Tuesday's Food: Twice Baked Stuffed Potatoes

Mmm....potatoes. I really, really love potatoes. My waistline doesn't, but boy, when it turns cold outside, potatoes are just so nice. Last week I decided I wanted to serve potatoes for dinner, especially since we were running low on everything in the pantry and freezer. I wanted to make sure that I didn't tip the scale in points for weight watchers, so I checked out what they had. I found a great recipe that I adapted that I want to share with you. And honestly, my family LOVED it!

Ingredients:

• 5-6 baking potatoes
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups of greens (I used collards) 
• 5 oz of lean ham or 1 package of country ham pieces
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk OR 1/2 cup of 1 % milk
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne 
• 1/4 cup cheese 

Steps: 

1. Wash baking potatoes and then wrap in foil. Bake on high for 6-8 hours. This is the longest part. The rest of pretty quick. So do this first thing in the morning before you go to work or school. 

2. Using a pot holder, unwrap the potatoes and then cut off the top of the potato. Scoop out the insides, but be careful to not do too much. It will cause your potato to fall apart. Dump the insides of the potato into a big mixing bowl. Place the potato shells back in the crockpot or into an oven safe bowl. Preheat the oven to 350. 

3. In a large skillet, saute the greens for 2-3 minutes. Add the ham and cook until the ham begins to look a little crispy. 6-7 minutes. Add to the mixing bowl with the potato insides. (ALSO if you do not have evaporated milk (like I didn't), boil the milk for 2 minutes, then set aside. Add to the potato mixture when you add the collards and ham. )

4. Add cheese to the potato, greens, milk, ham mixture, add the spices, and gently stir until well blended. Stuff the potatoes. Place the stuffed potatoes back into the oven safe bowl and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese has begun to melt. 

5. Then you are done! I know it looks messy, but aren't most great tasting meals? You can serve this with another side, such as broccoli or some bread, but it's really not necessary. I added a biscuit to our meal, but really the potato worked great! 

This meal was perfect for a cold evening, the kids told me I was the best mom ever, and I even heard my husband bragging about it to another dude (my dad) about a week later. That kind of praise sure makes me want to put this on the regular rotation! 

Weight Watchers Points Plus: 7 pts!!!