Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Makeshift Baked Potatoes

I've made versions of this recipe for years, probably as far back as when I taught myself to cook back in the early 90s. But I've never featured it in one of my Fumbling... posts.

I'm fond of sour cream on my baked potatoes, but many times I've found myself without that tangy dairy product. Sour cream is a product I usually purchase when I need it for a recipe of some sort. It's not a foodstuff like yogurt that I consistently eat or the kids will eat. On occasion, tubs of sour cream have hung around way past their "best by" dates in my fridge.

And then you get in the debate with yourself about "So ... I wonder if this stuff is okay? Will I get sick if I try it?"

So when I don't have sour cream or the sour cream I have at the back of my fridge is a sketchy character, my go-to slathering agent for baked potatoes is a dairy product I usually have on hand: cottage cheese.

So here's the basic recipe I used tonight for dinner:

• 3 small red potatoes baked (well, microwaved)
• Lowfat cottage cheese
• Roughly a half cup of shredded cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons of freshly chopped chives from the garden
• Dashes of hot sauce of your choosing
• Salt and pepper to taste

It's a simple recipe, but it's good.