Super Stuffed Chili Cheese Sliced Baked Potatoes

Beware! These are not for the faint of heart!

There is so much gooey deliciousness going on here that at first we just sat and stared at this meal's awesomeness. You will not need a side dish with this, and if you can finish this in one sitting I will be impressed!

Seeing an image on Pinterest of a sliced baked potato (you slice the potato but don't cut it all the way so it is still attached) I used that for my inspiration. And since baked potatoes in themselves are already a tasty meal, I decided to add everything in my house that I felt would be a good match; I was not disappointed! We feasted on gloriously stuffed potatoes that night and went to sleep with full, happy bellies. Plus since we have leftovers, we enjoyed the meal the following day for lunch (we usually take leftovers for lunch, makes packing out lunches easier on me).

Feel free to add or remove components to make this meal suit your tastes as we did, and most of all have fun with this dish. Enjoy!

• 2 Russet Potatoes
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 2 tsp Cayenne Powder
• 1 tsp Garlic Salt
• 2 slices of Bacon (cooked and crumbled)
• 10.5 oz can Chili
• 1 Jalapeno (diced)
• 1/4 cup Green Onion (chopped)
• 1/4 cup Onion (diced)
• 1 Avocado (mashed)
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
• 1/4 cup Milk
• 1 tsp Flour
• 1 tsp Chives

Step 1: Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and scrub your potatoes to get them clean. Once cleaned off, take a knife and carefully start slicing the potato, but make sure not to cut it all the way through. You want the potato to remain together to make it easier to eat. Next make your butter sauce by combining 2 Tbsp of melted butter with 1 tsp cayenne and 1 tsp garlic sauce. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and cover with the butter sauce, making sure to get some of the butter in between your slices and on the skin. Then place the sheet in the oven and cook for 50 minutes.

Step 2: When you have about 15 minutes left you will want to start heating up your chili and making your cheese sauce. For the sauce, start by dissolving the flour in the 1/2 cup flour. Once dissolved, place mixture on a sauce pan and combine it with 1/2 cup cheddar cheese,  the cayenne, and the chives. Stir until cheese is melted on medium to medium low heat. At the same time, heat up your can of chili in either the microwave or stove top (I cooked mine on the stove at low heat).

Step 3: Once the 50 minutes has passed, take the potatoes from the oven. Then start dressing it by first placing 1/2 shredded cheddar cheese in the potato cracks. Follow with the chili, and then top with the cheese sauce you made, jalapenos, green onions, onions, and avocado. Serve with sour cream, your favorite hot sauce, and diced tomatoes. Enjoy!


Yield: Makes 2 potatoes

Swiss Mushroom Twice Baked Steak Potatoes

The amazing Twice Baked potato; combining delicious mashed potatoes with the delicious skin of a baked potato! Amazing!

Although in all honesty, I've never really been good at making these as i always end up puncturing the skin and then just scrapping the whole idea to make potato skins and mashed potatoes. Not this time! I made sure to scoop out the insides very carefully as to not ruin them, and it worked!

But these aren't just any twice baked potatoes! Oh no! These potatoes are stuffed with swiss cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms, mashed potatoes with gravy, and marinated steak. The perfect meal for any carnivore ! (and omnivore for that fact!)! Enjoy!

• 2 Potatoes
• 7 oz. Thin Cut Chuck Steak
• 1/3 cup Red Wine (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon)
• 3 Tbsp and 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tsp Liquid Smoke
• 1/2 cup Onion (sliced thin or diced)
• 6 Mushrooms (sliced)
• 1/2 cup Beef Broth
• 1 Tbsp Flour
• 1 Tbsp and 1 tsp Butter
• 2 Tbsp Milk
• 1 Tbsp Sour Cream
• 3 slices Swiss Cheese

Step 1: First you will want to marinate your steaks. Combine the red wine, 2 Tbsp of the Worcestershire Sauce, and the liquid smoke in a container and place the meat in it. Let it marinate for at least 2 hours before cooking (I let mine sit over night).

Step 2: When the meat has almost finished marinating, poke a few holes with a knife into your potatoes and place them in the center of your oven. Bake them for an hour at 375 degrees Fahrenheit  When they finish, take them out of the oven and let them cool. Turn off oven.

Step 3: While the potatoes are cooling, saute your onions in 1 Tbsp of butter over medium heat. Once the onions start to turn translucent, add in the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are soft. Remove the veggies and without cleaning the pan, add the steak to the pan. Cook until the meat has finished and remove them, then turn the heat down to low.

Step 4: Add the remaining marinade to the pan and let cook with the meat juices for a minute, stirring frequently. After a minute, add in the beef broth, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire, and the flour and stir until flour has fully dissolved. Let sit at the lowest heat possible. Go back to your steaks and cut them into small strips.

Step 5: Turn the oven back on to 375 degrees Fahrenheit  Go back to your potatoes and carefully cut out an oval on one of the sides (pretend you are making a canoe out of your potato). Once you have the oval carefully and slowly scrape out the insides and place in a bowl, but be careful not to puncture a hole in the skin. After you have removed the insides for both potatoes, scooping out as much as you can, return to the bowl you placed them in and add in 1 tsp of butter, the milk, the sour cream, and 1/2 tsp Worcestershire. Mash the potato until you have a consistency you like (some people like lumpy while others like creamy; this is all your preference right now).

Step 6: Go back to your pan and stir the gravy, making sure it is fully mixed and warm. Then take 2 slice of Swiss cheese and carefully place a slice in each potato, lining the bottom and sides. After the cheese is in, add in a layer of steak, followed by a layer of mashed potatoes and gravy, and then another layer of steak. By this time your potato should be almost full, so carefully place some of the vegetables (onion and mushrooms) on the top with a little bit of gravy. Grab a baking sheet and place the potatoes carefully on it without tipping them over. Once they are on the baking sheet, take the last piece of Swiss cheese, tear it in half, and place each half on one of the potatoes. Bake in the oven for 15 more minutes. When finished, place each potato on a plate, add more gravy and vegetables to the top, and then serve with the remaining mashed potatoes, sauteed vegetables, and gravy. Enjoy!


Yield: Makes 2 servings.

Pesto Spaghetti Squash

Growing up we never really had too many squashes in our meals. So when I heard that there was such as a Spaghetti Squash, I didn't believe it at first, honestly. I had to Google it in order to make sure it was in fact a real thing. And sure enough, it is real!

 When making this meal for the first time, I wanted to use items I would normally incorporate with pasta, such as pesto and sauteed mushrooms. Combining all of these things together creates a wonderful dish that most people would enjoy; I know I did! Enjoy!

• 1 Spaghetti Squash
• 1 Onion (sliced)
• 3 Tbsp Butter
• 4 White Mushrooms (sliced)
• 1 cup Kale (stems removed)
• 1 tsp Garlic Salt
• 1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 2 Tbsp Pesto
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (grated)

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice open the Spaghetti Squash length-wise, and then spoon out the seeds from the middle. Grease a cookie sheet and place the squash on the pan with the skin of the squash on the pan and the flesh facing up. Cook the squash for 1 hour, and then remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Once you can handle the squash, take a fork and start scrapping out the insides. The squash will come out of the shell in a string-like form. Place in a bowl and set aside.

Step 2: On the stove over med-high heat, sautee the onion in 1 Tbsp butter. Once the onion starts to turn translucent, add the kale and mushrooms to the onion and reduce the heat to a med-low.

Step 3: Next add the squash to the pan. Add 2 Tbsp of butter, the garlic salt, and the Italian Seasoning and cook for a a minute or two until everything is mixed. Remove from the stove and place in a big bowl.

Step 4: Once in the bowl, add the olive oil and pesto to the mixture. Mix around, and then slowly add in the parmesan cheese. Mix until pesto and cheese is evenly spread, then serve! Enjoy!

Yield: Makes 4-6 servings.

Country Fried Onion and Mushroom Steak

Me: 'What do you want for dinner tonight?'
Him: 'Tacos!'
Me: 'We don't have tacos. :('
Him: 'What do we have?'
Me: 'Pork, chicken, steaks... I could do a Salisbury with the mushrooms I bought?'
Him: 'That could be cool...'
Me: 'OH I KNOW! It will be waiting for you when you get home! :D'

And that is usually how our meal planning works half of the time. Thankfully I came up with the brilliant idea (using him for inspiration because hey, I don't want to surprise anyone unless I know they are going to love my food experiment) to try to make some Country Fried Steaks with an onion and mushroom gravy; one of his all-time faves when we go out to eat. After deciding what should go in it, I just had to figure out whether or not to pan-fry them or use the deep fryer. After a few minutes of no decisions, he suggested to try both out, so we did! 

We both thought that the deep-fryer would be the winner, hands down. But to our surprise, the pan-fried steaks came out much better than the deep fried ones! Cooking in the pan allowed the breading to soak up all the delicious flavored that were being released by the pan, giving it a fuller taste than the deep fried one. Because of that I opted to only give directions for the pan-fried recipe, however if you really want to deep fry them please do so for 4 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Enjoy!

• 4 3-ounce Steaks
• 3/4 cup Breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (grated)
• 1 Tbsp Green Onion (was 1 stalk for me)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Milk
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Onion
• 1/4 cup Mushroom
• 1/2 cup Beef Broth
• 2 Tbsp Flour
• 1 Tbsp Cornstarch
• Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and green onion in a container. Beat egg until fluffy and then add 1/4 cup Milk and whisk. Once combined, dip steak in egg batter and then press in the flour concoction until coated. Do this for all 4 steaks.

Step 2: In a sauce pan, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat. Once butter melts, turn heat to medium-high and place steaks in the pan. Cook for about 3-4 minutes each, or until golden brown. Be sure not to move them for at least the first two minutes to help the breaking stick to the steak or else it might fall off.

Step 3: Once steaks are down, remove them from the pan and turn the stove to medium heat. Add onions and mushrooms to the pan and cook in the pan until soft. Slowly add in the milk, broth, flour, and cornstarch to the onions and mushrooms. Make sure to stir while adding in the ingredients in order to mix them properly. 

Step 4: After gravy has been mixed, turn heat to low temperature and let sit for a minute. Stir again, and then turn off heat and let sit for another 1-2 minutes. Gravy will thicken up as it cools a bit.

Step 4: Cover steaks with gravy and enjoy!

Yield: 4 servings.