SWeeT PePPeR ToPPeD BaKeD PoTaTo

The other day my mother came home from work with a surprise for me.  She had stopped at Sun Harvest (a family-owned store here in San Antonio that reminds me of a small WholeFoods) and found some mini sweet peppers on sale.  Two big bags for 5$ means a lot of peppers for me to create with - and I will admit that sometimes I eat them whole like an apple because they are so good.  She also brought home 3 potatoes and 2 sweet potatoes, saying that she wants me to make her a baked potato.  Not a problem.

The first thing I did was preheat the oven to 350F.  While the oven was heating up, I rubbed the outside of the potatoes with a bit of olive oil and placed them on a baking sheet.  They took about an hour and a half to cook because they were big, but I started checking them at 1 hour.

Then I sliced the peppers into mini rings ... and cut a few green onions up small (those are a necessity on baked potatoes in my family).

I sauteed them as I normally saute my vegetables - a little bit of pan spray, then 2 teaspoons of butter towards the end.  I wanted them to be tender, but not mushy.  I also cracked some fresh black pepper over the top.

Don't those potatoes look yummy in there cooking.  The olive oil is not necessary, but I do it because I love to eat the skin of the potatoes too and I think it gives it a nice taste as well as a little crisp.

I cut the potato in half, then sliced it all up so that it spread out on the plate.  I then added a little bit of butter, the gren onions, some pepper, a little salt and the peppers on top, then finished it off with some romano cheese.  I also decided to add just a little of this really good spread my mother has found since she's been out here - Challenge Butter Tuscan style spreadable butter with canola and olive oil - garlic and Italian herb flavored.  It gave it a really good Italian flavor.  Yumm-ee!!