Stuffed Potatoes with Roasted Veggies

Hello, hello!

Can you believe it’ll be a whole new year in just 2 days!?!

I have BIG plans and goals for 2014. BIG!

I can’t wait to share them with you!

Okay, honestly, it’s not like I’m going to wait long. Tomorrow’s the day!

Can you wait until tomorrow?

I’m not sure I can – I’m so excited and PUMPED about them!

I’d share them today but I have something tastier to share with you. 🙂

Remember that little “gift to myself” I bought when I was out doing last minute Christmas shopping?

Well, I have been totally LOVING it.

And, *sneak preview alert*, it’s helped shape part of my plans for 2014. 🙂

There are some really delicious recipes in this book!

OH! That reminds me! This book came with 2 trial issues of Clean Eating Magazine! Hang on a second – I have to run the card out to the mailbox so I can take advantage!! BRB!

Okay. I’m back. Thanks for waiting. Phew! So glad I remembered to do that!

Anyhow, I found a recipe in there for stuffed potatoes with roasted veggies.

Um, yeah. So TOTALLY making that.

And I did!

With a few small tweaks, of course. Because, you know, that’s how I roll.

Actually, one was because my grocery store was lacking.

The other  two were by choice.

The recipe calls for Yukon Gold potatoes.

I love Yukon Gold potatoes. LOVE. Alas, my grocery store did not have any. 😦

So, I used Russets. A fair substitute but the cooking time/process changes a little. I set my crockpot to high per the recipe and, while the veggies cooked perfectly, the potatoes did not finish. I had to microwave them for about 9 minutes afterwards. Which is fine. Frustrating, but fine. So, just be aware of that if you use Russets instead of Yukon Golds.

The recipe calls for yellow onion. I chose to use red onion instead. I thought the flavor of the red onion would be better. I also increased the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon. It just seemed to be the right thing to do. And honestly, don’t tell the peeps at Clean Eating, but I think I was right. It was amazing!

And, I served it with a side of bacon. Because, well, it’s bacon!

Bacon. Is. Awesome.

Stuffed Potatoes with Roasted Veggies
Makes 4 servings

Olive oil cooking spray
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 carrot, scrubbed well and thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 6-ounce Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed well
¼ cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon each sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper
½ cup shredded low-fat sharp cheddar cheese
¼ cup crumbled low-fat bleu cheese

1. Coat a 6-qt slow cooker with cooking spray. Add bell pepper, onion, corn, carrot, cayenne, and oil; stir to combine. Using a fork, pierce potato in several spots, wrap in foil and place over top of pepper-corn mixture. Cover and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.

2. Remove potatoes and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Add parsley, garlic, salt, and black pepper to pepper-corn mixture and stir to combine.

LOVE the colors in this dish!

3. In a small bowl, add cheddar and bleu cheese and toss gently until well blended. Remove potatoes from foil and cut each in half lengthwise.

4. Fluff potato flesh with a fork and top with cheese mixture and roasted veggies.

5. Om. Nom. Nom.

Nutrition per stuffed potato:
Calories 275; Fat 7g (saturated 2g, monounsatured 3g, polyunsaturated 1g); Carbs 45g (fiber 5g, sugar 5g); Protein 10.5g; Sodium 230mg

Question: What’s your favorite way to top a potato?

– jennifer

Some random stuff and Beef and Vegetable Pot Pie

I was able to hit the Fresh Market this past weekend. I stocked up. Um, can you say addicted? 🙂

I may have mentioned that I have created my own cookbook from recipes found in magazines, the newspaper, and the internet. That is a project I’ve been working on for the past year or so. It’s coming along quite nicely, I think.

I grab these binders and flip through them, usually while I’m eating breakfast. I use those little sticky flags to mark my pages of the upcoming week’s recipes. Sometimes, Ginny…. aka my supervisor…

decides to remove those sticky flags for me. She’s so helpful. Anyway, one of the recipes I recently made was found in my handy dandy notebook. It came from an old Cooking Light magazine. A very old magazine. Like….1998. Did I mention I’m the wife of a sailor? Yeah, that means that magazine has moved around a lot. What? Packrat? Who, me? 🙂

A recipe from the book – no idea the year. Who doesn’t love pot pie? It’s everything that is good in the world all together in one simple dish. Make it quick, easy and healthy and you’ve achieved dinner nirvana. Pull up your chair and grab your fork. You’re definitely going to want to dig in to this one!

Beef and Vegetable Pot Pie
Yield: 6 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 lb ground sirloin
2 cups chopped zucchini
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 package (8 ounces) sliced mushrooms*
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 can (14-ounce) reduced-fat, low-sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons water
Cooking spray
1 (11-ounce) can refrigerated soft breadstick dough

*mushrooms = EW
If you feel the same way, you can certainly leave them out. I substituted yellow squash.
Yellow squash = YUM

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain. Wipe drippings from pan with a paper towel. Heat remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in pan. Add zucchini and next 6 ingredients (through garlic); sauté 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Return beef to pan. Stir in wine, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and broth. Bring to a boil; cook 3 minutes. Combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

3. Spoon beef mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Separate breadstick dough into strips. Arrange strips in a lattice fashion over beef mixture. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until browned.

Per serving:
Calories 313; Fat 8.5g (saturated 1.7g, mono 3.0g, poly 0.7g); Protein 22g; Carb 37.6g; Fiber 2.7g; Sodium 679mg; Cholesterol 40

Recipe from Cooking Light