Baked potatoes are an easy thing to make a complete meal, depending on what you stuff them with.
I grew up on the midwestern comfort twice baked potatoes stuffed full of cream cheese, sour cream and cheese shreds. Piled high with ham and butter they are a vegan nightmare, but I have since found a way to make them healthy and also still extremely tasty.
What LOOKS like cheese on the top is actually a vegan cheese made with nutritional yeast, which tastes cheesy. Of course you can make it with regular cheese, but for those of you looking for a vegan option, and/or are following the 7D Nourishment program, or simply want to try new things, I've included the "NoCheese" Cheese Sauce.
To make the potatoes:
Bake 4 medium potatoes at 350° until soft.
Slice in half, and scoop out the potato inside, leaving a little to keep the potato shell strong.
In a pan, sauté 3 cloves minced garlic with 1 Tablespoon oil of any kind (I like avocado oil for this)
Mix the potato with 1/2 cup dripped homemade and Greek plain yogurt, salt and pepper, any other spices you might like.
Stir in 1/2 cup shredded spinach, and 1/2 can of artichoke hearts, chopped.
Top with cheese or "NoCheese" Sauce.
Broil for approximately 5 minutes, until browned on top.
NutFree "NoCheese" Cheese Sauce
Heat 2 Tablespoons coconut oil in a pan and sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon curry, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.
Add 1/3 cup of gluten free flour and 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast.
Slowly add a liquid while you are whisking all the time (to prevent clumps, it's imperative that you slowly add the liquid). Water is fine, if you want it a little creamier you can use any dairy-free milk. Hemp milk, cashew milk, or almond milk works really well, depending, of course, on the need to be nut-free or not. Rice milk or soy milk are nut-free options.
This cheese sauce can be used to make vegan mac and cheese, lasagna or pizza, nachos, or anything else you can conjure!
