Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Back to the Basics

Tonight I'm having a friend over for dinner. I'll post a round-up of that later. This morning I made a strawberry pie for it, since today is National Strawberry day. For Sweetnick's ARF today I'm going back to a basic technique...baked potatoes. We used to do potatoes in the microwave. Then my dad was introduced to what we call "Cammy's Potatoes." It's an easy way to bake potatoes and make the skin have a wonderful flavor...that's where all the nutriends are anyway, right?!
Cammy's Baked Potatoes
potatoes
cooking spray
Season All or Tony's
aluminum foil (NO, you won't eat this!)


Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Scrub potatoes, remove any sprouts, poke with a fork. Spray each potato with cooking spary and season liberally with Season All or Tony's. Wrap the prepared potatoes in foil and place in oven. bake for 1 hour or slightly longer, until tender. Unwrap and enjoy with your favorite toppings.

My dad likes butter, salt, and pepper. Mama likes sour cream. Roomie likes cheddar cheese. You can also make it high in ARF foods by adding things like tomatoes (or even salsa! Yum!), broccoli, onions, etc.




14 comments:

The Cookbook Junkie said...

Am I seeing double? I see two of the same post.

There is nothing like a real baked potato. I used to bake several small ones and them eat them cold - plain or with a bit of salt.

Unknown said...

Ooops! Thanks, Paula! You weren't seeing double...there were two of the same posts. Hmmm...I don't know about cold.

Peabody said...

You know I never make baked potatoes at home...weird.

Erika W. said...

Well I have a dumb question... what's Season All? Is that like a seasoning salt or something more like Mrs. Dash? I've heard of Tony's, but it's hard to find here.

Lowcountry Foodie said...

I love being reminded of the simple things - a baked potato should really show up more often for dinner...I wonder why I never remember them?

Anonymous said...

Ohhhh... I think I'm going to try this tomorrow! I never thought about seasoning the outside!

Anonymous said...

Mmm. Ironic-- you just gave me my first ever comment (yay! thanks!) as I was drooling over this picture on Sweetnicks. Perfect, too, as I've been stuck in a potato-leek soup rut.

Glenna said...

I love real baked potatoes too. I've done them in the microwave but it's not the same. The skins shrivel a bit and they don't seem as hearty to me. Thanks for the addition of the season-all. Great idea! I love the skins too. Okay, now I need baked potatoes for dinner...

Anonymous said...

Mmmm... I love baked potatoes!

As an aside, the way I always make mine (because that's the way my mom did it...) is cut off one end and dip it into salt then bake it like that until done (usually an hour and a half) ... don't know if the salt does anything, but they come out toasty on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

I think that's what I'm having for lunch today ...

Linda said...

I love baked potatoes, but I am the only one in my house that does. I also like to put Kosher salt on the outside. I top mine with butter, sour cream, salt and pepper. It's a good thing that I don't eat them often, with my toppings they are terrible for me.

Anonymous said...

Claire,
You left out what I think is an imporant part of scrubbing...scrub the potatoes in HOT water. This starts warming the potato and softening the skin so that it cooks better and I think absorbs the "oil" and seasoning better.

Red Dirt Mummy said...

Yum! And I love them when they are stuffed (with some vegies or chicken or tuna or whatever) then covered in cheese and re-warmed. Then they become a meal in their own right.

Unknown said...

Peabody - I'm surprised but you're not alone!

Erika - Okay, I thought I posed this yesterday but obviously it didn't work! Season All is a season salt by McCormick. It has salt, pepper, lots of spices. It's really good and (I think) is similar to Tony's. Mrs. Dash would actually probably be very good as well!

Lowcountry Foodie - You're right! I don't do them much either, though. Especially in the summer (which is about 9/12 months here!

Kristen - I hope you do it! The outside is my favorite...in fact, I'd eat my brother's outside...he doesn't eat it.

TEB - I'm so glad I was the first to comment...that's a first for me, too! Glad to get you out of a rut!

Glenna - You're right...the skins do shrivel in the microwave!

Alisha - HOpe lunch was good! I bet the crispy was so good.

Linda - I guess it's good that potatoes are the kind of thing that you CAN make only one of!

Daddy - Man, you always find my mistakes! Actually, I didn't remember that that was an essential part, but I guess it is!

RDM - You're right! A meal in itself. The last time I had one was when I had leftover soup that was really thick (veggie soup). I got the potatoes, took out some of the inside and put the soup in it's place. SO good!

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