This summer ‘C’ and I are going to the UK to attend my cousins wedding in York, and as we will be in the North of England I just could not pass on the opportunity to show ‘C’ Durham, the city I went to university. I did both my bachelors and my masters degree in Durham, and I loved it. I made some exceptionally good friends there, all of whom I still consider to be some of my closest today (despite not living in the same country as them for over 5 years) and I truly felt this is where I grew-up a lot and learnt a lot about myself.

Durham was my home for four years, yet as time has gone by certain memories have faded and I no longer think of Durham as much as I once did – which I suppose is natural. However, when I booked our trip to Durham, suddenly all these feelings and memories came flooding back. I had a hard time going to sleep that night, as I kept on conjuring up images from the past and remembering every detail of my past life there, the streets, the local characters whom I befriended but lost touch with, the night club Klute which I more or less lived in, the beautiful cathedral, the balls and parties I attended and so much more.

Then the other day, I was doing a bit of food shopping for myself as ‘C’ was out of town, when I stumbled upon these large potatoes that were perfect for baking. Suddenly it brought back a vivid memory of sitting in this cafe called Saddlers, eating a baked potato stuffed with a tuna-mayo and sweet corn, chatting with my good friend. In fact, we would go to Saddlers at least once a week for our baked potato fix and our weekly catch up, chatting about everything and anything under the sun (which mainly revolved around boys!)

I hadn’t had a baked potato since I left uni – suddenly I just had to have one! So I bought it and made it today for lunch, and I can say it was incredibly satisfying and not as unhealthy as I thought it was. Doing some research on it, I realised that it can in fact be very healthy meal. The potato itself is relatively low in calories and is very high in nutrients; however it is the filling that you have to be careful with. Although Tuna & Mayo is probably not the healthiest option to choose…but I had a craving to satisfy!

Baking the potato is incredibly easy, although it just takes a long time – so a bit of forward planning is required!

Directions

Pre heat the oven to 180ºC.

Scrub the potato with a brush, and then pat dry with a paper towel. The skin is the best part of the baked potato both in regards to taste, as well where all the nutrients are…so make sure you
clean it properly.

Rub the potato with olive oil (I used a garlic infused olive oil for extra flavour). Roll it around in kosher sea salt (normal salt will do absolutely fine). Plop it onto a baking dish and then bang it into the oven for 2 hours.

After 2 hours you should have a lovely soft potato on the inside and
crispy skin on the outside.  Cut a ‘cross’ in the middle and squeeze the potato open – this is where you put all your ‘healthy’ filling!

Like I said I made a tuna filling – which is my absolute favourite. Basically I used one can of Tuna, a tablespoon or two of Mayo, mixed thoroughly. I then added a couple of tablespoons of Trader Joe’s sweet corn salsa and it was fantastic! I really good option for lunch or a light dinner, especially if you are working out!