Twice Baked Potatoes

It seems like one of the hardest parts of meal planning is planning what to serve with your incredibly awesome main course. You want something delicious and complimentary to your main dish but you absolutely don't want to spend the amount of time preparing it that you would a main course.

The second conundrum that you may face that this amazing side dish will solve is the bother of getting to dinner, very hungry, only to have to assemble a baked potato. In fact, my husband dislikes this so much that he will take any kind of style of cooking potatoes as long as he doesn't have to do the compiling. Now, obviously, if you are doing the cooking this isn't going to help you but everyone else will love you for doing the "hard" work.

And honestly, this was so easy! I threw my potatoes in the oven for an hour, compiled my main course, and then finished these up while my main course was cooling off enough that we could consume it. And they were DELICIOUS! My husband loved it and I loved it and I can't wait to eat the leftovers today! This was a perfect pair with our Steak with Onion-Bleu Cheese Sauce and is a recipe we will repeat again and again!

The recipe and picture are courtesy of the wonderful Mel's Kitchen Cafe and can be found at this site here: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/05/twice-baked-potatoes.html

Twice-Baked Potatoes

from My Kitchen Cafe (www.melskitchencafe.com)

*Serves 8 (as a side dish)

 4 large-ish russet potatoes, scrubbed clean
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
4 green onions, white and green parts thinly chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pierce each potato three or four times with a fork and place in the oven (or on a baking sheet). Bake for about an hour, until a fork can easily be inserted into the potato. Remove the potatoes from the oven. Let them cool for about 5-10 minutes.

Carefully cut each potato in half lengthwise, so you get two "boat" shapes from each potato. Using an oven mitt or potholder, hold the potato in one hand and with a spoon scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Leave a thin border (a little less than 1/4-inch) of potato innards around the skin so that it isn't too fragile to hold the pumped up potato mixture.

Mash the potato flesh with a potato masher or fork until mostly smooth. Stir in the melted butter, 1 cup cheese, green onions, sour cream, milk, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Preheat the broiler and move an oven rack about 3-4 inches away from the broiler heating element.

Scoop the potato filling into the shells, mounding each potato shell full of the good stuff. Sprinkle the potatoes with the remaining 1 cup cheese and broil the potatoes until the cheese is golden and bubbly, about 5 minutes.