On super-busy days, the baked potato is a real time saver. My kids love it and I don’t hear a single complaint. A mom’s dream come true, huh!

There’s very little work involved and it only needs 3 ingredients:

• 7-8 medium Russet potatoes
• 6 slices of back bacon, cut into little square bits
• butter

I scrub the potatoes clean, wipe them dry and give them a quick coat of oil on the outside. Pierce each potato a few times with a fork and place them on a microwaveable dish or on a sheet of aluminium foil inside the microwave oven.

Microwave on high for 15-16 minutes. The rule of thumb that I use is about 2 minutes per potato so it’s 8×2=16 minutes. The more potatoes, the less total time you’ll need.

The burning question you probably have by now is how do I produce a baked potato from microwaving ? Well, I could bake the potato at 350 degrees but it’ll take me an hour or more. Time I don’t have. So excuse the shortcut but it’s faster this way .

I fry the bacon in my non-stick pan till it sizzles and gets crispy. You don’t need to add any oil to the pan before frying because the little bit of fat on the bacon is sufficiently oil the pan. I prefer to use back bacon because it’s less fatty.

Once done, the potatoes can be removed. I make a slice lengthwise on each potato. Watch the steam, be very careful and be sure to warn the kids that the potato is very hot.

Top the potato with a generous blob of butter and bacon bits. Sometimes I sprinkle with chives or spring/green onions if I happen to have some around.

There’s endless ways to top your potato, of course. With tuna, sour cream and chives, broccoli and cheese, corned beef and onions, cream cheese and herbs… go ahead, be creative.

So there you go, another meal with any number of variations that won’t take you more than a few minutes to throw together. If you eat this outside at the deli, each baked potato easily costs you rm5-7. If you ask me, that’s crazy for something so simple that you can make at home.

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