Potato Skins

Welcome to Round #2 of the potatoes. To be honest, if the Overloaded Twice-Baked Potatoes and these Potato Skins got into a match to determine which was the best, it would be a barnburner.

I've always enjoyed the potato skins you can get at restaurants, but it's nice to make a healthier, nongreasy version and get to enjoy them in my pajamas :-)

The following recipe is based solely on the potato tops from the baked potatoes from the previous recipe. However, this recipes is EASILY adaptable to accommodate any number of potatoes and/or mouths to feed.

INGREDIENTS:

- 4 leftover tops of potatoes
- Canola oil
- Salt
- 1 cup of shredded cheese
- 3 pieces of turkey bacon, cooked, crumbled (SIDE NOTE: Bacon does really well in the freezer. We never eat enough of it at one time (don't get me wrong...we definitely COULD!), so I keep it wrapped in the freezer and use slices as needed)
- green onions/chives

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 450 degrees
- Cover a baking sheet with foil (makes clean up so much faster)
- Brush both sides of each potato skin with canola oil
- Sprinkle with salt
- Place potato skins on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes
- Remove the baking sheet from oven, flip the skins, and bake for an additional 10 minutes
- Once baked, put ~1/4 cup cheese and ~1/4 of the bacon crumbles on each potato skin
- Return the potato skins to the oven for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted
- Top with green onions (you can add sour cream, etc. if you so choose)

TAHDAH! Easy way to use up the remains of another meal without it going to waste. I served the potato skins as a side with a meal of sausage and Ranch Style beans. That was about 30 minutes ago. Am thinking that I wish we had more...

Potato-Cheese Soup

So all that to say....here's my version of the tasty combination of potatoes, cheese, and bacon (in soup form).

INGREDIENTS:

- 6 potatoes (I used new potatoes so it took about 8 of them - washed, peeled, and cubed)
- water to cover
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 TBL margarine
- 3 cups milk
- salt and pepper to taste (I used a bit of Lawry's salt as well as some garlic salt)
- 2 TBL chicken broth
- 8 oz. processed cheese, cubed (Velveeta!)
- 1 TBL cornstarch
- 1/2 cup milk

DIRECTIONS:

- Place cubed potatoes in large pot and cover with water
- Boil for 10-15 minutes or until tender
- While the potatoes boil, sauté onion in margarine in a skillet over medium heat for about 10 minutes
- Once the potatoes are tender, drain all but about 2 cups of water
- At this point, I mashed up the majority of the potatoes with a fork - rather haphazardly, mind you! There is no right or wrong way! This is an optional step; I just like thick soup.
- Add the onion and replace the water with 3 cups of milk
- Reduce the heat to low and and season with salt and pepper
- Stir in the chicken broth and heat slowly
- Add the cheese, allowing it to melt completely (stirring as needed)
- In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in 1/2 cup milk and add to the soup
- Mix the cornstarch mixture into the soup and heat until soup is at desired thickness

To each of our bowls, I added some crumbled turkey bacon as well as some shredded cheese. Hey...don't judge - there's never enough cheese *GRIN* I served this with leftover light and fluffy drop biscuits. This makes PLENTY of soup for a larger family or leaves you with "re-do's" for lunch or supper the next day.