Baked Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes

I'm leaving town in a few days and am trying to use up my produce before leaving.  Here I have 2 sweet potatoes and 2 regular potatoes.  I am trying to clean the house, do laundry, etc. so I really don't have a lot of time to be creative.  And... the last time I tried making sweet potato chips with my food processor, it landed me in the ER and me getting 7 stitches.  That was just about 3 weeks ago so I don't want to revisit that.  So, baking it is!

Rinse and scrub the potatoes well in water.

Pierce with a fork several times over all potatoes.

Dry well.

Drizzle a little olive oil over each one... maybe about 1 tsp per potato.

Sprinkle a little sea salt on each one.

Place in the center oven the oven.  Cook for 30 minutes at 400 degrees and then turn potatoes over.  The sweet potatoes were finished after cooking for 45 minutes and the regular potatoes cooked for 1 hour 15 minutes.  The potatoes are done when a knife pierces the potato and slides back out without effort.

The sweet potato is already starting to caramelize, yum!

Here are the regular potatoes post cooking.  They are nice and plump and give a little when pressed.

I decided that I couldn't wait and cut open the small sweet potato, put a dab of butter on along with a hint of brown sugar.  Who needs dessert when you can have this!?

You can do many things with the potatoes now.  You can serve them up as regular baked potatoes (served up with butter, sour cream, bacon, chili, salsa... you get the picture), scoop the insides out and make twice-baked potatoes, scoop them out and make potato soup, refrigerate them and use them for hashbrowns the next morning... really the possibilities are endless.

Homemade Taco Shells

It's really very easy to make your own homemade taco shells and makes all of the difference on "Taco Night"!  Before you start the process decide how many taco shells you will need per person and set aside that many corn tortillas and paper towels (I have also used flour sack towels and they work great, too.)

Heat canola oil or regular olive oil (not extra virgin) in a small fry pan.  I have chosen to use pure olive oil.  Heat the oil over medium heat.  It is imperative that you wait until the temperature is just right before frying your tortilla otherwise your tortilla will soak up all of that oil and it will be just plain gross!  A great way to tell when your oil is hot enough is by taking a wooden spoon, turn it upside down and putting it down in the middle of the oil.  Once the temperature is hot enough you will see tiny bubbles going up the spoon and then moving away from the spoon.  Here is what it will look like:

With tongs place your tortilla flat into the oil and leave for a few seconds.  You want it to crisp up a little, but not too much.

Flip the tortilla over and carefully fold one side and prop open with the tongs.  Here is where you are making room for the taco filling of your choice.

Flip and cook the other side and then when both sides are nice and golden, tilt and drain to get rid of any excess oil.

Even though it is nice and warm, wrap it nice and tight (be careful not to break the shell) in a paper towel to absorb the excess oil and keep it from becoming soggy.

Proceed until you fry up all of your tortillas.  If you have more than I have here then place them in a dutch oven with the lid on to keep them warm.  This process can take a while.

Unwrap, fill with your favorite taco filling and enjoy!