Cooking and Baking for your Home Enjoyment – By Dana Marcel – 3/6/23

One of the great joys of cooking is the option to be creative in the way we recreate old favorites. I have recently edited twice baked potatoes. They are really easy if you start them early in the day. Choose two, three or four nice sized baking potatoes. Wash them thoroughly, rub them with oil and dry them. Bake them at 350 degrees, for an hour.

While the potatoes are baking, dice up half an onion (for four potatoes).

½ cup cheddar to be mixed in with the onion. Set it aside until the potatoes are done. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them cool for about ten minutes.

After cooling for a short time, cut each potato in half and use a small scoop to remove potato. Leave enough of the potato to allow the shell to hold its shape. Do the same with the remaining halves.

Mix the potato you scooped with the onion and cheese. Now add ¾ cup small curd cottage cheese and mix well. Use your scoop again and refill each potato skin. There should be enough to fill each skin to a mound of mixture. Bake again for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. So good! So nice to serve with any other entre. Plan two halves per person. Enjoy!

About your work area, make sure your counters are not congested with unneeded items. Especially if you have a small kitchen or work area.

I had a dear friend who could create the most amazing meals and baked items. She had a postage stamp, sized kitchen but boy, did she ever make it work. And guess what? Her name was Betty Crocker. This Betty was a real person. Sadly, she is no longer with us but she will never be forgotten. Not only was she a good cook and baker, she was funny and a bit round. She liked to dress as Mrs. Santa during the holidays and everyone loved her.

Are you looking for just the right stand mixer, hand mixer, blender or coffee pot? Just search Amazon.com. Pricing is really competitive and if you have Amazon Prime, shipping is free. Believe me, it really pays. I use it all the time. I like my Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer and Hand Mixer. My Oster Blender was really reasonable and has proven to be really efficient.

I am like everyone else. I sometimes buy things I don’t need. They just get in the way and I end up donating them. So, I continue to clear out the things just taking up space. I believe the more I dispose of, the more efficient my kitchen and I are.

Bye for now, Dana Marcel