mexican baked potatoes

Inspired by this recipe that I saw on Food Lush, I decided to make baked potatoes for dinner tonight. I've always kind of gone back and forth with baked potatoes; my mom made them all the time when I was growing up, and sometimes I liked them and sometimes I didn't. I can probably count on my hand the number of times I've made them as a adult, mainly because I'm kind of impatient and waiting for them to bake takes forever. But I thought they'd be a delicious winter dinner, especially paired with spicy veggies. This recipe is ridiculously easy and pretty healthy, too. 

Sadly, my good DSLR camera (that I barely know how to use, anyway) died right in the middle of cooking this recipe. So I only got one picture with it! Below:

As you can see, I used green chile in this recipe. SURPRISE SURPRISE! My friend Robbie sent me these in a New Mexican care package and the little 2 oz packages were perfect for this recipe, but you can also use canned green chile or frozen. 

The other pictures for this recipe are kind of crappy, but I hope you'll forgive me because I had hot potatoes on my hands and figured crappy pictures were better than Instagrammed ones (although....who am I kidding? I instagrammed the hell out of this). 

Mexican Baked Potatoes

makes 4-6 potatoes

total time: about 1 hour

What you'll need:

4-6 potatoes

glug of olive oil or another oil of your choice

1-2 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped

1 can black beans, drained

1 can corn, drained

6 oz green chile

1 tsp cumin

salt to taste

What you'll do:

1. Bake your potatoes. I used this method which worked quite well (I took the suggestion of adding sea salt which was a good suggestion). 

2. When your potatoes are about 20 minutes from coming out of the oven, start cooking the filling.

3. Glug some olive oil or another oil of your choice (I actually used jalapeno grapeseed oil. I KNOW!) into a frying pan. Turn to medium and add fresh garlic.

4. Once the garlic is sizzling a bit, add the beans. Cook for 3-5 minutes and then add the corn and green chile.

5. Cook for a 3ish minutes and then add cumin and salt to taste.

6. Let the mixture cook down until it's not quite so juicy/watery.

7. By now, your potatoes should be done. Cut the potatoes down the middle (not completely, just a bit, you know how they do) and fill with veggie mixture. Top with cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, green onions, cilantro or whatever your heart desires. 

You could also add other vegetables into this mixture, including tomatoes, onions, peppers, even fresh spinach. If you don't have green chile, you can make this spicy by adding red pepper flakes and cayenne powder (to taste). Most likely, you'll have veggie mixture left over; I plan to eat mine in a salad for lunch tomorrow.