Twice Baked Potatoes

It was a nerve racking day.  My shipment from Target was supposed to arrive.  The tracking email said that it had arrived yet there was no package on the front porch as it had indicated.  I walked to the neighbors’ homes on both sides – no errant package on their porches.  Do you know how long the wait time is for Target’s customer service?  Did you know that phone numbers to local post offices are not listed any more?  When all hope was lost, David (aka, the worst searcher in the whole wide world) walks by the front door “hey, there’s a package on the front porch” and takes all the credit for “finding it.”  Ok, kudos to you.  Bring that inside – there’s brown sugar in that box (and have you tried to find brown sugar at the grocery store recently?)!!

To use up the 15 pounds of potatoes from Costco, we have made these twice baked potatoes twice – so does that make them quattro baked????

Ingredients

• 3 medium/large russet potatoes
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ½ c sour cream
• 1 c cheddar cheese, preferably sharp
• Salt, pepper, garlic salt
• Optional: cooked and chopped bacon, chives

Preheat oven to 375.  Scrub potatoes.  Bake in the oven (unwrapped but on a piece of aluminum foil to catch any drips) for 1 ½-2 hours until the inside is soft.  Remove from the oven and cool.

Once cool, slice the potato in half.  Remove the inside of the potato with a spoon and place in a bowl.  Do your best not to puncture or tear the potato skin shell.

In the bowl, add the butter, sour cream, cheese, and a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic salt to the potato.  Use a potato masher or a fork to incorporate all of the ingredients together.  Once combined, spoon the mixture back into the potato skin shell and press down with the spoon to fill in the gaps.

Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and reheat in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes until heated through.  Top with chopped pieces of cooked bacon, chives and/or more cheese.