This is Heather, our go-to baby sitter. She’s holding my baby girl. Aren’t they cute? When I first met Heather, I’d often instruct her to heat up chicken nuggets in the toaster. Shortly after she started sitting for us, she took a hostess job in one of Suzanne Goin’s ^[1] restaurants and subsequently started her own food blog Three More Big Bites. ^[2] That’s when I stopped suggesting nuggets and started asking Heather what kinds of things she wanted to make with the kids. Heather was full of great ideas about what she could cook with my kid and I decided to start The Savory Sitter Series. The Savory Sitter Series will be filled with baby sitter friendly recipes and ideas that guarantee a thoughtful meal will be served, even in your absence. Take it away, Heather!

Hi! Heather the babysitter here. For most evening babysitters out there, the easiest dinner option is picking up the phone and ordering a pizza. As much as I love an excuse to chow down on pizza while catching up with my favorite kids, it’s a lot more entertaining (and more nutritious) for us to make something at home, from scratch, with vegetables and all.

This baked potato bar makes for such an easy and fun dinner activity. Rebecca already had some russet potatoes in the fridge. All I had to do was wash them, turn on the oven and pop them in. We built a Lego spaceship while the potatoes were baking. When they were done, I lined up some kid-friendly the toppings in small bowls with serving spoons and we each made our own tater towers! It was the perfect, foolproof, babysitter meal. Now for the recipe…