yummy potatoes and veggies

I suppose I should have taken a picture to post here. Anyway, I made one of our favorite baked potato meals tonight since we haven't had it for a while. It's really easy and very good.

Select however many small baking potatoes you need* and put them on to bake. I coat mine with olive oil and roll in course salt before baking at 425 on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Allen really likes the crisp texture and salty flavor you get from baking them this way. Otherwise you can just prick them lightly and wrap in foil. After I put my potatoes on I start my veggies. I use approx one large onion, three bell peppers (we prefer red or yellow), a small basket of baby bella mushrooms, and a celery heart. I chop these us and put them in my everyday pan with some fresh grated garlic, a swirl of olive oil, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and about 2c of veggie broth. I mix my veggie broth 1:1 with water because it's rather strong. While that's all cooking down I brown about 2lb of ground meat in another pan and add it to the veggies. It'll take about 15-20 mins for the veggies to cook down. Just before you're ready to take them off the stove mix some cornstarch or arrowroot in with a little water and add enough to thicken up the sauce. You want something that you can pour over the potatoes. When everything is done just pour the veggies over split, buttered potatoes and enjoy. I usually have enough for at least 6 potatoes. It also makes great leftovers since you can bake fresh potatoes with very little effort, and the veggies reheat wonderfully.



*I plan for one potato per person, but depending on the size I might only eat a half.