A Twist on the Baked Potato

I was started on a gluten-free diet about a month ago, to help control my Chron’s disease, an auto-immune disease where the immune system attacks the lining in the gastro-intestinal tract, and causes inflammation, ulcers, fissures, and lots of other painful things. When starting on this diet, I was so lost and confused; I had no idea how to cook things that didn’t contain bread. Sitting down one day, googling recipes and what I could and could not eat, I came across a recipe called “Baked Potato Casserole.” Learning I could still eat potatoes (and French fries) was probably one of the biggest highlights of that week. Looking over the recipe, I thought “wow, I can actually do this one, I think.” I was intimidated only because I had never had to cut gluten from my diet, and I had never cooked intentionally without it. The recipe itself was not as intimidating as the lifestyle.

Shockingly, the cooking process went smoothly. It begins with dicing four potatoes and covering the entire pan with diced potatoes. The next step was cutting up raw chicken, seasoned with sea salt and pepper, and spreading it evenly on top of the potatoes. Then, after the chicken is in the pan, you spread cooked and crumbled bacon, and cheese all over the top. After that is done, I repeated adding potatoes, then more bacon and cheese, and chives on top for a little bit extra flavor. Thankfully, the recipe was pretty self-explanatory, so for someone who had very little experience in the kitchen, it was fairly easy to make. The hardest part was cutting up the potatoes. It took me a while to get the hang of dicing them, mainly because I had never really diced potatoes much less cut them up, so it was a little tricky for me. After about two potatoes, I finally got on a roll, and cutting up the last two potatoes wasn’t as hard. I put it in the oven for an hour, and covered the top with foil. After an hour, I removed the foil and let it cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cheese was completely melted. I didn't use paprika, garlic powder, or hot sauce because a plethora of spices makes my stomach hurt, so I decided to skip the spices and keep it as bland, yet still tasty, as possible. 

The finished appearance resembled a casserole (shocking, I know). Layering the bacon and cheese on top gave the meal a cooked look, with the cheese melted over the potatoes. I think without that extra layer of cheese on top, it would look unfinished and uncooked. Honestly, I did not think it would look as good as it did. It was my first time really cooking this meal, and I was sure I was going to somehow screw it up. The layers added depth to the look, and made it look larger than it really was. Having two layers of potatoes allowed for the chicken to not get burned and still have a moist and rich flavor.  The entire house smelled like a loaded baked potato, one of my favorite foods. It smelled so good, I was excited to try it and see if it tasted as good as a real loaded baked potato. Well, it did. The potatoes were soft, yet still had a thickness to them where they were able to retain their diced shape. The chicken, although it could use more seasoning, was soft and tender, and had a decent taste. The cheese was melted over the potatoes, chicken, and bacon, so it was like every bite had cheese somewhere on it. The bacon was cooked fairly crispy before placing it in the oven, but afterwards it was a little bit softer and cooked into the potato. The chives were only on top, and were just for an extra flavor. I wasn’t a big fan of the chives, and I don’t think it would make a difference if they were there or not. I ended up just picking them off because I didn’t really like them.

I would definitely make this recipe again, and I have. I love the way it tastes, and it is one of my favorite gluten-free recipes. 

Online recipe: http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/bb/f3/27/bbf327f4d4f6334ff1ae9763c169e6ef.jpg