08 Loaded Potato Skins

Loaded Potato Skins
Recipe by Raven Chelanee of CookEatDelicious.com
http://www.cookeatdelicious.com/meat-recipes/bacon-recipes/loaded-potato-skins-recipe.html



Recipe type: Appetizer
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min

Yields: 12 potato skins

Ingredients
6 potatoes, baked through*
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 cups cheddar cheese, grated
⅔ cup green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp mustard
2 dashes hot sauce
4 tbsp sour cream
2 eggs
18 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 475 F.
2. Cut potatoes lengthwise in half and scoop out the flesh, leaving about ¼ inch on the skin inside.
3. Place ⅓ of the potato flesh in a large bowl and discard** the rest.
4. In a bowl combine oil, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
5. Place potatoes, skin side up on a baking dish and generously brush with oil mixture.
6. Bake for 8 minutes then flip and bake for an additional 8 minutes.
7. In the bowl with potato flesh, mix in the cheese, green onions, garlic, mustard, hot sauce, sour cream, and eggs.
8. Spoon mixture into skins and top with crumbled bacon.
9. Bake for 5 minutes then garnish with hot sauce and sour cream and serve hot.

Note from P.
*BAKED potatoes?!? No, I won't go the oven route and spend more than an hour baking potatoes if I only need one or two just to make an appetizer.

Cheating Time! - Like many admirers of microwave 'baked' potatoes, I would recommend the following:
1. Preheat your oven at 475 F like in the recipe.
2. Scrub the potatoes really well; then take a paring knife and stab the poor helpless spuds several times throughout their body. Okay, don't be overly barbaric, folks.
3. Depending on the size of the potatoes and the microwave's power, zap the 'killed' spuds, one at a time, in a microwave-safe dish on High for 3 min. BE CAREFUL when you flip and zap each one again for another 3 min. If using a smaller microwave, add extra 1-2 min to each side. Some microwaves have a baked potato setting.
4. BE VERY CAREFUL when taking the spuds out because they are extremely hot.
5. Go back to follow the recipe.

**I kind of feel bad even though it's pure starch and it may not be a bad idea to throw it away, but I would find another use for it. Like what? Mashed potato for some skinny family members or a compost pile?