Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Baked Potatoes and John

When I first met John, 5 years ago, he was working at a little independent restaurant in Albuquerque called Spuds. They specialized in gourmet stuffed baked potatoes that we frequently ordered for lunches at Macy's, which was not too far from Spuds. Sometimes I would take my lunch and drive over to see John and he would have a potato ready for me when I got there so I would have enough time to eat and return to work.

My favorite potato was not really on the Spuds menu, but one that John invented himself. It was the football size potato (which is truly the size of a football- I used to wonder where they got such big potatoes, but now I know their secret). He would fill the potato with butter, sour cream, green chile, chicken and cheese. He would serve this to me with a side of ranch dressing and some extra butter. Of course I could usually only finish half of the potato, so I would save the other half for dinner after driving all the way back home to Santa Fe.

It made the best dinner- I would heat it up in the microwave with my extra butter and then top it with the extra side of ranch dressing I requested. Sometimes I would talk on the phone to John while eating the potato and he couldn't believe I could stomach eating anymore of that potato since I had so much already. But it was delicious and I couldn't resist.

Once John left Spuds to move onto a better job, we kind of forgot the potatoes. Working there was not always a pleasant experience for him and I think he chose to block it out of his mind. Once we had moved to Las Vegas, we remembered how much we loved that Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Baked Potato and John started brainstorming on how he could duplicate the secret recipe. He did the shopping while I was at work and I came home to the perfect reproduction.

Since then, he has continued to recreate the experience for me and has never failed to make it taste exactly the same. It always takes me back to when we first met and it is one of my favorite meals.