Baked Potato Skins

When the kids and the hubby go to our local Pizza Hut, we usually order assorted appetizers. One of our favorite appetizers is the Baked Potato Skins. Since we have a dearth of potatoes at the house at the moment, I decided to fix it for our afternoon snack.

What you need:

Whole Cooked Potatoes with their skins on them (Baked, Steamed or Boiled)
Mozzarella cheese
Oil (Bacon or vegetable oil)
Savory toppings such as Bacon, Sausage, Pepperoni, etc.

How to fix it:



1. Take a cooked potato, and cut it in half.




2. Hollow it out with a spoon. Make sure you leave about half a centimeter of potato flesh on the skin. Do that with the rest of the potatoes.








3. Take a baking tray and lightly grease with oil. I believe bacon grease is the best but that is just me.




4. Put the potatoes, cut side down, on the baking tray and baked it in a 350 degree F oven for 5-10 minutes until the skin gets crispy.


5. Turn it over and add your cheese first and then add your savory topping. Make sure the cheese covers the entire potato bottom.

6. Bake the loaded potatoes for about 5-6 minutes or until the cheese is golden. Take out the finished potatoes and wait for about 3-4 minutes before serving (the hot cheese would be molten and would burn eager tongues and lips).

Enjoy!

The Mighty Meatloaf

I love meatloafs! Why do you ask?


1. They can be made ahead and when you bake them, the house smells so good.
2. When your budget is tight, a pound of meat goes a long, long way.
3. When done right, meatloaf is juicy, tasty and great as leftovers.

That is why I love meatloaf. I used a recipe which I saw last night on Foodgawker.com. Here's the LINK from Jana Laurene's blog. I've adapted it a bit to make it kid-friendly (her recipe had a lot of sauces which my kids don't like).

I must warn you though, you will have to do a lot of prep work for this recipe. But all the chopping and the mincing is worth it. Trust me.

Here's my Recipe:

1 pound of ground pork and beef (about a cup each)
1/2 carrot
2 ribs of celery
1/2 onion
1 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 egg
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup ketchup or tomato sauce + 1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

2 tablespoons oil
5-6 slices of bacon

1. First you need to mince the carrots, onion and celery into a finely diced mixture. Start with the carrots first, and then the onion and lastly the celery. Just put everything in one bowl.

2. In a pan, heat up the oil and dump everything that you minced into the pan. Saute and roast the minced veggies for about oh say 7, 10 minutes. When it's nice and done, dump the roasted veggies in a mixing bowl and let it cool off.

3. Once the vegetables have cooled off, add the rest of the ingredients into the mixing bowl (except the bacon). Mix everything well with your hands. Don't be afraid, it makes it taste better and besides, wouldn't you like the warm, squishy feeling between your fingers? :)

4. Shape into a long rectagular mound on a baking sheet, like this.



Now cover it entirely with bacon. The bacon will act as a moisture lock for the meatloaf and makes it nice and juicy inside. Plus the crunchy outer bacon shell adds the oomph to your meatloaf.

Now take that bacon-wrapped goodness and stick it into your oven. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheight for about 1 hour. To see if it is done, pierce it with a long skewer and if the juices run out are clear, the meatloaf is done.

This is how my meatloaf looked like when I sliced it. Look how nice and juicy it is? The kids agreed it was a great meatloaf.



To serve it, I usually cover it with Ketchup. Other sauces that would be great with this meatloaf are Barbeque sauce or A1 Steak sauce. Oh, be prepared for it to be a great leftover meat for sandwiches later. It rocks! :)