Twice Baked Potatoes

Simple, quick, and delicious. My kid's favorite. What I really like about twice baked potatoes is you can change and mix the ingredients however you like. I make them with varying combinations of different types of cheeses (swiss, parmesan, gorgonzola, etc), cottage cheese, yogurt, broccoli, horseradish, cheese whiz, cream cheese, etc.

Here's the basic recipe though:

Ingredients:

Two large russet potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 stick butter
1/3 c chopped green onions
4 strips bacon, cooked and broken into pieces
3/4 c sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Pierce potatoes with a fork a few times and pre-bake in the microwave on high for 12 minutes. (Microwaving before baking makes the skins crunchier when done)

Remove and place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes.

Add all remaining ingredients into a small bowl.

Remove potatoes and carefully slice potatoes in half and spoon out the insides onto the ingredients in the bowl.

Let sit for 10 minutes to let the potatoes melt the ingredients.

You may use a mixer to blend ingredients but I prefer a hand masher so that a good deal of texture remains in the potato. No need to mix completely, I like a roughly distributed mixture of ingredients if you know what I mean.

Spoon the potatoes back into the skins and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and serve immediately.