Food in Canada

Hi again!

After my brief trek to Indy for the gaming convention, I went to visit some family that lives all the way up in Canada. Again, I didn't really have an opportunity to do much cooking, but we did eat at a few cool places, and I felt like sharing them with you. So, without further ado:

Big Rig Brewery
The place: Your basic bar and grill, except for the fact that they do serve only the beer they brew themselves. The place has a kind of dark and modern brewery sort of look, which is totally a thing, I promise. As you might expect from a restaurant like this, you can purchase overpriced merchandise of all sorts in addition to your meal.
What I ate: I chose the Parmesan Crusted Chicken & Gouda Sandwich. It's exactly what it sounds like: a piece of grilled chicken encrusted in Parmesan cheese, with avocado, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and Sriracha mayo served on Swiss panini bread. It also came with hand-cut fries and a vinegary coleslaw, both of which were quite tasty. I also tried their Big Rig Rideau Red beer, which I also enjoyed.

My thoughts: I'm having a hard time coalescing my thoughts on Big Rig, truth to tell. The food was good, and the beer was delicious, but nothing about the place really stands out for me. I guess I was distracted by all the family I was with. It just means I need to go back and try it again next year to get another gauge of the place. For now, I'll give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Lanark Pizzeria
The place: Unfortunately, this was delivery, so I can't really say anything about the location itself. I can say, however, that it's a local pizzeria, named for the county in which it resides.
What I ate: We ordered a basic pepperoni pizza and the Lanark Special, consisting of ham, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms and green peppers. The cool thing is that up there, the pizzerias put all the cheese on top, so it gets extra brown and crispy in the oven. It also seals in all the flavors from the other toppings, steaming them after a fashion. The flavor of it is great.

My thoughts: A local pizzeria as good as any you could hope to find. 4 out of 5 stars.

Harvey's
The place: Ok, so this is basically a fast-food Canadian burger chain, kinda like Burger King. As such, there isn't much to describe here. I mean, it's a burger joint, right? But it's a pretty nifty place nonetheless. They make your burger to order, and then they have a station laid out to add what toppings you want right in front of you. That way, you can customize your burger to your exact taste. Unfortunately, what they have is pretty basic, except for the salad peppers, so the option for a bacon-mushroom-swiss is out of the picture.
What I ate: I opted for the number 2 combo, a Harvey's burger with cheese, topped with lettuce and tomatoes, mayo and ketchup. I also had poutine. What's poutine, you ask? That's when they take your french fries and top them with brown gravy (poutine sauce) and white cheese curds. Yes, it sounds like some crazy Canadian concoction, I know, but trust me, it's actually pretty good. Seriously, don't knock it if you've never had it.

My thoughts: Like I said, it's good ol' fast-food burgers and fries. But, we make sure to eat there every time we go to visit the relatives, so that should tell you something. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars on the (fast) food scale.

Wheeler's Pancake House
The place: Wheeler's is set back in an actual sugar camp, where they drain the sap from maple trees and distill it down into the magical amber brew known as maple syrup. Can you tell I'm a fan of the stuff? In addition to that, the premises hosts a small museum showcasing paraphernalia from the history of the maple industry. The restaurant itself is a big log cabin style hall, decorated with tools of the maple trade and family photos on the walls and fireplace mantle. It is a family business, after all, and the focus is definitely on the food.
What I ate: I ordered the Sugar Bush Special, consisting of two pancakes and three homemade maple sausages, and a side of maple baked beans. Like I said, the focus is on the food, especially the maple syrup, which comes in plentiful amounts. The food is simple, delicious, and thoroughly infused with Canadian maple goodness.

My thoughts: I love this place. Like Harvey's, we're sure to go there every year, but I always look forward to Wheeler's the most. I'm also sure to stock up on maple syrup and maple candy (as in addiction-inducing solid maple sugar) whenever I visit. 4.5/5, easy.

I'm still trying to get a handle on this whole food review thing. I think the pictures definitely help, but I need to take better notes so that I can describe things in better detail. I mean, I have a pretty easy time talking about food that I've made myself, but this is a bit more of a challenge somehow. I promise though that when I start reviewing restaurants in earnest, I'll be able to provide a much more thorough analysis.

As always, thoughts and opinions are appreciated! Thanks for reading!

Food in Indy

Hi everyone!

So, last week I took a short vacation in order to attend Gencon. For those who are unfamiliar, Gencon is a huge gaming convention that takes place every year in Indianapolis. Obviously, I didn't have any way to cook while I was there, but I did eat at a few fine establishments instead. So I thought, for something different, I would share with you a little bit about what and where I ate. After all, with a nerdy name like +1 Knife of Cooking, I can hardly let a huge gaming event go by unremarked, right?

Without further ado, I give you, in no particular order, a brief tour of the food Indy has to offer:


Granite City Food and Brewery
The place: A restaurant and micro-brewery, with a relaxing atmosphere and good service.
What I ate: I went with the Granite City Reuben, consisting of pastrami and corned beef on rye, with Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing, and coleslaw served in the sandwich. I also tried their beer sampler, which consisted of 8 different beers all brewed in-house.
My thoughts: We tried this place out on a whim, and we were all pleasantly surprised. My Reuben was a good size, and the meat wasn't overly salty. Adding the coleslaw was a nice touch too, I thought. And I liked the beers, even though there were three IPA's and I'm not a huge fan of those. But I'm pretty sure we'll be going back next year, so I'd say 4 out of 5 stars.

Greek's Pizzeria
The place: A definite hole-in-the-wall pizzeria. Kinda dingy, sure, with framed newspaper clippings and a pair of TVs on the walls, but everything was clean and well-kept.
What I ate: I went fairly simple with this meal, and ordered the pepperoni calzone, or as they called it, the pepperoni shell. Nothing to special about it really: meat, sauce, cheese and bread.
My thoughts: We found this place by accident, and it was pretty good. If nothing else, the pizza crust was amazing: soft, chewy and buttery smooth, everything you could want. The service was a little lackluster, but they were shorthanded that night, so I can't fault them too badly. Still, 3.5 out of 5 ain't bad.

Little Eataly
The place: A lot of food trucks congregate outside the convention center, so I decided to grab some lunch from them one day. Not much to say really; I mean, it's a food truck, what more do you want?
What I ate: The Pig and Fig sandwich, a tasty concoction of prosciutto, mozzarella, basil and fig butter of all things served on Ciabatta.
My thoughts: I initially went with this because it was kinda odd, but it really paid off. It was a good sized sandwich, and the sweet fig butter really meshed well with the fresh basil and the ham. I may have to try to duplicate it, if I can track down some fig butter. Score: 4/5

Pearl Street Pizzeria and Pub
The place: I thought this place kinda had a nice sports bar vibe, even though it was definitely a fancy pizzeria.
What I ate: My pizza was half Hawaiian, half Margherita. The Hawaiian side came with capicolla ham and a thai chili sauce, and the Margherita side came with big slices of fresh tomato and was topped with large leaves of basil.
My thoughts: The pizza took a long time to cook, but it was well worth the wait. Everything was hot and fresh, so no complaints there. I also got to try their breadsticks, which were truly amazing. 4 out of 5 stars.

Punch Burger
The place:Your basic hole-in-the-wall burger joint. Nothing much to say about the place really: minimal decorations, food served in plastic baskets, menu written on the wall in chalk.
What I ate: I tried the Aloha burger. As you can tell, I have a weakness for the ham and pineapple combinations, so when I saw they had a burger with black forest ham, grilled pineapple, Swiss cheese and teriyaki sauce, I jumped at it. I also tried their sweet potato tots on the side.
My thoughts: A good burger, and the tots were delicious. Admittedly, they messed up my order, trying to combine my Aloha with the Thai someone else had ordered (pineapple and peanut butter don't really play well together), but I got the right sandwich in the end. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Ram Restaurant and Brewery 
The place: The Ram comes off as your typical sports bar, right? Except during Gencon, when the whole place become a veritable cornucopia of nerddom. The whole place gets decorated with paraphernalia from the Warmachine and Iron Kingdoms universe, and they throw nerdy movies (Lord of the Rings, anyone?) up on the big screen TV above the bar.
What I ate: Renamed the Judicator in honor of the occasion, I partook of the Buttface Bacon Cheeseburger. The burger, served on a pretzel roll, comes with hickory smoked bacon, a large deep-fried onion ring, and a cheese sauce made using their house-brewed Buttface Amber Ale (hence the name), of which I also had a pint (the beer, not the cheese).
My thoughts: A good burger, although they skimped on the cheese sauce and I had to ask for more. Overall though, they cooked it to the correct medium rare I ordered, and it arrived hot and fresh at the table. I give it a 4 out of 5.

Slippery Noodle Inn
The place: An old blues music bar and grill. Unfortunately, I can't attest to the musical quality, as we were only eating lunch there. But it definitely has a casual music bar vibe.
What I ate: I had the Whiskey Pepper Steak Sub. It's exactly what it sounds like, and comes with thin-sliced sirloin steak, grilled onions, and provolone cheese on a hoagie roll. They also use their "famous" whiskey pepper sauce, a savory spicy white sauce, to top it all off.
My thoughts: A pretty good sandwich, if a rather messy one that was a bit difficult to eat. I would rather have had fries instead of potato chips, but the meal was overall quite good. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Weber Grill
The place: A very nice steak house, but not a suit and tie kind of place. More of a backyard grill brought indoors and cleaned up a bit.
What I ate: I went for the New York Strip (cooked medium rare, thank you kindly), served with sauteed mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes, and a blue cheese and pecan coleslaw.
My thoughts: A good steak. Last year, my steak was really chewy, so I admit I had my reservations. But I'm glad to say that the meal turned out perfectly. I thought the coleslaw was an interesting idea, but then I've been on this blue cheese kick recently, so perhaps I'm just biased. Still, I give the place a 4 out of 5.

So, this is my first time reviewing restaurants, and I think I need to refine my technique a bit. I also need to take more notes so that next time I can give you all a more in-depth review. Still, I think these are some good overviews, and I hope you'll agree.

Thanks for reading!

Take Two: Twice-baked Chicken Parmesan Potatoes

Hi again everyone!

I decided to give the Chicken Parm Taters another go on Friday last week. If you will recall, last time I came to the conclusion that while tasty, the potatoes were a bit lacking in the Chicken Parm flavor, which was, after all, half the point of the recipe. So, this time I did a few things differently. The results? Well I am very happy to report that it was a great success!

I'm actually quite proud of how these turned out, so I'm going to share the complete process once again. If anybody out there wants to give it a try, go for it! Just let me know what you think!

THE INGREDIENTS!!
8 medium baking potatoes
4 medium chicken breasts
16 oz ricotta cheese
3 tbs butter, diced
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1 16oz block mozzarella cheese
1 jar marinara sauce
1 c panko
3 more tbs butter, melted
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

THE METHOD!!
Scrub the potatoes clean and set aside to dry. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Rub the dry potatoes with a little canola or vegetable oil and place on a sheet pan (lined with parchment if you have it). Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour, or until they are fork tender. Set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, cube the chicken and cook over medium to med-high heat in the skillet of your choice. You don't need anything fancy for this: a little olive oil (extra virgin not necessary), a little salt, a little pepper, done. Once cooked through, you can choose to dice the chicken into smaller bits if you like.

Slice sixteen strips of mozzarella off the block and set aside.

Mix the panko with the melted butter and set aside.

When the potatoes are just cool enough to handle (depending on your heat threshold), slice them in half longways. Use a spoon to scoop everything out of the middle and into a large bowel. Set the shells into a pair of 9x13in baking dishes, or a similar vessel of your choice. If you don't have two, either work in batches or just go get another one!

Mash the potatoes with a fork and incorporate the diced butter. Work in the ricotta, the shredded mozza, and the chicken. Get it all evenly combined, switching to a larger stirring implement (or your hands!) when it becomes necessary.

Scoop the potatoes mixture into the shells, mounding it slightly. When they're all full, make a little depression in the top of the mix, just to flatten it out a bit. Spoon two good tablespoons of marinara sauce over top of each potato, or a little more if you like! Top this with a slice of mozzarella. Sprinkle the whole thing with the panko mixture and the Parmesan cheese.

Bake at the same temperature as above for about ten to fifteen minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the panko has browned to that magical golden color.

Consume.


Ok, y'all've got to admit that looks pretty dang good. Like I said up above, I'm really pleased with how it turned out this time. If I were to do anything different on the next go, I'd probably up the chicken a bit, just for the sake of more meat. As I'm writing this, I've just realized that some Italian seasoning mixed in with the potatoes might not be a bad idea either, and I probably could've added some more salt and pepper to help season the taters as well. But honestly, we didn't miss it.

Keeping the sauce on the outside and spooning it over the top definitely helped to bring out the idea of Chicken Parmesan. Furthermore, I'm glad I left out the bacon and the green onions. Now, before you lynch me for my blasphemy against bacon, keep in mind that Chicken Parm doesn't use bacon, and that was part of the point. Bacon, while delicious, was not necessary in this dish. But... maybe next time I'll try a little bacon, if it'll make y'all happy.

So, that's the dish! I hope that some of you will give it a try. I hope even more that you'll try it and like it as much as we did. As always, I love getting feedback, both on the food and on the blog itself.

Thanks for reading!

Q.E.C.T.: Chicken and Veggies with Egg Noodles

Ok, so the acronym may need some work, I admit.

It stands for Quick and Easy, Cheap and Tasty. That's the point of this recipe. I wanted to show that good food can be made on the cheap in a relatively short amount of time for a relatively small amount of money. So let's just jump right to it, shall we?

THE INGREDIENTS!! (and prices)
3 boneless chicken breasts, cubed (from a $6.99 3lb frozen bag)
1 16oz bag of egg noodles ($1.29)
1 package crimini mushrooms, chopped ($1.49)
1 cup frozen peas (from a $0.99 bag)
2 cups (handfuls) baby spinach, chopped (from a $2.99 bag)
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom and/or chicken soup ($0.79 x2)

I bought everything at Aldi and Wal-mart, because I know I can get it all for fairly cheap. Final price? $15.33, assuming you have to buy all of it, and half of that is the meat. Keep in mind: this leaves you with plenty of frozen chicken, some frozen peas, and a good amount of spinach left over to use in other dishes.

THE METHOD!!
Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Saute over medium-high heat in a little vegetable oil (I normally use olive oil, but I was out) until done all the way through.

Once the chicken is done, wipe out the skillet and repeat with the mushrooms. Saute until the 'shrooms are browned all over. Work in two batches; it actually helps the mushrooms to cook faster if you don't crowd the pan.

Warm up the peas as per package instructions, probably in the microwave. For me, it was a cup of peas with two tablespoons water, covered, for six minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the egg noodles to al dente, again as per package instructions. If you don't care for egg noodles, any sort of pasta will do: bowties, penne, you name it.

After you drain the pasta, toss it all back in the pot and add one of the soups. Use a splash of hot water (I just save some boil water) to help thin the soup slightly.

Put the chicken and mushrooms back in your skillet, add the peas and spinach, then add the other soup. Again, a little hot water helps to see everything evenly coated. Mix it all together, and season with more salt and pepper to taste. I also added some crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning, because I happen to be a fan of both.

When this is done, add the meat/veggie mixture to the noodles. Stir thoroughly to combine, serve and enjoy. Add a bit more pepper or another sprinkle of Italian seasoning if you like. I put a little Frank's RedHot Sauce on mine, because apparently you really can put that sh!t on almost everything.

Ok, so let's go over our acronym checklist then.

Quick: from start to finish, the whole thing took me 40 unhurried minutes. And I mean start to finish. From the time I started to pull my thawed chicken breast out of the fridge to the time I sat down to eat was a mere 40 minutes. Not as fast as a sandwich, I admit, but still pretty quick for a hot filling meal.

Easy: well, I'd say it's pretty straightforward. Nothing complicated or fancy. Boiling pasta and chopping some veggies is all fairly easy I'd say. Cooking the chicken shouldn't provide any major difficulties either, unless I miss my guess. Again, not as easy as a sandwich, but we're still talking about a hot meal here.

Cheap: if you don't count the chicken, the whole meal costs around $7 to make. For me, frozen chicken is a staple, so I'm not inclined to include it in the price of the meal, since I almost always have it on hand anyway.

Tasty: yes, quite. Just try making it, see what you think. I bet you'll decide you like it too. The tastes are pretty simple, but that means it's open to all kinds of customization: different veggies, different meat, and different soup flavors are all very real possibilities here. Next time, if I want to up the budget a smidgen, I may throw in some shredded cheese for a little extra indulgence!

In the end, I think this is a very successful first attempt at a Q.E.C.T. (yeah, I really need to work on that acronym...) meal. It's not anything fancy, but then, fancy wasn't the point in the first place. The point was to be able to cook a good, hot meal when you come home from a long day at work without having to worry that it'll take forever or else break your bank. And in that, I believe I have done well.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing from everyone!

Sushi

Hi everyone!

For my (other) roommate's birthday last week, I made sushi for dinner. Now, this is not something I've ever tried to do before, mind you. But he said he wanted to give me a little challenge, and he made the request, so I said OK.

I wasn't about to try making any kind of sushi that requires raw fish. Don't get me wrong, I'm not scared of raw fish, but unfortunately I don't have a reliable source for quality seafood. As such, I decided my best option was to make California Rolls. They're relatively simple, and they don't require raw fish, so the chance of something going terribly, terribly, "why God, why?!" wrong is immensely decreased.

For those interested, I used the AB method for Cali Rolls, since it's pretty straightforward and easy to follow.

First, I made the sushi rice. You do this by rinsing 2 cups of short-grain (sushi) rice until the water runs clear. You then combine the rice with 2 cups clean water in a pot over high heat and bring it to a boil. Once that happens, cook the rice, covered, over the lowest heat for 15 minutes and then off the heat entirely for 10. The rice is then deposited in a large glass (or wooden) bowl.

Meanwhile, you combine 2tbsp rice vinegar with 2tbsp sugar and 1 of salt. This goes into the microwave for 30 seconds to dissolve everything. Now, I found that this wasn't enough liquid, so I added another tablespoon of vinegar, which still wasn't really enough to dissolve all that sugar and salt. Maybe I shouldn't have used kosher salt this time, since the flakes are so big. Next time, I think I may just buy some sushi rice seasoning and use that instead. Regardless, this gets sprinkled onto the rice and is cut/folded into said grains with a big wooden spoon. You don't stir, per se, because that can turn the rice into a gummy pile of mush.

If possible, you're supposed to use a paper fan (or similar apparatus) to cool the rice as you go. This is not as easy as it looks. After a few minutes, the awkwardness kinda gets to you. Granted, I only had a paper notebook to use as a fan so maybe I'm biased. But the point is that once the rice is cooled to room temp it's ready to be used.

Ingredients: cucumber, krab, avocado, nori, and rice

The most challenging part of the process, in my opinion, is the assembly. I had everything I needed ready to go. OK, so, that's not completely true. I did not have a bamboo rolling mat ready to go. Because I don't own one, that's why. I thought, "Hey, I'll just use some foil or some parchment; how difficult can it be?" I should know by now that these kinds of thoughts never bode well for me.

Cali Rolls: first (or second?) attempt

Rolling the sushi was a challenge. I reckon it mainly requires more practice than I've had, which until that night was none. I did find it was easier to roll with the nori (the seaweed sheet) on the outside, rather than trying to have the rice on the outside as is the norm for Cali Rolls. Maybe my rice wasn't sticky enough, but I had the damnedest time just trying to get the rolls to seal themselves.

Inverted Cali Rolls (with cream cheese added like in Philly Rolls. Yum!)

Fortunately, the sushi was quite good and, even better, they actually tasted like Cali Rolls! All things considered, I believe they were a success. I can't wait to try again! It's actually quite fun to make, and I'm hoping to one day be able to try the raw fish. It's a bit risky, true, but it just means I need to be extra careful.

Regardless, I love sushi, and now that I've made it once, I won't be so apprehensive about giving it another go. I've learned that I can't let my nervousness get in the way when I try to cook something new. Yes, there's always the chance something can go wrong; that's always the case when you try something new and different. But, if you let that worry get in your way, how will you ever know if you can do it, right? Now, am I going to get past this bump overnight? Probably not. But the more I do, even if I make mistakes, the better I become and the more I feel confident about trying to make new things. So yes, I would say I met this challenge, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Anyway, tell me what you think. As always, thanks for reading!

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Ice Cream

Yeah, you read that right.

I made ice cream with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. And I served it over a bed of macaroni.

Why? Because I could. And because I thought it'd be a fun, crazy idea. And I'm going to tell you all how I made it.

I basically adapted a simple and straightforward ice cream recipe:

THE INGREDIENTS!!
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
10oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped, to taste

THE METHOD!!
All you do is mix the milk, cream, sugar, and salt together with an electric mixer on low speed. Once the sugar and salt are dissolved, stir in the spinach. Refrigerate over night.

The next day, make the ice cream as per the machine's instructions. At the end, stir in the chopped tomatoes. It's a good idea to have the final resting place ready and chilled so the ice cream won't melt during transport.

When it's time to eat, cook up some pasta (I had macaroni, so that's what I used) and cook to al dente. Drain the pasta, but reserve some of the water. Toss the noodles with some salt, and use a little of the reserved water (a few tablespoons) to help it stick if you like.

Let the noodles cool from piping hot to warm, then serve with a scoop or two of your ice cream.

In the end though, I'm sad to say that my crazy idea was not a huge success. My victims, er- I mean: tasters and I all agreed that the ice cream was tasty and had a good foundation. However, it was simply too rich and too sweet to have as a main course. I tried for a hot/cold salty/sweet dish, and I achieved that goal, true. But I also had an overabundance of spinach and not enough of the tomatoes for the flavors to balance correctly.

But! I will not consider the dish a failure. It may not have turned out quite how I wanted it, but it was a fun experiment. Now that I know the ice cream itself will work, I need to go back and tinker. A little research may yield a better base recipe with which to work. Further, I may skip the pasta next time and just have this be some kind of appetizer dish, assuming I can get the balance right. It just means I'll need to try again!

Well, thanks for joining me on this quick post. If you have any thoughts regarding the dish or the condition of my sanity I look forward to hearing them! Until next time everyone!

Twice-baked Chicken Parmesan Potatoes

So, a couple of days ago I decided to try something a little different. Originally I had thought to make twice-baked potatoes for dinner one night, and a chicken Parmesan-like meal for another. But then, I had a brainstorm: why not make both on the same night? That is when this idea was born.

Now, it still needs some work. I plan to tinker with it, but for now I'm going to post the recipe as I designed and executed it. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it.

THE INGREDIENTS!!
8 potatoes (these were small to medium sized), scrubbed and allowed to dry
1 pkg bacon (maple smoked if you want to know)
4 chicken breasts
5 tomatoes, cored, seeded, quartered (no, not a lot, I know)
balasamic vinegar
chopped garlic
16oz block of mozzarella cheese
8oz block cream cheese, softened (I found one made with Greek yogurt and wanted to try it)
green onions
1 cup panko (coarse Japanese breadcrumbs in case you're unfamiliar)
3 tbs butter, melted
grated Parmesan cheese, to taste

THE METHOD!!
To begin, I baked the bacon. Its easy: put the bacon on a cooling wrack over a foil-lined baking sheet (one with a good lip all the way around). Put the apparatus in a cold oven and set for 400 degrees. Wait about 20 minutes, or until the bacon reaches the desired crispiness. You could fry it if you prefer, but I like this method.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium to medium-high heat until they're done all the way through.

Toss the tomato quarters with a splash of balsamic vinegar, a few teaspoons of chopped garlic, and a pinch of salt. Lay them out on a baking sheet (I always line mine with parchment or foil) cut side up. Meanwhile, rub a little oil on the potatoes, pierce them a few times with a fork, and lay them out in a 9x13 inch baking dish.

When the bacon comes out of the oven, up the temp to 450, and put the tomatoes and the potatoes in. The tomatoes need 20-30 minutes, while the potatoes need more like 45 to an hour. You're looking for the tomatoes to be soft and sizzling and for the potatoes to be fork tender.

Once that's all baking, you can assemble everything else. Slice enough mozzarella to have one piece for each potato half (in my case, I sliced 8 pieces off the block and cut each in half) and grate the remainder. Chop the bacon into small pieces. Ditto that with the green onions. I also chopped the chicken into smaller pieces for convenience. Run the tomatoes through a food processor or blender until liquified.

Cooking can be a bit messy... and blurry, apparently.

When the potatoes are done, pull them out of the oven. Without burning yourself, cut each one in half and scoop the insides into a large bowl. Be sure to save the skins. Mix in the cream cheese until it's all incorporated. Then add the chicken, mozzarella, bacon, green onions, and tomato sauce. Stir to combine. Fill each empty skin with a genrous serving of the potato mixture and return to the 9x13.

Combine the panko with the melted butter. Put a slice of mozzarella cheese on top of each potato, and sprinkle with the panko. Throw some grated Parmesan cheese on for good measure.

Put the whole thing back in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the panko browns and the mozza is nice and bubbly. Cool for a few minutes, then serve immediately. Top with sour cream if you desire.

THE RESULTS!!
Overall, I like the idea. But, while it was indeed quite good, I felt that the whole "chicken Parmesan" thing I was going for got a bit lost in the execution. For one thing, the green onions provided too strong of a flavor. For another, I did not have nearly enough tomato sauce.

On the plus side though, the bacon and chicken worked well together and with everything else. The cream cheese and mozzarella came together nicely, providing a uniform texture throughout the dish. Plus, I really liked the nice crunch from the panko.

I think next time I'm going to try to change things up in one of two ways. The first option is to use larger potatoes (I didn't like the small ones; not enough meat) and more sauce. I might lose the green onion entirely. The goal would be to have the flavor focus on the chicken and the tomato sauce. So, maybe use a little less bacon as well, since it has such a strong presence.

For the second option, imagine that I left the chicken and tomato sauce out of the mix. Maybe ditch the green onion again. Then, after filling the skins, lay a few pieces of chicken on top of the potato mixture. Top that with the sauce and a slice of mozzarella, essentially making a mini chicken Parmesan on top of each twice baked potato. Or, should the chicken stay in the mix with just the sauce on top? Hmmm... I guess call that option 2.5 or something.

If anybody has any suggestions about which method would be better, please let me know!

Well, I hope this all sounded interesting to everyone, because I really enjoyed making it. I'm hoping to try it again sometime in the future, and when I do, I'll be sure to let you all see the results!