Recipe Test: Mexican Hot Dance Spuds

In case you haven't noticed, I love cooking magazines and trying new recipes.  I've been collecting recipes for somewhere around thirty years, or more.  I used to store them in a pile, but when the stack was several inches high, it became too much trouble to sort through them each time I wanted to find something new.  Then I moved them to an accordion folder, but eventually, that became unusable too.  Now I have them stored in a file cabinet in hanging folders according to about twenty or so different designations.

Recently, I spied the old accordion folder, which still had unfiled recipes from long ago in it.  Last night I tried one of them.  It was a recipe that first appeared in Sunset magazine in February of 1998, and it was created by Nancee Olsen of Tucson, Arizona.  (I amuse myself when I find these recipes that have been following me around for over a decade!)

This is essentially a taco salad served over a baked potato instead of a bed of lettuce.  It was really quick to make, and very filling.  I added a dollop of sour cream to ours, and I think some chunked up avocado or guacamole would be nice also.  I used some leftover Mexican four-cheese mix that I had on hand.  Really, anything you like on a taco or a taco salad would work.

I like my potatoes baked in a conventional oven.  I coat them with olive oil and sprinkle them with kosher salt.  The skins have a nicer texture than when they come from the microwave.  However, if you microwave your potatoes, you can have dinner on the table in about 20 minutes.  This is a one dish meal.  No side dishes required.  This would be a good one for when we're traveling in the RV.