We have now reached 100 degrees where I live, and with all honesty, I am lovin' it! I have been looking forward to Summer and it's finally here! We have already been spending a lot of time outside, enjoying the hot weather. We went to the lake with our friends last weekend, and then yesterday the kids spent most of the day having a water fight in our front yard. Good times!
I am excited for the Summer barbecues to start, so I can make these yummy
Twice Baked Potatoes again. I love these things. They are so good, and really go perfect with any kind of meat you'll be grilling up. I'm sure most of you already know how to make these, they are ridiculously easy, but also ridiculously delicious, so I had to share the way I make them!
Twice Baked Potatoes8 medium baking potatoes
1 cup butter (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sour cream
4-5 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 sliced green onion (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Directions: Clean potatoes with water, then pat dry with paper towels. Poke a few holes in the potatoes with a fork. Place potatoes on a cookie sheet and Bake at 400 degrees F. for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
In a large bowl, add the cup of butter, sour cream and about 1/2 cup of the chopped bacon. Stir mixture to combine. Set aside.
Carefully cut potatoes in half lengthwise. (Use a dish towel while handling the hot potatoes, so you dont burn your hands!) After potatoes are cut in half, using a large spoon, scrape out the insides and place into the bowl of the butter/bacon mixture. Keep scraping the potatoes as close as you can to the shell. You want to get most of the insides out, but still want enough left in the shell to support it.
Take a potato masher and smash all of the potatoes into the butter mixture. You can smash them as much or as little as you want, depending on how lumpy or smooth you like the filling. Once combined, take 1 cup of the cheese and the sliced green onion and stir it into the mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the cut potato halves back onto the cookie sheet. Fill the empty shells with the potato mixture. Filling them so they have plenty of filling. (You may have one or two shells that don't get filled, so the others have plenty of filling) Once filled, sprinkle the tops with the remaining cheddar cheese and chopped bacon. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake potatoes for 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are warmed through.
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