Ok, good Irish girl that I am, I love my spuds! (Another correlation to my FATNESS maybe…I am pondering it and I’ll get back to ya on that one…)

Actually potatoes are a great food with lots of nutritional value, you just have to be careful not to load them up with all the Fat Makers, such as butter, sour cream, cheese, etc, oh and maybe stop FRYING THEM!  (I know, I know, all the good stuff…but no, really we just have to change our thinking here…REMEMBER – NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS SKINNY FEELS!)

Here are some fun potato factoids and then go make some skins!  I could eat 2 servings of this and just call it a meal!

• Thomas Jefferson is given credit for introducing French fries to America.
• Germans eat twice as many potatoes as Americans.
• 35 % of an adult's daily requirement of vitamin C can be found in a medium-sized potato.
• Mr. Potato Head was introduced by the Hasbro Company in 1952. (Who doesn’t love Mr. Potato Head!) 
• Potatoes do not have to be stored in a refrigerator, but they should be kept dark and dry.
• Potatoes are only 20% solids…and 80% water.

Baked Potato Skins With Creamy Spinach and Turkey Bacon 

4 Points Plus (2 Points-old system)

6 Servings

Ingredients

3 medium potatoes, baked, sliced in half and cooled    

1 spray cooking spray    

20 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry    

4 oz light cream cheese, at room temperature    

1/4 t table salt    

1/4 t black pepper    

 3 slices cooked crisp turkey bacon, crumbled    

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Scoop out flesh of potatoes, leaving about 1/4 of potato flesh in potato. (Reserve remaining potato flesh for another use such as mashed potatoes.)

Place potato halves on a baking sheet and coat with cooking spray. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. While potato skins bake, combine spinach, cream cheese, salt and pepper in a medium bowl until well-blended.

Remove skins from oven and spoon 3 tablespoons of spinach mixture into each potato half; bake until warmed through, about 5 minutes more.

Remove skins from oven and top each half with about 1 tablespoon of crumbled bacon. Yields 1 potato half per serving.

Notes:

To easily dry spinach, place thawed spinach in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out liquid over the sink, as though you were wringing out a wet towel.