Stuffed Baked Potatoes (two ways!)

Sometimes it can be a real challenge cooking for my husband and young children. They all seem to like such different things.

My husband prefers meals that require minimal clean up and are low-fat. My son eats a good variety of food but like many young kids dislikes most vegetables. My daughter is only 1.5 years old and is my pickiest eater. She loves cheese and pasta but not much else. Plus, b/c of her young age she can't eat certain things, such as nuts or shellfish. So,that's why I like meals like these stuffed potatoes. I can customize each potato, so everyone eats what they like but I'm not doing a lot of extra work.

For my husband and I, we got a more grown up taste with the addition of the andouille sausage. I still had some leftover from the Jambalaya and got the idea to use it from Emeril's recipe. For the kids, I kept it simple with just broccoli and cheese. Pair this with a salad and you have a complete meal.


Before baking.


On the left-- Potato with andouille sausage, broccoli and cheese.
On the right-- Potato with just broccoli and cheese.


Here is the basic recipe with just broccoli and cheese. I put the steps for the addition of sausage (and parsley) with an asterisk.

Ingredients
Makes 4 servings

4 large baking potatoes
1/2- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
2.5 cups broccoli florets
1/2 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup grated white cheddar cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. milk
Salt and pepper

*6 oz andouille sausage (about 2 links, casings removed and crumbled)
*2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 375°F. Pierce potato with a fork several times. Bake until tender, 1 hour and 30 minutes. Or, you can cook in the microwave for 7-8 minutes. Steam broccoli until tender, 5 minutes. Drain; rinse. Pat dry and roughly chop.

*In a skillet over med heat add 1/2 tbsp. oil and cook sausage for 8-10 min or until thoroughly cooked. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

In a skillet over med heat, warm 1/2 Tbsp. oil. Saute onion until soft, 8 minutes. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Let potatoes rest until cool enough to handle. Set oven to 350°F. Cut top 1/4 inch off potato. Scoop out flesh.

Mash potato flesh. Mix with remaining ingredients. Fill potato shells with mixture; bake for 10-15 minutes. Then put under broiler for about 5 min or until top is golden.

*Add sausage and the parsley to the mix.