Two Days of Dinner - Potatoes

This dinner duo actually lasts us three days, or two days and two adult lunches and it doesn't have to be back-to-back, which is a nice break for the tastebuds. It still uses all of the same ingredients though, preventing waste and saving money.

The first meal I generally cook is Twice baked potatoes. You can make these any way you'd like, but here is what I did.

Twice Baked Potatoes:

• One 8lb bag of large potatoes. I wash, scrubbed, poked holes in and wrapped them individually in a paper towel. I split them into two loads and microwaved them on high for 15 minutes, turning half way.

• While those were microwaving I got out a big bowl, added 1 stick of softened butter (plus leftover butter from the shirmp scampi last night, so about 1 1/2 sticks total), sour cream, cheese, bacon bits and green onions. Broccoli is a great addition to this dish. I use frozen, microwave it and cut into bite sized pieces. If you use broccoli, it goes into the bowl too.

• I cut open each (HOT!) potato. There were two very large ones that were still hard and needed another minute or two in the microwave. I scooped out the insides, (keep the peel), and put them on top of the ingredients in the bowl above.

• I then put the peels on a cookie sheet lined in foil. For us it took two cookie sheets.

• Stir the bowl. I added a bit of milk, about 1/2 cup, because the potatoes seemed dry. I also added some ricotta cheese, but that is just because I had some that was about to go bad.

• Add salt, pepper, garlic salt or garlic powder and stir again

• Put the potatoes back into the skins, top with extra cheese and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Day 2: Potato Soup

I'll be honest. We will eat the twice baked potatoes for two days plus a lunch or two, so I have to start over with new potatoes. I generally use the steam and mash ones from the freezer section for potato soup, but adjust accordingly.

• Start with leftover potatoes from day one, or, cooked, mashed, steam and mash potatoes from the freezer section, or leftover potatoes that have been microwaved and mashed.

• Put potato insides into a large bowl, add skins to taste if desired

• Add in leftover cheese, bacon, green onions, sour cream (reserve some for the final toping), and another stick of butter

• Add salt, pepper, garlic salt or garlic powder

• Add milk. We tend to use about 4-6 cups, but we like our soup thin and I'm feeding 7 people.

• Stir everything together

• Microwave. The time is going to depend on how many potatoes you use. I tend to start with 3 minutes, stir, and test and then do two minute increments after that. Ours generally take about 10 minutes

• If the soup is too thick, add more milk and stir again. This may mean another minute or two in the microwave.

• Top with cheese, bacon, onions

If we are in a hurry, I make the individual servings of soup and then microwave. We have two microwaves so this works best for us and the potatoes heat more evenly.

Caution: Potato soup does not heat evenly in the microwave. Stir this very well and test before giving to little children.