Twice Baked Potato Casserole

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Pictured behind the potatoes is a suuuuper good Cheesy Corn Pudding that I want to post the recipe for
but I can't find the recipe for.   That's the whole reason that I have this blog - to be able to archive recipes for later use!
Quelle frustration!  Let's focus on this not-in-focus picture of potatoes instead.

This is just a no-brainer!  Because: mashed potatoes with bacon, sour cream, cheese, green onions, and butter.  We ate this as our potato side dish for Christmas dinner last year, and not only would it make a great holiday dinner side dish again, but it would be a great non-holiday dinner side dish too.  Whoa.  As the name suggests, it's like twice baked double stuffed potatoes, but in a casserole.  If you ask the hubby really nicely, he will even fry up the leftovers for breakfast potatoes the next morning.  Drool.  Only rivalled by one other mashed potato recipe for the best mashed potatoes everrrrr.

For a printer-friendly version of any recipe, simply click 'Print' below the title of any blog post. Voila - a clean recipe without my ramblings or any pictures!

One Year Ago:  Plum Cake
Two Years Ago:  Brussels Sprouts Salad with Bacon
Three Years Ago:  Amy's Lentil Soup Copycat Recipe
Four Years Ago:  The Best Mashed Potatoes I've Ever Eaten
Five Years Ago:  Chicken Cacciatore

Twice Baked Potato Casserole

Serves: 16

Ingredients

• 1 pound bacon
• 16 russet potatoes, scrubbed clean (don't peel)
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound salted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 6 green onions, sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Cook the bacon in a pan until crispy; let cool and then crumble.

Rub potatoes with olive oil and place on baking sheets.  Bake until tender, 45 to 60 minutes.  Remove the potatoes from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.

Slice the butter and transfer to a large mixing bowl.  Add the bacon and the sour cream.  Cut each potato in half and scrape out the insides into the mixing bowl.  Tear up the skins from 3 of the potatoes and add to the bowl.  Mash the potatoes with a potato masher, then add the cheese, milk, seasoning salt, green onions, and salt and pepper to taste.  Mix together well.

Grease a baking dish, and scoop the potato mixture into the dish, then top with more grated cheese.  Bake until warmed through, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Enjoy!


Recipe Source:  Food Network - Twice Baked Potato Casserole

Alex's Brussels Sprouts Salad with Bacon, Avocado, and Lemony Dijon Dressing

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I dare you to try this salad and still tell me that Brussels sprouts are not your thing...

I remember when Brussels sprouts were the reject side dish at my family's holiday dinner.  That is for everyone except for my younger brother who would always request them for some unknown reason, probably just because he knew I would dread having to eat my requisite one sprout, and making things a little annoying for me was his duty as younger brother.  Or maybe he actually liked them, but probably not.  My granny used to make them with a delicious cheesy sauce on them, and that was my favourite way to eat them because I could smother my requisite one sprout with five servings of delicious cheese sauce to mask the flavour.  It barely worked.  But my love for cheese sauce grew stronger and still grows every day.

Nowadays Brussels sprouts are cool again, and I don't know if it's that my tastes have changed, or more likely if it's the bacon that always seems to get thrown in with them, but I love like them!  Back in 2012 I posted this Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots recipe that I made as a side dish to a bacon themed dinner party that we hosted at our house.  Since then I can't get enough bacon and sprouts, which is where this salad comes in.  

The recipe is adapted from one found on my brother's girlfriend Alex's blog, The Bookish Cook, and it is bright, crisp, and packed with flavour.  Alex is a total natural in the kitchen, and ALL OF HER recipes come from her own head, which is something I am insanely jealous of.  She makes this salad at home because it's my brother's favourite (you can see he is still keeping up the charade that he likes Brussels sprouts!), or in his words it's, 'sick.'  Well frick, I agree, this salad is downright flu-like!  I'm feeling chills coming on.  I may need to take a day off of work.  I...ok, ok, that's more than enough.

This salad takes a little while to prepare because you have to peel each little Brussels sprout 'head' (well, that's what they look like!) one by one to make the leaves for the salad.  The Hubby stood at the counter and peeled for about 30 minutes, with only about four or five curse words...so all in all pretty good!

The Hubby's Peeling Efforts

The effort was worth it in the end. Once you have your sprouts peeled, you throw them in their raw form into a bowl with some toasted pumpkin seeds, some fresh sliced avocado, some crispy bacon, some dried cranberries, and some lemony dijon dressing, then toss and serve.  This salad is a nutritional powerhouse.  If you have leftovers, the salad will stay fresh and not wilt if you want to eat the rest the next night.  The Hubby must have been ok with all the peeling because he suggested we quadruple the recipe and bring it to Boxing Day dinner this year...that's 4 pounds of sprout peeling in our future!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!
-Megan

For a printer-friendly version of any recipe, simply click 'Print' below the title of any blog post. Voila - a clean recipe without my ramblings or any pictures!

One Year Ago:  Amy's Lentil Soup Copycat Recipe
Two Years Ago:  The Best Mashed Potatoes I've Ever Eaten
Three Years Ago:  Chicken Cacciatore

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Bacon, Avocado, and Lemony Dressing

Serves: 6 - 8 side dishes

Ingredients

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed
• 3 sliced cooked bacon, chopped into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds or pepitas, toasted (I put into oven at 325F for 10 minutes, monitoring closely, then cool for 10 minutes)
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped into small pieces
• 1 avocado, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 & 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Freshly grated black pepper

Directions
Start by slicing off the hard end of each Brussels sprout, pulling off the leaves one by one, and placing the leaves into a medium-sized salad bowl.  Once you are done, give yourself a pat on the back.  Next, add the bacon, pumpkin seeds (or pepitas), dried cranberries, and avocado to the bowl.

To make your dressing, add olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, lemon zest, and pepper to a container with a lid.  Close lid and shake for 10 seconds until well-combined.  Add dressing to salad and lightly toss.  Enjoy!

Recipe Source:  The Bookish Cook - Dijon Brussels Sprouts Salad with Bacon

Creamy Bacon and Leek Pasta

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My family likes to cook.  So recently when we went away for a nice relaxing three-day weekend in Birch Bay just over the US border from our place, we decided to have a pasta throwdown.  Because why wouldn't you have an intense pasta competition on your relaxing family vacation.

The competition gets underway.

My family is obviously also competitive.  So when I called my dad a few days before our trip to let him know what kind of pasta I would be making and what my ingredients were, I shouldn't have been surprised when he remarked that he couldn't believe I had willingly given up my recipe so close to the competition and that he could really use this to his advantage.

Kendra's Pickled Asparagus, Prosciutto, and Cream Cheese Appetizer

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What could be easier, but look so gourmet?

 

You may have thought that with her Italian Sausage Jalapeno Poppers she was a one-trick pony, but this is another great appetizer from my friend Kendra.

The recipe is simple too, with just three ingredients and no chopping, mixing, heating, baking, or cooking, making it the perfect last minute appetizer when you need to throw together something in a hurry.  Or, even when you have time to fuss, because basically for me, anything with cheese in it is always good.  I've used the Sunshine Farms brand of store-bought pickled asparagus for this recipe, which can be found near the pickles and olives in your supermarket.  I can't wait to try making this appy again once I have canned some homemade pickled asparagus this spring, hopefully without risk of botulism this time.  

Heirloom Tomato Caesar Salad with Parmesan-Bacon Crisps

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Have you noticed that Heirloom Tomatoes are starting to 'crop up' everywhere these days?

Well, not everywhere as in at the gas station or library, but almost every produce store and supermarket seems to carry these beautiful fruits at a reasonable price, whereas in the past they seemed like something you would have to seek out at Whole Foods.  They come in all colours of the stoplight rainbow - bright yellow, striped red, lime green - and look absolutely mouth-wateringly beautiful in a salad.  The coolest thing about them is that all of the various types are so different from one another in terms of acidity, texture, sweetness, crunchiness, and of course, attractiveness, which makes a salad like this one so interesting.

Warm Potato Salad (Earls Restaurant Copycat Recipe)

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You know the Warm Potato Salad from Earls Restaurant?  The one that I sometimes dream about?

 

I think this is it.

To figure out how to make the Warm Potato Salad, I had to go to Earls Restaurant (twice, or maybe three times) to do a little 'research.'  While doing the recon (more than once, just to be sure), I got to hang out with friends and drink wine and eat delicious potato salad.  It was a very labour intensive education process, as you can imagine.  Here is what I learned:

1)  Huge pieces of bacon are necessary.  You can't just have little bits of bacon in this salad, you need a large mouthful of bacon.  Also, if a little bit of bacon grease happens to accidentally spill into the dressing, that is not a problem and people will like this salad and you more.

2)  Roast that *#@$!  Roasted corn and roasted baby potatoes and roasted garlic are key.  Flavour central.

3) Dill is such a great herb.  Sour cream is such a great dairy product.

  

4) This is really not a salad at all.

Souper Sunday #10: Creamy Roasted Garlic, Caramelized Onion, and Bacon Soup

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Last night I attended something called the Vancouver International Wine Festival, so I'm actually really impressed with myself that I did anything today other than complain about my raging headache all day, let alone make this soup.

 

How was Winefest you ask?

Well, it was like Disneyland for adults.

Souper Sunday #7: Black Bean Soup

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You know what's the best?

 

When the province that you live in decides to add a new statutory holiday this year, and it's tomorrow.

Also the best?  A super sunny warm day in February on this new long weekend.

And up there with the best things ever too?  Not having a hangover after your brother-in-law's surprise 30th birthday last night where you were drinking tequila, on this super sunny warm day in February, on this new long weekend.

Pasta With Arrabiata Sauce

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This was my my favourite pasta sauce to eat when I was in Italy last year.  When I wasn't gluten-free yet, aka the good old days.

 

And now, here it is, in my kitchen in Canada, on gluten-free pasta.  But I have to say, the quinoa/corn blend pasta that I use tastes fairly identical to wheat pasta, and this sauce recipe tastes fairly identical to what I became slightly obsessed with in Italy.  I hear that Costco, my favourite store in the world, is now selling a gigantic bag of quinoa/corn blend pasta...looking forward to my visit there this weekend!  Woo.

'Arrabiata.'  It means 'angry' in Italian, and the reason for the sauce being labelled with this name is because of the spice of the red pepper flakes.  At the restaurants that I ate at in Italy, Arrabiata meant a spicy red sauce with chunks of pancetta in it.  Back home, it seems to just mean a spicy red sauce, and an Amatricana sauce is the one that has the pancetta chunks.  I was happy when I stumbled across this Giada de Laurentiis recipe for Arrabiata sauce from my copy of her Everyday Pasta cookbook, because it combined both the spice of the red pepper flakes and the pancetta like I remembered.

Baked Chicken with Creamed Spinach and Squashed Potatoes

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I decided to try another recipe from my Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes cookbook recently, and this happened:

 

I don't know why I don't use this cookbook more often!  This time I decided to make Baked Chicken with Creamed Spinach and Squashed Potatoes.

Now, did it happen in about 30 minutes this time you ask?  No.  Did it happen in about 2 x 30 minutes this time?  Close.

Peas With Shallots And Pancetta

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Gussied up peas, yo.

 

This is a Bobby Flay recipe, and it's a keeper.  It's ridiculously easy and quick to make, and adds big flavour to your holiday dinner table.  I'm thinking it will be great again at Easter with ham just like it was this Thanksgiving with turkey.  Yum.  Did I mention I love food?

Braised Red Cabbage with Goat Cheese Topping

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Yummmmmmmmmmmmy.

 

This was both my mother-in-law's and my favourite side dish at Thanskgiving, so it will definitely be making an appearance again at a holiday dinner in the near future.  And that's a-ok with me.  Yum.  The recipe didn't call for the goat cheese to be crumbled on top, but the version at Brown's Social House that does have the goat cheese is so, so good, so I was trying to duplicate the same taste.  It was a good idea.  Mental note - Boursin in place of goat cheese might be an even better idea.

Bacon Night!

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Friday night was intense.  Saturday I had a major bacon hangover.  Sunday I ate more bacon.

Here's the line-up from our bacon-themed Supper Club night.  And yes, even the dessert had to contain bacon:

• Bacon-infused vodka Caesars with bacon stir sticks and all of the other necessary Caesar accoutrement
• 
• Bacon and caramelized onion dip with veggies and tortilla chips
• 
• Spinach salad with bacon
• 
• Boursin and bacon stuffed chicken wrapped in prosciutto
• 
• Bacon hasselback potatoes
• 
• Brussels sprouts with bacon, garlic, and shallots
• 
• Gluten-free bacon brownies topped with chocolate sauce, walnuts, and vanilla ice cream.
• not pictured here because by this point it was wayyyy too late to care about taking pictures.    You can actually see the deterioration of the pictures as the night goes on in the series above.

Holy crap it was good.  I love Supper Club.

Spinach Salad with Bacon, Egg, and Mushrooms

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This is my favourite spinach salad.

I particularly love the garlicky dressing, which I've used on other salads in the past too...mmm.  It's a Best of Bridge recipe that my mom has been serving since I was a kid.  I hope she never stops.

This blog post comes from a previous post about a bacon-themed supper club night that The Hubby and I did with some friends.  I want it to be that night again right now.  If you want to read the full blog post about Bacon Night, click here to go back to that page.  Otherwise, enjoy...

Spinach Salad with Bacon, Egg, and Mushrooms

Makes:  4 - 6 servings

Ingredients
DRESSING

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tbsp. cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup salad oil

SALAD

• 8 cups baby spinach, stems removed
• 3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced or grated
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 4 green onions, finely sliced
• fresh mushrooms, sliced

Directions
In a jar or other container with a lid, mix together all of the dressing ingredients, shake well, and refrigerate for an hour or longer (or use right away).  In a salad bowl, combine the spinach, eggs, bacon, green onions, and mushrooms, and toss with dressing.

Recipe Source:  The Best of Bridge (and my mom)

Boursin and Bacon-Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Prosciutto

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Definitely make this.  DEF-IN-ITE-LY make this.

 

Boursin is one of my favourite things on this planet.  I just.  Want it.  My taste buds love it.  I could legitimately sit down with a box of Boursin, open up the foil, plop it onto a plate, lick the foil clean (oops, no, I haven't done that every time I've eaten it), and then eat the entire package of it in one sitting.  I've never allowed myself to do that before, but every time that we have company and Boursin is one of the appies that I am putting out, I secretly want to do it.  I want to eat it all before anyone else arrives.  To have it all be mine would be, just, no words.  To me, that's how good Boursin is.

So then, as I was using my expert Google sleuthing skills to hunt down a meat-dish entree for my recent bacon-themed supper club night, I stumbled across this recipe for Boursin and bacon stuffed chicken on the So Delushious blog (which I am now probably going to become addicted to).  How could I not make this?  (Rhetorical question...I couldn't not)

Brussels Sprouts With Bacon, Shallots, and Garlic

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OK, so when did Brussels sprouts get so...cool?  They used to be the most hated vegetable in the world (except, I would wager a guess, in Brussels), and now you're seeing it as a side dish at fancy restaurants, and on dinner tables in homes at times other than Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas.  What the heck!  

I was never the biggest fan of Brussels sprouts myself, until one day recently I ate some that had been cooked after they sprout had been cut in half.  Bingo!  That sealed my love for this old cabbage foe o' mine.  When the sprout gets cut in half prior to cooking, all of the flavours of whatever you are cooking the sprouts in gets into the layers of the sprouts and make magic.  In this recipe, the intense flavours of the bacon, shallots, and garlic really get busy with the Brussels sprouts, and make it into a side dish that is more that just palatable - it's downright freaking tasty!  Bacon and Brussels sprouts were meant to be together.  This is a super-easy five-ingredient side dish that I would serve at any time of the year.

Bacon Hasselback Potatoes

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What does Hasselback mean, you ask?  I had no clue either, so I looked it up, and...

Blurry potatoes.  Culprit below.

 ...despite my sometimes extremely impressive Googling skills, I didn't find much, other than that the name comes from some restaurant that they originated from in Sweden.  Boring.  They kind of look like  a loaf of sliced bread to me (Mmmmm....bread. No!  That's not very gluten-free, Megan!)

This recipe comes from my new November 2012 Food Network Magazine.  Basically, bacon + potatoes + boatloads of butter = really great side dish.  Beware the cooking time; I didn't realize that they take two hours to bake until it was too late.