on the menu Monday

Seeing as we haven't done one of these posts in quite awhile, I figured it was time.

This week's recipe doesn't have a name, seems that I call it something different every time I make it. haha. Ya know, since it's my recipe.

Here's what you'll need:

6 large baking potatoes

1/2 stick butter, melted

1 cup sour cream

1 pound bacon, diced and cooked til crisp

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

garlic powder, salt and pepper

***feel free to substitute anything you like; low-fat sour cream, turkey bacon, diced ham, no meat, different cheeses. The sky's the limit. Once, I even used 1/4 cup of Tastefully Simple's Bacon Bacon....worked great!***

Anyway, here's what I did for the recipe this week.

Bake 6 large/medium russet potatoes. I *know* that this process can be done in the microwave and that's fine if you wanna do it that way. Me, I prefer the crispy skin that oven baking provides, so I do it that way. I baked them at 350 for about 90 minutes once I pricked them, sprayed them with cooking spray and sprinkled them with salt.

Once they come out, they look like this:

Next, once they are cool enough to handle, split the potatoes length wise and scoop out the pulp. You'll be left with 12 potato boats, as it were, for the yummy stuffing.

Here's the potato, sour cream, and spices ready to be mashed. I use a potato masher and just go to town. You may need a splash of milk if the mixture is too thick.

Then you add the bacon and one cup of the cheese. The other cup of cheese is for later!

Stir to combine and stuff into your potato boats.

Now at this point, I typically stop and place the potatos in a baking dish and refrigerate them til I need them.

Then I have my oven preheated to 350 and bake the potatoes, covered in foil for about an hour. **If you were to make them not so far ahead of time, I would start with 20 minutes and work from there.** I then take them out and sprinkle the rest of the cheddar on top of each potato and put them back in the oven for 5-8 minutes.

When they come out, they look like this! Yumm-o!

We typically have these with just a green salad for a simple dinner.