Twice-Baked Potatoes (Speed Nuke Method)

Yes indeed, it is the delectable flavour of Twice Baked Potatoes... but in half the time!  Less than that, actually.  Thanks to the modern technology of microwave ovens, this is a recipe that produces potatoes that honestly taste every bit as good as the 2½ hour conventional oven approach!

In my opinion, the end-result is every bit as moist, creamy, and flavourful in the Microwave oven, and my children love them!  So unless you fear radio-active side-effects, this recipe is a great time-saver when you are scrambling for something to make when 6:00pm rolls around.

Ingredients:

• 4 - 6 large baking potatoes
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese + extra grated cheese!
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 4 strips of crispy bacon, crumbled or sliced (Michael's addition)

Directions:

1. Scrub and prick potatoes with a fork
2. Place on a glass plate or microwave-safe dish
3. Cooke 3 - 4 potatoes at a time on high for 6 - 7 minutes
• Cook until potatoes are tender!
4. Cut cooked potatoes lengthwise.  Let sit five minutes to cool.
• This is to avoid burned fingers in the next step! ;-)
• You still want the potato innards hot enough to melt the butter...
5. Scoop potatoes from shell into a mixing bowl.
6. Mash potatoes and mix with butter, milk, sour cream, shredded cheese, salt, and pepper.
7. Place potato skins on the glass plate or dish.
8. Fill skins with mashed potatoes mixture
9. Add bacon pieces/crumble to the tops of the potatoes
10. Sprinkle with additional shredded cheese
11. Microwave on high 1 - 2 minutes or until cheese is melted
12. Prepare to double the recipe next time when your family asks for more!

Recipe Etymology:  This recipe comes from a cook-book Mom gave Mary last Christmas as a gift for her birthday.  I first tried this last month whilst Mary was face painting, and I needed to make something quick for the family upon arriving home from work.  Entitled the "Quick & Easy Cookbook," it was just what I needed.  It has some great recipes within, including this one!   Yummy-yum yum!

Oh, and here is how they should have looked, were I to have used fuller sized potatoes,  took more time artistically placing the grated cheese, and adding the fancy green onions for a final garnish...

Wonderful Wild Rice Soup

Cut 4 oz. of bacon into small pieces and cook. (Or you can use a cup of chopped, cooked ham.)

Place in crock pot. 

Add:
2-10 3/4-oz cans condensed cream of potato soup
1 pkg prepared Uncle Ben's instant wild rice
2-2-oz cans non-fat or 2 % evaporated milk
1-2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese

Put on warm all day long and thin with additional regular milk, if desired.  

The original recipe is from Mom (Kathryn)'s co-worker but used a pound of bacon, whipping cream and much more cheese - so this is very tasty but a healthier version that Kathryn adapted.

Shepherd's Pie

I'll post this since we made it for dinner a few weeks ago at Mom & Dad's. Such a good comfort food!

Pre-heat: 350º

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb ground beef
2 packets brown gravy
12 oz. mixed vegetables (corn, peas and green beans are good)
2 lbs potatoes

Half fill a large pot with water and set to boil.

On a low to medium heat setting, cook the onions until the onion pieces are soft and translucent. Then brown the ground beef in the same pan at the same heat setting.

While the onions &/or meat are cooking, cut the potatoes into smaller pieces (small enough that they will cook quickly but shouldn't spend a lot of time on this) and dump them in the water.

Make the brown gravy - boil a cup of water and stir in the gravy until it thickens. The ground beef should be done. Pour in the gravy, and add the vegetables. Stir until it's all mixed and the veggies are warm.

Distribute the mixture evenly at the bottom of a casserole dish. Make the mashed potatoes -- drain the potatoes, and mash (with butter and milk, as desired). Layer the potatoes on top of the meat mixture.

Pop uncovered in the oven for about half an hour.

Alison's Sunday Crock Pot Pork Roast

Ingredients:
Onion
Potatoes
Carrots
Celery
2 Garlic Cloves
Pork Loin
Seasonings (Mrs. Dash, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Salt, S&P)
1/2 to 1 cup Water

I didn't list how much of each ingredient to use because it really depends on the size of crowd/family you'll be feeding. Since it generally is just me, hunnybun, and the goobs, I chose a small pork loin out of the freezer, 5 potatoes, and a handful of leftover carrots and celery from the relish container that needed using up. It also depends on the size of your crock pot.

Defrost the pork loin in the microwave, if needed, while you prep/cut up the vegetables. Layer about half of the potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion on the bottom of the pot. Add a little seasoning. Place the pork loin on top and surround it with the rest of the vegetables. Add the water. Season with your choice of seasons. Put the lid on and turn the crock pot on to high for four hours or low for eight hours. (I generally choose high depending on the time of day.)

Cut into the middle to check for doneness (is that even a word?). If you like gravy, take some (or all) of the drippings left in the pot and mix with a packet of gravy (yup, I cheat sometimes, but that's okay).

Baked Potato Soup

This is probably the first soup I ever made that didn't come from a can because I durned well felt like making soup from scratch one night. The recipe came from one of my favorite cooking blogs, Eat At Home, but I left out the bacon because I didn't feel like getting frostbitten fingers searching for it in the freezer. I also added broccoli because Thayne loves it on his baked potatoes. So my rule is - put whatever you usually like on baked potatoes!

4-6 baked potatoes
1 onion, chopped
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
6 cups milk
1-2 cups cheese
Steamed Broccoli (frozen California blend veggies work, too)
Seasonings of your choice

Bake the potatoes (microwave or oven is fine) and scoop out the pulp. I got tired halfway through and just ended up cutting the rest into chunks instead.
Melt butter and saute onion, add milk, WHISK in flour. DO NOT BOIL!
Add potatoes, cheese, broccoli.
Season to taste with what you generally like to put on baked potatoes. We like Mrs. Dash, garlic salt, and pepper.
Mmmmm, this soup is tasty! I don't know how healthy it may be but I don't always care about that. Bad me!