Daily Favorites: Twice-Baked Potato

I had planned on making jalapeno popper loaded tots, but once I found out there's a reason tots don't make a meal by themselves, I pivoted. I bought a potato thinking I was going to do a jalapeno and cream cheese baked potato. But then I had a better idea. 

I could take one of my favorite holiday side dishes, Twice Baked Potato Casserole, and make a smaller version with one potato, still using the jalapeno and cream cheese flavor profile. 

So peeled a large potato, cut into chunks and boiled for 15 minutes or so. Then mashed with a minced jalapeno pepper and some cream cheese. Salt, pepper, and then into a medium ramekin that I gave a little non-stick spray. 

Topped with a layer of cream cheese, bit of cheddar, some bacon bits that I had leftover from the dates, and a few jalepeno slices for garnish. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes. Then top with chive. 

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It seems one peeled potato has roughly 150 calories. 

Add another 100 for the cream cheese and 100 for the cheddar/bacon. It's a really filling dish for 350 cals. 

And it was quite good. The only thing that wasn't a winner? The fresh jalapeno. 

It really got lost. Didn't bring any heat or flavor to the party. If anything, it was sort of bitter in the background. A recipe I referenced specifically said to use fresh jalapeno and not jarred because the pickled ones wouldn't work in the oven. I believe that, but these didn't work either. 

I was loving the pickled jalapenos yesterday on my tacos, but not this fresh jalapeno after it got baked.

So next time, I would make this again but give up on the jalapeno cream cheese idea and just go the traditional twice baked potato route. (Also, I'm not a huge fan of the actual potato skin. I prefer this dish without the skins.)

Mash with sour cream, garlic, salt, pepper, maybe red pepper flake, cayenne or smoked paprika, some chive throughout perhaps. Then top with some cheddar. Unlikely to have cooked bacon on hand, but if I've got it, sure.

The holiday version of recipe includes 3 sticks of butter, a package of cream cheese, two cups of cheddar, milk, etc. Granted that's for 5 pounds of potatoes, but still. So by just going with a little bit of light sour cream and cheddar, we're getting most of the way there but for a lot less cals. 

Another thing I like about this dish, is that it would be really easy to prep the night before and have it ready to pop in the oven. Would make a great 300 cal side dish alongside a small steak for a "steakhouse at home" night.