Bacon & Cheddar Baked Potato Skins

Time consuming. Not as easy as I thought. Still good. These are the thoughts that popped into my head as I was making this. That and, seriously, Carolyn! Haven't you learned to read the directions yet?! Most important part of the recipe: the potatoes are baked before you do this! Silly me, getting hangry (hungry and angry) and not reading the FIRST LINE OF THE RECIPE!!!! Not only are unbaked potatoes really hard to scoop, once I figured out they needed to be baked, I burnt my fingers trying to scoop out the insides!

All that complaining aside, I really did like them when they were done. Sure they aren't as pretty as the ones you get from a restaurant, but I bet these were quite a bit healthier, and who doesn't like to branch out from what they normally cook?

• 4 medium russet potatoes (about 7 oz each), scrubbed well, baked and cooled
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp dried minced onion
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 3 strips reduced sodium bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 2 scallions, chopped

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Halve the potatoes lengthwise. Carefully scoop out the potato flesh, leaving enough to form a potato shell. Place the potato skins, cut-side down, on the baking sheet. Brush each potato skin with a little of the oil, then flip over.

In a small bowl, stir together the dried onion, garlic salt, onion powder, paprika and pepper. Sprinkle the mixture over the potato skins. Bake the skins for 10 minutes, or until crispy.

Remove the skins from the oven and top each with 1/4 the bacon and cheese. Return the skins to the oven and bake for 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese. Remove from the oven and top each with 1 Tbsp sour cream and a sprinkling of scallions.


NOTES: I think I used a little more scallions than the recipe called for, just to have more flavor. I also used turkey bacon (never had it before) and it wasn't so bad. Hardest part is scooping out the insides. Even if they aren't burning off your fingertips as you are scooping, it's a very delicate balance of scooping too much and not scooping enough. Not gonna lie, I scooped all the way through the peel on a few and had to try to do surgery to smoosh the potato back together.

I kept the parts of potato I scooped out, put it in a bowl with some milk, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper and made mashed potatoes. Can't waste all that food!

Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Recipe from 400 Calorie Fix Cookbook by Liz Vaccariello