Baked Potatoes with Spicy Topping

Description

It was a little cold outside this past weekend and I wasn’t in the mood to head to the grocery store. But I was craving some tasty, hearty comfort food. I looked in the pantry and I had a couple of nice looking russet potatoes and some fresh vegetables (we always keep some fresh vegetables on hand).

This made a spicy one dish vegetarian meal that was absolutely delicious! A baked potato offers an almost endless amount of topping opportunities and maybe best of all it’s simple to prepare. Now sure you could go the boring route and just go with some butter and sea salt. But heck that’s no fun.

A couple of tips to keep in mind in order to make the perfect baked potato - for baking potatoes choose russet potatoes. They look kind of brown and dirty (don’t pick the waxy looking potatoes) but russets are perfect for baking. If you want to make these as a side dish then go for smaller potatoes and if you’re looking to make it a meal go for the larger size. Remember the larger the potato the more area you have to cover with toppings.

For this recipe I used fresh yellow squash but if it is out of season you can try substituting zucchini or corn.

Recipe

Ingredients:

4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced carrot
1 clove minced garlic
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 19 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup diced yellow squash
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Cracked Black Pepper to taste
Sea Salt to taste
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 tablespoon Sweet Chili Powder

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400° F
Pierce potatoes with tines of fork and bake until tender, about 1 hour
In large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat
Add onion, bell pepper, carrot and garlic and cook stirring often until vegetables begin to soften10-12 minutes
Stir in chili powder and cumin
Add tomatoes, broth and beans
Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook 18-20 minutes
Add yellow squash and zucchini
Cover and simmer until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes
Stir in cilantro and season with salt and pepper
Split baked potatoes and gently mash pulp
Spoon vegetable stew into center