Garden Stuffed Baked Potatoes

I had told Mrs. L that I was going to put up a new recipe on here and she loves recipes.

This recipe is what I used for our church fellowship dinner.

Garden Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes unless you bake the potato in the oven for an hour like I did instead of using the microwave.

What you'll need:
- 4 russet potatoes
- 1 10 ounce package of frozen chopped broccoli
- 1/2 cup of ranch salad dressing
-salt
-pepper
-2 tsp. of dried parsley
-2 tbs. of butter
-1 tbs. of oil
-1 small onion

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 425
Microwave pierced potatoes on high for 12 minutes;
bake for 15 minutes. Slice off potato tops. Scoop out pulp, keeping skins intact. Mash pulp in a medium bowl

Step 2:

Heat a small skillet over medium heat; add butter. Add onion and saute until tender; about 5 minutes. Add onion and broccoli(I boiled broccoli first then drained the water then mixed them in with everything else), and salad dressing to pulp; mix well.

Step 3:

Brush outside of [potato skin shells with oil.

Step 4:

Spoon potato mixture into shells, dividing evenly. Place on a baking sheet. Bake potatoes until heated through, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley; salt and pepper to taste.


Tip:

-You can always precook these potatoes, then cool to room temperature. Wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Then just reheat in the microwave for 5 minutes.

-Rubbing the outside of the potatoes with oil before baking will help them absorb more heat and allows the potatoes to cook more quickly- reducing cooking time by a few minutes. It also makes the skins more crisp and nicely brown.

- A variation to this recipe: you can add 1 cup of cheddar cheese to the potato pulp mixture or top the stuffed potatoes with cheese before baking in step 4.

- Also, you can dice any left over beef, chicken, or fish and add to these vegetable packed potatoes. You'll have an economical, nutritious dinner that includes most of the major food groups.

Enjoy!


Note: You will have some of the mixture left over once you scoop it into the potatoes, so then you can add it to whatever meal you want. It is still tasty even though it's not in the potato.