In some families they have strong feelings about some version of … you’ll eat what I make or you won’t eat at all! And I get that not everyone has the time or energy to make 16 different type of foods and you can’t please everyone all of the time. But the tyranny over what is served and take it or leave can sometimes spill over into everything that we do. We turn our family treasure time into a trove of turmoil. Take for instance, loaded baked potato night … some of us love having a wide topping bar and fixings to make your own spud spectacular! But not everyone in our household likes baked potatoes. But they do happen to like nachos or tacos or even Mexican themed rice bowls. And in our family, since we already are making a vegetarian and a meat eaters option for dinner, it takes very little to also factor in a few other preferences in order to make a buffet where there is a little something for everyone. Which brings us to Baked Potato Nacho Bar night! And since it’s the start of the school year, and Karma is just now slowly getting back to the kitchen after a long POTShole we needed tonight’s dinner to be EXTRA EASY meal prep. By making salsa ahead of time and letting the getting the potatoes in the oven early, there was time to rest before it was time to finish the meal. Easy canned chili, was a perfect protein. Fage yogurt instead of sour cream was also an option. Canned corn, olives. All easy toppers. Even a can of diced chili mixed with a can of diced tomatoes, with a few shallots and seasoning made for the perfect fresh salsa bite. Nothing fancy, but for Karma it felt like a WIN in the kitchen. And at the end of even a hard day, it’s nice to be able to look back and count our little moments of bliss.
Baked Potato Nacho Bar
Ingredients
Baked Potato
Toppings and Sides
Cheese Sauce
Fresh Salsas
Instructions
Baked Potato
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Tossing all of the potatoes into a clean sink and filling with water, makes quick work of washing six pounds of spuds. Once they are scrubbed, take a knife and make an X in each one and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with oil, toss with salt and bake in a 400° oven for at LEAST ONE HOUR, can go 90 minutes especially if the potatoes are large.
Cheese Sauce
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We shredded the entire 2 pounds of cheese, and split it in two. Leaving half just plain shredded cheese for folks who prefer that to a cheese sauce. For the simple sauce we melted butter and added it to the flour to make a roux, then slowly whisked in the milk. Stirring slowly over low heat until it thickened. Then added one pound of the shredded cheese and stirred until melted.
Easy Fresh Salsa
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Canned jalapenos made for an easy fresh salsa, especially when combined with already petite diced organic tomatoes. We used the large can of tomatoes as our base that was common for the two salsas. Placing the 28 ounces into our Vitamix and adding the basil and garlic and half of the chopped shallots. In two mason jars we divided up the petite tomatoes, and put the fire roasted chilis in one mason jar and some additional sliced basil in the other. Added the Vitamix puree to both and popped them in the fridge until we were ready to serve.
Side fixings
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We heated both chilis up separately in the microwave and opened the canned corn and olives to serve on the side. Easy night! And everyone got to have a little something they liked for dinner. It wasn't until WAY LATER that we remembered we TOTALLY FORGOT the BROCCOLI that we bought for the meal!! Oh we will use the broccoli with pasta later in the week!
