twice baked

it has been awhile since i have done a (legit) food post...well, honestly it has been a long time since we cooked dinner rather than poured ourselves a bowl of cereal (which always tastes good!). i have been craving comfort food a lot lately. pancakes, muffins, scones, cookies, toast, loaves of bread...are you seeing the pattern here? so the other night when we were trying to find something yummy to make for dinner i thought "ah-ha! twice baked potatoes!"

however, some things have to be altered in order to be a meal...
1. i live with a vegetarian and while i, myself, am a carnivore, i respect that e is not. but a twice baked potato just isn't the same without bacon.
        answer: morning star fake bacon (actually one of my favorite foods out there).
2. i would like to not have a heart attack at the ripe ol' age of 24 but as far as i am concerned, cheese in itself is a food group.
        answer: a combo of 1tbsp of (shredded) nonfat mozzarella + 1tbsp cheddar + 1 tbsp shaved parmesan.
3. something else slightly healthy really should be added.
        answer: left over spinach lasagna mixture, which gave me more cheese in the form of ricotta.

 

 

1. go ahead and pick out the biggest russet potatoes in the sack and in order to save time, fork em really good and stick them in the microwave for 10 minutes, flipping after the first 5 minutes.
2. in the mean time, grate your cheeses, strain your spinach and fry up your fake bacon (it doesn't crumble as easy as the real stuff so go ahead and lean toward the more crispy end result).

3. once the potatoes are done, let cool for a minute or so (or you can be like me and just burn your fingers) and scoop out the middle of the potatoes and put it in a medium sized bowl.
4. combine 9/10ths of the cheese, spinach, ricotta(amount varying upon your tastes, i used about 1/3 cup) and crumble bacon with the potato centers.
5. mix well!

6. spoon back into potatoes and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and the remaining 1/10 of mozzarella and cheddar.
7. bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and you are satisfied. 

8. enjoy! very filling though i do recommend adding a salad/veggie side.