Loaded Baked Potato Bake

Years ago we used to have  HUGE Super Bowl parties, amazing food and tons of friends. But for the past 10 years we've done a HUGE New Years party and so doing another HUGE party a month later seemed like overkill. My husband misses our Super Bowl parties so this year we decided to forgo the New Years party and instead are planning a HUGE Super Bowl party. The one  requirement for scoring a invite to our party is  that we ask our guests to bring the "one dish they are famous for". This insures fantastic food and it also means I don't have to cook everything...yay!!

 This potato recipe was being tested to see if it is better than my Ashley Potatoes recipe that Ashley brought to one of our Super Bowl parties years ago. Note: this recipe is a winner!!! 

Ingredients 

1 (16oz) container sour cream

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1 (3oz) bag real bacon bits

1 packages Ranch Dip mix

roughly 15 oz bag frozen hash brown potatoes - shredded kind

This recipe can be doubled very easily for a bigger crowd.

Directions 

Combine first 4 ingredients, mix in hash browns.  Spread into a greased 9x13 pan or casserole dish.  Bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes. 

Ingredients

Ready to mix

Before going in the oven 

Enjoy! 

Twice Baked Potatoes

My daughter Olivia has a few foods she can't live without, one is cucumbers and the other is potatoes. She loves any kind of potato, fixed any way. She found this recipe and has been making these for our family every chance she gets. They can be made up to a day ahead and then cooked right before dinner.

Ingredients
4 Baking Potatoes, cooked in microwave
3 TBSP Sour Cream
3 TBSP Butter
3-4 TBSP Milk or Half and Half
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 1/2 c Cheddar Cheese, grated
Bacon Bits

Bake potatoes in microwave until cooked. Wait for them to cool and then cut in half, lengthwise. Use a small spoon and scoop out insides of 4 potatoes and place into mixing bowl. Place the remaining 4 halves into bowl as well, at this point you can easily remove the skin if you want, I like the skin. Add sour cream, butter, milk, salt and pepper and 1 cup of cheddar cheese to bowl and using a hand mixer whip ingredients,  add in 1/2 c of bacon bits by hand.    
Place potato boats on baking sheet and fill with mashed potatoes, sprinkle with remaining cheese and additional bacon bits. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.  Serves 4

Baked Potatoes

Scoop out centers

Put into mixing bowl

Whip together into mashed potato consistency

I like to put mine in a frosting bag and pipe the mashed 

potatoes, you can scoop yours into the boats.

Top with melted cheese and bacon and bake!

Enjoy!

Ashley Potatoes

Years ago we had a Super Bowl party where I told each guest to bring the one food they were 'famous' for. Who knows who won the game that year or even what teams played, all that was remembered was the food. Our friend Ashley brought these potatoes, and let me tell you, these aren't your mother's funeral potato casserole recipe. I love making these when we are having ham for dinner, so this is definitely worth remembering around Easter time.

Ingredients
large container of sour cream
2 cans cream of celery soup
4 cups cheddar cheese
hash browns, I like to use the bar type, but you can use regular hash brows
butter
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Line bottom of 9x13 pan with hash browns, I like to put some up the sides of the pan as well. In a large bowl mix sour cream, cream of celery soup, 3 cups cheddar cheese and salt and pepper. Pour over hash browns and add remaining cheese to top. Dot with butter and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and center is no longer really jiggly. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving. ( I have used reduced fat sour cream and reduced fat soups and while the consistency is a little runnier the taste isn't compromised too much)

Ingredients

This pan is smaller than a 9x13, that's why I have hash browns

bordering it. Sometimes I buy two packages of the browns so that 

I can do this on a larger pan. I think it makes the dish

Mix the sour cream, soup and cheese

I like a lot of pepper in mine

Sprinkle cheese on top and dot with a few chunks of butter

Yumm out of the oven!

Ready to eat! ( mine is a little runny since I used

a smaller pan and the regular sized recipe)

Enjoy!