My oh my, I'm on a roll here! Check out my Baked Potato Skins!

For dinner last night I made Baked Potato Skins. They were very easy to make, and such a delicious dinner! First you start by baking four potatoes. And, okay, here's the thing. The recipe says "4 large baking potatoes." So I thought, hey, we have potatoes downstairs! But they were very small. And looking at the picture on the website, the potatoes are pretty big. So I thought I'd go to the store and find a bag that had bigger potatoes. Well, that didn't really work out. And then BAM! I turned around and saw a sign that said "Baking Potatoes." Who knew there was a difference? Well I guess there is a difference, because these potatoes were HUGE! Just the perfect size for this recipe. And you buy them separate. So I packed up four big baking potatoes in a bag, and strolled away happily. Okay, end story.

You first bake the potatoes in the oven for about 1 hr - 1 1/2 hrs. Let them cool a little bit, then cut them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the insides, leaving about 1/4 of an inch of potato shell on the inside, and SAVE the part you just scooped out! And here's why: In the morning you can make delicious home-made hash browns with the potato insides you saved! Just heat a skillet with olive oil, throw in the potatoes, brown them on both sides, add some salt and pepper, and voila! Easy peasy hash browns for breakfast! YUM!

Then you will make a little mixture that you brush on both sides of the potatoes. Combine olive oil, parmesan cheese, sea salt, garlic powder, paprika, and pepper in a tiny dish. Use a brush to spread the mixture over the potatoes. Bake at 475 for 7 minutes, turn and bake for 7 more minutes until crispy and golden brown.

You then sprinkle bacon (we didn't use bacon...my sister is a vegetarian) and cheddar cheese inside each potato skin and bake for 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

I didn't get a picture of the final product. My sister came home late from work, so she told me to wait to make dinner. We didn't get to eat until 7:00, so we were all starving! We gobbled them all up before I had a chance to take a pic. But you get the idea: Potato skins with melted cheese, topped with sour cream and freshly chopped green onions. Yeah, pretty successful dinner if you ask me.

Side note: The recipe says it serves 8, but for a hungry family of 4, we each ended up eating two potato skins. Which, when you think about it, equals one full potato. So really, I would say this recipe serves 4. But if you are serving this at a party as appetizers, then yes, I would assume each person would only eat one.