Baked Potato with Broccoli and Cheese

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Welcome! In this post, I am sharing an easy recipe for a baked potato topped with broccoli florets and a homemade cheese sauce.  

This is a great recipe to make because:

  • Potatoes are usually inexpensive to buy.
  • Potatoes are pretty darn filling!
  • Potatoes (and their skin) contain lots of nutrients including dietary fiber.
  • Cooking potatoes is pretty low-maintenance.  While the potatoes bake for an hour, you can prepare your broccoli and your homemade cheese sauce.  
Buying Potatoes
  • I like to buy russet potatoes for this recipe.  I always inspect the potatoes to make sure that there are no squishy spots and no hints of green.  
  • If you buy unwrapped potatoes, they need to be washed (to remove dirt) and dried thoroughly (to avoid soggy potato skin).
  • You can buy the prewashed microwave-ready potatoes if you prefer.  But remember to remove the wrapper before baking.  The wrapper is only for the microwave.

Ingredients:
  • Russet potatoes (washed and dried)
  • EVOO
  • Sea Salt
  • 10.8oz bag frozen broccoli florets
  • Homemade Cheese Sauce or Shredded Cheese
  • Butter
  • Sour Cream
  • Salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions:
 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
 Prepare the Potatoes: 
  • Coat each potato with EVOO.  (use about 1/2 tablespoon of oil for each potato) 
  • Salt the potato skin.  
  • Use a fork to poke holes all around the potato.
  • Place the potatoes on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil
  • Bake the potatoes for 1 hour. 




 During the last 30 minutes of baking, start to prepare your cheese sauce.


During the last 15 minutes of baking, start to prepare your broccoli. Microwave-cook the broccoli according to the package directions, and when cooled, drain the florets on paper towels.  Cut the larger pieces if desired.


When the baking time is up, check the potatoes for doneness.  You can gently squeeze the potato - while still wearing on oven mitt - or use a fork to pierce the potato.

Once the potato is deemed fully cooked, slice it lengthwise into two halves.  Fluff the potato's insides with a fork, and add your desired toppings.  For this recipe, we added butter first, followed by broccoli, followed by the cheese sauce.  We seasoned it with salt and pepper.  We added a little bit of reduced-fat sour cream.

Enjoy!     

Let me know if you made this recipe.  What toppings do you like for your baked potato?

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