Our Culinary Adventures: Twice Baked Potatoes

This is one of my favorites. It's great for a side dish or for appetizers. I like to think of twice baked potatoes as loaded potato skins on steroids.

All you need are potatoes, and whatever toppings/mix ins you enjoy with your baked and mashed potatoes. We used: Milk, Sour Cream, Shredded Cheese, and Turkey Bacon.

The easiest way to bake the potatoes the first time around is in the microwave. This is when the real cooking of the potatoes occurs. Timing depends on your microwave (we did 5 to 7 minutes per potato, but we were using an old microwave). Also keep in mind: the softer the center of the potatoes, the less difficulty you will have scooping out the center.

Halve the potatoes.

Scoop out the inside of the potato halves and save it in a bowl on the side. Keep in mind that while you want to scoop out the maximum amount of potato that you can, you should not go all the way down to the skin. A very think layer of potato left in the skin will allow it to hold its shape.

Mash the potatoes. This is a a good time to ad milk, cream, sour cream, or whatever else you like to make your mashed potatoes creamy. We used milk and a little bit of sour cream. We also added garlic salt and pepper to taste.

Mash until smooth.

In addition to the 6 pieces of bacon we crumbled in, we stirred in shredded cheese. Keep in mind that this is in addition to the topping of shredded cheese.