Baked Potato Bar

Friday is here. After deciding what to pack for lunch all week and what to make for dinner, too, I am ready for a break. But my family would enjoy something yummy to eat. Also, it has to be fairly simple to eat away from the table, because Fridays are movie nights. That means we enjoy our dinner while we watch a movie.

Usually we have either pasta bar or make your own pizza. But last night we had pasta for dinner. There went my simple but delicious Friday movie night dinner idea.

I had an inspiration from foods that give you energy. One specific item on that list, sweet potatoes. Tonight we would have a potato bar! Complete with baking potatoes and sweet potatoes.




How to do this? Just follow these steps.

Wash potatoes and set on a towel to dry. Just get rid of the extra dirt and break off any "eyes" that may have started to sprout. I do not thoroughly dry the potatoes; just set them down while you move onto the next step.

Tear apart sheets of aluminum foil, enough for each potato to have its own shiny blanket. Place the somewhat damp potato on the foil. Sprinkle with some kosher salt. Wrap the foil around the potatoes, being certain to fold the ends over to keep the heat and any liquid that will accumulate inside.

Place the foil wrapped potatoes into an oven preheated to 450 degrees. Allow to cook for 45 minutes to an hour.

While the potatoes are baking, gather your toppings. This is the best part. Think outside the box, or foil. Since we had two varieties of potatoes, I wanted to have an assortment of toppings for each.

For sweet potatoes I chose butter and cinnamon with sugar as well as craisins and marshmallows. I had wanted brown sugar, but substituted the marshmallows since we were all out. I needed to be frugal (I only have $40 remaining for my groceries until Tuesday) and it was already 6:30 so I wasn't going back to the store (for the third time today). I think the marshmallows and craisins not only added something different but were a nice contrast to the orange color of the potatoes.


Baking potatoes are easy to top. While they were cooking, I fried some bacon. To make it easy and less messy to crumble, I placed the cooked bacon inside a plastic baggie and squeezed it till there were many nice morsels of pig fat (let's just call it what it is). I kept some of the bacon drippings in the pan and carmelized a sliced vidalia onion to be our second topping choice. Since I love onions, I also sliced two green onions to be used for a topping. Last, I set out some sour cream and shredded cheddar.



Everyone seemed very pleased with diner. It was simple but filling with all those carbs. I chose to have the sweet potato with craisins and a bit of cinnamon and sugar. The tart cranberries were a nice contrast to the sweet potato and I don't feel sluggish; remember the sweet potato is an energy food. To our Friday night dinner options I will add the Potato Bar.

Oh, what movie did we watch? Sphere, look for an upcoming review.