Recipes #3 and #4

At least I think that's the right number. It's one week to my Final Cooking Test Practice, so my brain chooses this week to not function entirely properly. These are seriously good potatoes! One local grocer sells a version in their deli for $3 each, now that I know how easy they are I will never buy them again.

Recipe #3 - Twice Baked Stuffed Potatoes

4 baker potatoes
1 green onion
3 slices crisp cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/4 cup or so whipping cream

Bake or microwave the potatoes until soft inside. Cut of top, scoop out insides. Mix insides of potato with green onion, cheese, bacon and cream. Stuff back inside potato and heat again until cheese melts. You can mound the stuffing on top of the potato because like a shopping cart or deviled eggs, you can never get all the insides back where they came from.

This is NOT a diet recipe //grin// but you can thin it down by using other dairy products. The choice of cheese is all yours, we used Monterrey Jack and Cheddar. You may use more or less cream (or milk product of choice). The easiest way to get the stuffing back in is to use a pastry bag with a big tip, then you can also make fancy swirlies on the top.

Grilled Veggie Salad

1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed
1 ea yellow and orange bell pepper, quartered
1 basket cherry tomatoes
1 red onion, quartered
1 large bunch or small bag fresh spinach
7 or 8 button mushrooms
150 g feta cheese, crumbled
shallow dish of vegetable oil
pinch of salt & pepper

Wash the spinach, remove stems, put in bowl. Heat bbq to medium, oil grill. Toss veggies in oil with salt & pepper, place on grill. It helps to have a veg basket so you don't lose any down the grate. //ahem// Turn once. Asparagus takes about a min or two depending on thickness, mushrooms about a minute, peppers, onions & tomatoes about 2-4 minutes. Let veggies cool a bit, slice into bite sized pieces, toss with spinach, add feta. You can use any dressing, we didn't bother with one, but I think a nice balsamic vinaigrette would do the job.