Bruschetta and Eggplant

Do you love twice baked potatoes, but need an easier way to make them?  This Twice Baked Potato Casserole is packed with delicious flavors and can be made much more quickly than traditional twice baked potatoes.  This casserole is a family favorite!

My husband and I have both grown up on farms and he still farms full-time.  Meat and potatoes are classic farmer food.  Potatoes are filling and meat gives us the energy to keep going and doing manual labor on the farm.  All of the bacon and cheese in this recipe make it a special treat.

Two of our best potato recipes came from sisters-in-law.  We absolutely love these Farmhouse Loaded Potatoes and this Easy Cheesy Potato Casserole.  Both are special treats!  This Twice Baked Potato Casserole is a combination of the two recipes.

Pure comfort food.  That’s what this Twice Baked Potato Casserole is all about.  Last week my husband had a potluck at work.  He texted me saying that he needed me to make potato salad. Potato salad??  It just sounded so boring.  I had made a baked potato salad for his coworkers before and it had gone over quite well and so I thought I’d make that again.

But then I was feeling guilty about sending the same dish twice, even though it’s been over a year, and I started thinking about twice baked potatoes, and how I could turn that into a salad and this casserole was born.

Now, you can forgo the second round of baking and serve this potato salad cold or warm instead of hot.  Totally up to you.  I think the melty cheese is what pushes me over the edge when I’m craving twice baked potatoes so I opted for that.

Ingredients

• 6 medium baked potatoes or boiled potatoes (see below)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 oz cream cheese softened
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk or cream (add more or less to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
• 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
• 2 green onions thinly sliced
• 10 slices bacon cooked & crumbled
• salt & pepper to taste

Toppings

• 1 green onion sliced
• 2 slices bacon cooked & crumbled
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mash warm baked potatoes or boiled potatoes with a potato masher. Add butter,  cream cheese and sour cream. Mash while adding milk/cream a little at a time until to reach a creamy consistency.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients (except toppings) and spread into a 2 quart casserole dish.
4. Sprinkle with toppings and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and potatoes are hot.

Recipe Notes
To Boil Potatoes:

• Wash 4lbs red skinned potatoes potatoes.  Peel about 2/3 of the skin, (leaving some on the potatoes) and chop into large chunks. Boil the potatoes and a large pot of water until potatoes are fork tender (about 15 minutes). Drain well.