, I decided to make them this morning. I paired the triple cheese twice baked potatoes in an east meets west pairing and made a Spicy Asian Kale Carrot Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing. Frankly, the salad was so delicious and healthy, I didn’t have any desire to overindulge or stuff myself on the potatoes. In fact, I only at 1 half and was satisfied. As I mentioned in a previous post, breakfast has been a quandary for me and despite this being a funny thing to eat for breakfast, it was phenomenal. It is a perfect rounded dinner and you can feel free to indulge anytime of the day or night, supposing you can wait that long. And another reminder, it is never a bad time to remind your family how much you love, value and appreciate your family for how much they influence you and even your day to day life. My family rocks thank you (and them) very much.

Crisp and delicious combination of carrots, kale and broccoli sprouts

Twice Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 large baking potato
2 tablespoons shredded gouda
⅓ cup shredded extra sharp cheddar
2 tablespoons parmiganio reggiano
¼ cup organic cultured sour cream
1 tsp. salt
pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Prick baking potato with a fork, rub with olive oil and wrap in foil. Bake for an hour to hour thirty depending on the size of the potato.

Remove from the oven and very carefully cut in half. You want to keep the skins in tact so that you can refill them. Scoop the flesh out of the skin and into a bowl. Combine the potato flesh with the gouda and cheddar cheese and sour cream, mashing until creamed together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mixture back into potato skins and place on a baking sheet or foil. Sprinkle Parmigiano Reggiano over the top. Bake at 375 for another 15 minutes to heat through. Then open the oven door a crack and turn the oven up to broil and brown the cheese.

Serve hot. Optional Garnish include chopped parsley, chervil or scallions.

Spicy Asian Carrot Kale Salad

Ingredients:
½ bunch kale, chiffonade
1 carrot, shredded
1 scallion, diced
½ cup broccoli sprouts
1 tbsp. gomashio
Optional: 3 ounces baked tofu, chopped

Directions:
In a large bowl combine salad ingredients and toss together. Dress with 2 TBSP of Ginger Peanut Dressing.

Ginger Peanut Dressing

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp. ginger, minced
5 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
1 tsp. brown rice syrup
1 tsp. wheat free tamari
1 ½ tablespoons brown miso
¼ cup peanut oil

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients except the oil in a bowl or blender. Stir or blend to combine. While whisking (or with motor running) slowly drizzle in peanut oil to emulsify.

To dress, pour 2 tbsp over salad.

The perfect pair

So good it deserves a second, third or fourth look

Warm Winter Salad: Kale, Tomato, Toasted Garbanzo Beans and Goat Cheese

I really don’t know what kind of foodie I am since I failed to record in any way my Christmas Eve dinner. I think I got caught up in the festivities, the craziness, the hodgepodge and the “doesn’t this just figures” like the lights going out and my uncle’s fiance’s cat having to be taken to the vet to be put down. No pictures, no recipes but I have recreated (and expanded to full on meal size) a brussel sprout recipe (shocking I know) that I made. On Christmas eve we enjoyed Prime Rib w/horseradish, Roasted Root Veggies (Parsnips, Blue Potatoes, Sweet Potato, Onion, Whole Garlic, Carrot tossed in a very light fresh herb, balsamic and olive oil mixture), Lemon-y Brussel Sprouts with Carmelized Leeks and Salad with my mom’s lemon dressing. We also enjoyed Carrot Cake and Chocolate Mousse cake from Whole Foods for dessert and Mary’s Gone Crackers with Fig Onion Jam and amazing Goat Cheese for appetizers. The Roasted Root Veg was delicious and managed to accommodate surprise guests, late guests and hearty appetites as well.

Despite having been very good and eaten great (healthy) foods over the holidays, post-Christmas I was looking back to my routine of having a good hearty salad at least once a day. The problem is, with winter, snow and cold, the last thing that is satisfying is a light raw salad. I wanted my greens (ok, almost everything I eat is vegetable based but still…) but I wanted something warming as well. I was out running when this salad came into my brain as I slushed through any number of now melting snow drifts, soaking my feet. I created a fresh, crisp but more importantly warm winter salad of kale, garbanzo beans and tomatoes.

Warm Winter Salad

Ingredients:

1 bunch Kale, wash and rough chop
½ pint cherry tomatoes
.25 cup garbanzo beans, rinsed and dried
.25 cup goat cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions:
In a dry skillet or non-stick pan, toast the garbanzo beans over medium high heat. Keep pan moving so garbanzos don’t stick. Toast for a few minutes until the beans start to get a golden hint and are fragrant.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to the skillet and heat. Add kale and coat with oil. Wilt for 2-3 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the cherry tomatoes begin to burst. The greens should be crisp tender.

Remove from heat, adjust seasoning and toss goat cheese with the mixture.

Brussel Sprouts aplenty and beautiful color too!

The brussel sprouts I cooked on Christmas Eve might have rocket launched themselves into the number one spot on ways to cook Brussel Sprouts. In order to reduce the following recipe to make that, simply remove the cabbage, green beans and tofu and make according to the same directions. The following recipe I cooked up (or kicked up) in order to make my favorite food into a main dish and thus allow me to eat more, but still have other elements to make sure it was a balanced meal.

Brussel Sprouts, Red Cabbages, Green Beans and Carmelized Leeks

Ingredients:

2 cups brussel sprouts, halved
1 cup red cabbage, rough chopped
1 cup green beans, trimmed and halved
1 large leek, trimmed, cleaned and rough chopped
3 oz. baked tofu, cubed (savory flavor recommended)
1 lemon
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions:
In a steamer, bring to a boil 3-4 cups of water and steam brussel sprouts, cabbage and green beans for 1.5-2 minutes, until the vegetables brighten and crisp. Remove from heat and shock in cold water to stop cooking. (You may also parboil) Set aside.

In a skillet or non-stick pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute leeks for 5-7 minutes, until they begin to caramelize. Add tofu into the skillet and cook until browning. Add back the brussel sprouts, cabbage and green beans and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a few more minutes until the veggies are crisp, golden and toasty.

Remove from heat, squeeze the juice of the lemon over the mixture and toss. Adjust salt and pepper and serve.

One cool last tidbit: I have created a Tastebook of all of my recipes from this year, so that anyone who is interested in having all my original recipes in one place, categorized and with lots of pretty pictures, can now do so on Tastebook. There is a link to the right top. Or better yet, go there and make your own!