Chicken and Potato Gratin; a loaded question

The other day I thawed chicken breasts to cook on the grill for dinner.

Then it turned cold and windy and rainy….

I decided an oven dish was more in tune with the weather.

I googled chicken and potatoes to see if I could come up with any new ideas.

That’s when I learned about ‘loaded’ food.

It’s a new term to me but, apparently, not to the rest of the world as there were pages and pages of loaded everything.

One can make loaded pizzas, loaded soups, loaded salads, loaded sandwiches, loaded casseroles, etc.

One can make specific loaded items: loaded potatoes, loaded cauliflower, loaded cheese fries (??), loaded chicken, loaded pasta, loaded liver (okay, I made that one up)….

After spending a frenzied minute or two (or less) I came to the conclusion that ‘loaded’ meant adding lots of bacon and cheese to whatever to turn what may have been a healthy food into …. Not a healthy food.

Think about it….

A baked potato is a healthy, nutritious side dish.

A baked potato smothered in sour cream, cheese and bacon – not so much.

Does everyone really need that much added fat and salt?

For the record, it’s not the ingredients that I found shocking – it’s the quantities.

Back to dinner…..

This was seriously good but I can’t call it ‘loaded’ as there is no bacon or cream and only a modest amount of cheese.

Actually, it was one of the best ‘throw it together at the last minute’ dinners I’ve made in ages.

If it was winter I would have baked a chopped onion with the potatoes and added broccoli….

Print Recipe

One other thing I noticed about the recipes for ‘loaded’ food – they didn’t often include what I consider to be flavor enhancers like a good vinegar or mustard or herbs or spices or even hot sauce. Those are all things to use to add flavor without fat or salt or whatever.

Here’s the loaded question: Why, with obesity levels where they are, are recipes for loaded everything so popular? Isn’t anyone paying attention to what they eat?

Wouldn’t 1 slice of crumbled bacon be enough for your potato? Does it half to be 2? or even 3?

I know bacon is tasty – but bacon donuts and bacon ice cream and bacon chocolate and, and, and…. really?

Yes, I know, being over-weight is a complex issue, but eating bacon and cheese on everything is not helping.

One of the ladies in my French conversation group just returned from a 2-week trip to the US. Her first comment was that, while there are fat people in France, she has never seen such HUGE people as she saw in the US.

She went on to say that she saw do-nut shops everywhere. One could buy a dozen do-nuts for $1.50 but she had to pay $3.00 for 2 apples. She was amazed at the high prices of fruits and vegetables and the low prices of fast food.

When we eat at McDo’s – sandwich and fries for mon mari and a wrap for me, it costs about $18.00….

But our apples are cheap.

As to portion sizes in restaurants…. We won’t even go there.

As to vegetables….

The big pots are herbs that will eventually go on the deck,,,, when they are safe from the birds.

The trays are all of my winter squashes, that I put out on the deck every morning. Everything comes in at night – to protect from the birds.

I’m off to buy netting tomorrow.

That was the other big topic with my French friends. I’m not the only one plagued by birds this year.