Twice-Made Baked Potatoes

Twice-Made Baked Potatoes
Dorcas Annette Walker

I’m amazed that in our lawsuit happy society someone hasn’t sued the flower/plant companies that send out seed catalogs and brochures all year tempting plantaholics like me. All I have to do is step into a greenhouse full of flowers to turn into a wild woman. Surely by now someone has faced financial ruin from compulsive ordering and buying plants besides me. I came to the realization that I was obsessed with flowers years ago when in one of our moves I was more concerned about transporting a station wagon load of plant starts rather than my household stuff. There is nothing like the thrill of receiving packages of tiny plants or seeds ordered during the dreary days of winter when I couldn’t resist the bright colorful pictures in seed catalogs. Like a true addict the first area I visit in any store when shopping is the plant section to check out new arrivals. Now that I’ve filled up all the space possible with flowerbeds around my house, I’ve turned my attention to our woods. My husband shook his head in disbelief when I sowed part of our new garden area for vegetables this spring with flower seeds. The only saving factor that keeps the courts from being tied up in lawsuits versus seed companies and greenhouses is the reason that most gardeners are some of the most loving big hearted folk around. Who else after spending hours of toiling in the dirt, weeding, watering, and caring for a garden will turn around and give away part of the harvest for the sheer pleasure of helping their fellow man? No matter how bad the economy gets as long as there are plantaholics or gardeners’ alive seed companies and greenhouses will flourish.

Early this past Sunday morning I was out in my herb garden snipping off the tops of a couple of garlic stems to add to my Twice-Made Baked Potatoes. These baked potatoes are a yummy deluxe version of a regular baked potato with a fresh garden taste that melts in your mouth. Each bite of my Twice-Made Baked Potatoes is flavored with bits of bacon, a hint of onion, and melting cheese. Twice-Made Baked Potatoes can be made the day before, refrigerated, and then popped in the oven along with the dinner rolls for Sunday dinner. You can also add black olives, green peppers, or substitute other herbs like chives, thyme, parsley, oregano, and rosemary to the Twice-Made Baked Potatoes to pamper your family’s taste buds. Preparation time for my Twice-Made Baked Potatoes is twenty minutes and this recipe serves eight.

Twice-Made Baked Potatoes

4 large potatoes
½ stick margarine sliced
salt & pepper
½ c milk
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
¼ c bacon bits
1 tb minced chives

Microwave potatoes until the potatoes are soft when you insert a fork into them. Put margarine in the bottom of a small bowl, carefully slice the hot potatoes in half, and scoop out the insides with a spoon. Mash the insides together, sprinkle salt & pepper to taste, and add milk beating until creamy. Then mix in shredded cheese, bacon bits, and onion. Refill the potato shells and bake at 350º for twenty minutes until lightly browned. Can garnish with a scoop of sour cream!

Weekly tip: To microwave a potato: first wash the potato and dry. Then poke holes into the potato with a fork. You can either wrap one potato in a paper towel or microwave a couple of potatoes in a covered microwave dish until soft alternating with microwaving and letting them sit a couple of times!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com