Manwich Loaded Baked Potatoes {Recipe}: Make Dinner Easy with Manwich

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Manwich for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Weeknight dinners are rough.  They are especially challenging in our home with two toddlers just up from naps, a step-daughter returning from school, and a husband who is lucky to make it home for dinner.  I am always looking for something to make dinner time a little easier.

I love the Manwich TV Ads showing off it’s “kid-stopping power.”  As I opened the box I had visions of two toddlers magically stopping everything, eating silently, and myself enjoying a meal with them without having to get up about a milion times.

I was so excited to add something new to my arsenol of dinner-prep tips.  I couldn’t wait to try out each of the three Manwich flavors and see what kind of fun (and healthy) creation I could come up with.

Confession:  I have never cooked with Manwich.

I’m pretty positive I’ve eaten it at some point in my life, but I have never made Sloppy Joes or anything else with Manwich.

There are a ton of Manwich Recipes you can check out for great dinner ideas.  I’m sure they may even have something similar to the dinner we had, but I’m more of a see-what-we-have-and-wing-it kind of girl.  I wanted to think outside the box and find something that would be a great fit for the awesome-tasting sauce.  I started thinking along the lines of potatoes, extra veggies, and lentils.  Here’s how it all came together.

Manwich Loaded Baked Potatoes

• 5-6 Baked Potatoes (I did a sweet potato for me – delish!)
• 1 Can Thick and Chunky Manwich
• 2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 Celery Stalk, chopped
• 1 Small Onion, chopped
• 1/2lb Ground Turkey
• 1 cup Cooked Lentils
• 3 cups Broccoli

Instructions

1. Cook potatoes. Chop carrots, celery, and onion. Steam broccoli. Cook lentils.
2. Sautee carrots, celery, and onions in a pan over medium heat until softened.
3. Add ground turkey and continue until cooked through.  Drain if needed.
4. Add lentils and Manwich Thick and Chunky sauce and cook according to directions.
5. Open baked potato, cover with 1/2 cup steamed broccoli, and approximately 1 cup of Manwich mixture.

Ok, this is kind of an unnecessary picture, but isn’t that a beautiful thing???

Yum!  This turned out so much better than I had expected!  The sauce was delicious and sweet with all the veggies.  It also was the perfect way to top the potatoe and not need anything else.  I also love that I was able to cram all sorts of veggies in there even though Manwich does already include one full serving of vegetables.

Remember that lovely vision of quiet kids and a dinnertime of not getting up… Well, they gobbled this up so fast I barely had a chance to get mine prepared before they were finished!  So, so much for the “kid-stopping” for this family, but I’d call it a success!

Love those messy Manwich faces!

Which flavor of Manwich are you looking forward to trying?  Does Manwich help you get through busy weeknights?