Another easy recipe from Pip, from The Cooking Apple in Sevenoaks, using ingredients from Sevenoaks Larder shopping list.
Baked Potatoes
Baked potatoes are one of my mother's favourites. She likes to have them as part of a main meal, whereas I like them as a meal in themselves with a simple side salad.
Choline. Baked potatoes are packed with choline, an essential nutrient that many of us don’t get enough of. Current research suggests that choline deficiency may be at least partly to blame for inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. By eating baked potatoes, you can increase the choline in your body which may help with inflammation.
Weight management & Digestion Aid. The fibre in baked potatoes aids with digestion and vitamin B6 helps break down carbohydrates and improves metabolism.
Healthy Heart. Baked potatoes are a naturally low-fat/low-cholesterol food and are packed with potassium, both of which are good for your heart.
Carbs. Potatoes are high in carbs, but not as high as some other starchy staples, like pasta and rice.
Nutrients. Baked potatoes are nutrient-dense having good levels of potassium, calcium, vitamin C, iron, vitamin B6, choline, and magnesium.
The Recipe
This Recipe will feed a family of four and will take about 10 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to bake.
Ingredients
4 large potatoes, roughly the same size
2 tsp of any oil (sunflower, vegetable, olive)
1 tsp salt
How to make
Pre-heat your oven to 180oC.
Wash and scrub your potatoes.
Prick them with a fork a few times, this stops them exploding!
Rub with a little bit of oil and sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 1 hour or until soft when you poke a knife into the middle.
You can also cook these in the microwave, to do this you need to prick the skins, but don't use oil or salt. Microwave on full power for 7 mins, stopping it halfway to turn it over.
Either way, when your potato is cooked, cut a cross in the top and squeeze slightly to open.
Toppings
Baked beans: put a can of beans into a small saucepan and warm on a medium/low heat for 4 mins. Mix butter with the potato flesh and top with a helping of beans.
Bacon and cheese: mix the potato flesh with butter or margarine, salt and pepper. Fry some little bacon bits and sprinkle over with lots of grated cheese. Also works with chopped ham.
Leftover Bolognese sauce: make sure the sauce is warmed through to steaming and top over your potato. Same works well with chilli.
Tuna Mayo: mix a can of tuna with some mayo or plain yogurt. Add salt, pepper and some lemon juice if you have. Add small pieces of chopped cucumber, red pepper, grated carrot, tinned sweetcorn, to give some colour and an extra healthy boost!
Last Word
Thank you to Pip, at The Cooking Apple, for this recipe.
The Cooking Apple runs cooking lessons online as well as in Sevenoaks.
Recipe Card - Print me!
About Us
A Food Bank is about so much more than food.
‘Recipes from The Larder’ is part of the community project Sevenoaks Larder. We are based in Sevenoaks, Kent, UK. Sevenoaks Larder is a new food support service (Food Bank), which helps residents of the Sevenoaks area who are struggling to pay for their weekly food shop. We provide fresh, as well as non-perishable, foodstuffs. You can find our Donations Wish List here.
Got a recipe you want to share?
We would love to hear from you! We welcome recipes and tips from our readers and service users. Send your recipe along with a few images to sevenoakslarder@gmail.com. Remember to include your social media handles if you want to be tagged!
Together let’s make good food made with real ingredients!