Potato Skins

Monday, March 2, 2009

I was so good on Friday. On the way home, I stopped and got pizza for the kids. I can't eat pizza anymore...it is not lap-band friendly. So I got all the goodies to makes Chicken Caesar Salad and Chinese Chicken Salad. The Caesar salad Friday night was fabulous!

But Sunday night, having had a real "feel sorry for myself" kind of weekend, I knew a salad just wasn't gonna cut it. I needed something greasy. Something NOT good for me.

The winner: Potato Skins - TGI Fridays style.

I used Yukon Gold potatoes, because that's what I had. They worked just fine, but you can use regular russet baking potatoes if that's what you have. I cooked mine in the microwave, but you could bake them in the oven first. I'm all about quick and easy. I figured on one potato / 2 halves per person. I figured wrong. Cook more than you think you'll need. If you have left overs, you can always warm them up and throw an egg on it in the morning. Breakfast of Champions!



After the potatoes were about 90% cooked, I sliced them in half.



And scooped out about a third of the potato. See note below.



Get some vegetable oil nice in hot in your dutch oven, or use your deep fryer if you have one of those nifty gadgets.



Fry the potatoes a good 5-7 minutes. You want them to be a little brown.

While these are cooking, assembling your fillings. We are all about the cheese and bacon bits. I make my bacon bits from scratch...I refuse to use the store bought garbage.


Now, most people might include green onions...but that constitutes a vegetable, and we aren't allowed to have those in my house.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Once your potato skins are cooked, drain them.



Lay your potato skins on a cookie sheet, and fill with cheese. Use more than you think you should. The cheese should actually mound above the potato. Trust me... after it all melts down, you'll wish you had used more cheese. Add your bacon bits, and green onions if you're allowed, on top of the cheese.




Place in the oven for about 5 minutes. Just long enough to melt the cheese.


Serve with sour cream. Lot's of sour cream!




Heaven! These potato skins and a John Grisham novel are all you need to forget your woes.

Now, what to do with the potato you scooped out of the middle? Smashed potatoes! Mix the potato up with some butter, some salt and pepper, and some... are you ready? Some cream cheese! Delightful. Could be served for dinner the next night, but probably won't last that long.
Now grab a good book, and enjoy!
Cheers,
Christine

1 comments:

mom said...

Looks good. Might try these.

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