This recipe deviates from my usual type of recipe, but the memory of this recipe hit me like crazy on New Year's Eve and I couldn't believe I had forgotten about it.  My mother regularly made bacon wrapped water chestnuts for NYE parties.  They're so simple to make and they would also make great little football party appetizers.  They're bite sized and the combination of the crispy bacon and texture of the water chestnut is something a little different.

The only other recipes where I've seen water chestnuts is in Chinese Food veggie dishes. Let me know if you've seen them anywhere else because I'm curious.  I easily found cans of the chestnuts in the Asian section of the grocery store and they come in 5oz cans, similar to tuna cans.

Here's what you'll need to get these in the oven:

Ingredients
-2 x 5oz cans of water chestnuts
-1 package of bacon
-2/3 cup ketchup
-1/3 cup light brown sugar
-toothpicks

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees and cut the bacon slices into 1/2 their length.  Place a water chestnut at the end of the slice, roll the water chestnut up into the rest of the bacon and secure with toothpick.  Continue until you've finished with all of the water chestnuts.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place in the pre-heated oven.  I bake these for a total of 25 minutes because I like the bacon to have a crispy to it, but you can adjust if you prefer.  While these are baking, mix together the light brown sugar and ketchup.  Check on them at the 1/2 way mark and give them a turn if the bottoms start looking like they're getting more crispy than your liking.  At the 20 minute mark, take them out of the oven and use a pastry brush to brush a little bit of sauce on each bacon wrapped chestnut.  Return to the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove, allow to cool for a few minutes and serve!

Like most of New England, I'm a little sad about the Patriots' loss yesterday but they're still my team and I'm rooting for them during both the ups and downs. Annddd football play off season has me coming out with some football inspired food because that's what the game is really about, right? In this case, I couldn't decide between two of my favorite appetizers so I got them together for a win.  These potato skins are broiled/baked, not fried, although I think they could be jazzed up in an air fryer, which I have yet to invest in but it certainly has my interest.  So if any of you kind readers have one and want to give it a whirl and let me know about it, I would be eternally grateful!

Here's what you'll need to get these going:

Ingredients
- 6 potatoes
-3 cups fresh spinach
-2 garlic cloves- chopped
-1 cup chopped artichokes (I bought a can of quartered artichokes and chopped them up into smaller pieces and used approximately 1/2-2/3 of the can)
-1 package cream cheese
-1 individual container plain Greek yogurt
--3 TBS olive oil
-1/2-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper

Directions
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.  Wash the potatoes and use a fork to poke holes in multiple places to allow steam to escape.  Wrap individual potatoes in tin foil and place in the oven for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes until they are baked through and a fork can be stuck into the soft potato easily.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for an hour or so.  Take the cream cheese out of the fridge to allow to come to room temperature and soften for a while.  Once the potatoes are cooled, slice them open in half and use a sharp knife and spoon to scoop out most of the insides.  Reserve the insides for another recipe (I made quick mashed potatoes as a dinner side out of them).  Prepare a baking tray or cast iron skillet with non-stick cooking spray, place the potato skins on the tray face up and use 1-2 TBS of olive oil to brush the skins.  Turn on the oven to Custom Broil (500 degrees).  Once heated, put the olive oil brushed skins in the oven for approximately 5 minutes or until they get crisped to your liking.  Keep an eye on them as they can go from not done at all to way over done quickly.  Remove from the oven and reduce oven heat to 375 degrees.

On a skillet over medium heat, add 1 TBS olive oil and heat.  Add the chopped garlic cloves and saute until softened (approximately 2 minutes).  Add the 3 cups of fresh spinach and continue to pan fry until significantly reduced in volume.  This only takes a couple of minutes.  Remove from heat.  In a large bowl, add the cream cheese, Greek Yogurt, spinach/garlic, artichokes, salt and pepper.  Mix until well combined.  Fill each potato skin with the mixture and then top with the shredded mozzarella cheese.  Put the potato skins back into the oven for approximately 25-30 minutes, remove and serve bubbling warm with sour cream and fresh chopped parsley as a garnish.

Enjoy!