Pass the potatoes, please: this national favorite makes an easy and comforting meal - Low-Fat and Fast

Nothing says comfort more than a steaming baked potato. Perhaps that's why the potato is America's top-selling vegetable with twice as many purchased as tomatoes, our second best-selling vegetable. The average American eats just over 140 pounds of potatoes a year, which sounds like a lot until we consider that the average European consumes even more than that.

Having potatoes on hand means having access to an almost-instant dinner any night of the week. You can bake or microwave a batch of five or six, then keep them in the refrigerator for a week to split and stuff with chili, cheese, leftover vegetables or other delicious ingredients: Potatoes make a quick and satisfying meal.

To make our potato dinner, first start the potatoes cooking in the microwave oven. Then make the vegetable filling, which will be piled on the split baked potatoes and heated under the broiler. While the vegetables are cooking, slice the oranges and begin marinating them in their tangy sauce. (By dessert time, the flavors are perfectly developed.) Assemble the salad last; it will take only five minutes.

Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Although we feature this baked potato as a dinner entree, you can fix it any time of the day. It takes only minutes to cook potatoes in a microwave oven.

4   large baking potatoes, scrubbed
1/4 cup vegetable stock or canned broth
1   tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2   cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped broccoli
1   Tbs. toasted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese or mashed firm
    tofu (see glossary, p. 130)
1/2 cup shredded low-fat Swiss cheese or soy
    cheese (see glossary, p. 130)
2   Tbs. finely chopped green onions

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