One Recipe, Two Meals: An Easy Baked Potato Bar

A baked potato is never a bad idea — ever. That said, I often forget about baked potatoes. Isn’t that awful? But, I’m vowing that in this new year, to make a change, people! More baked potatoes.

But! I wanted to make a little spread that would make my toddlers giddy and satisfy our adult appetites at the same time. So, I created a kid-friendly potato bar for them, and a more sophisticated bar for myself and Aaron, my husband. Hello, blue cheese and bacon.

For the kids, it’s super simple: two baked russet potatoes, topped with mounds of sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and broccoli florets. Frozen broccoli is fine — just make sure to throw in some green. Your mom will be proud.

And for you, things get super amazing: two baked sweet potatoes, crumbled blue cheese and garlic chips. Hold on, I need to take a moment to explain these. It was a last-second idea, when in reality it should have been the entire focus. Because listen — you’ll thinly slice a few garlic cloves and then saute them in reserved bacon fat, which you’ll have when you make bacon bits. GAAAAH. These garlic chips will be golden brown and crispy, and you will see stars. Where was I? Oh! So the garlic chips, a bit of bacon, scallions and red onion all piled on top of those tender sweet potatoes. Deeeeeaaaaar goodness. It’s insanity on that spud of yours.

One Recipe, Two Meals: An Easy Baked Potato Bar
Yield: 4 potatoes

2 russet potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup frozen broccoli florets, boiled and drained
1/2 cup (or more) shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 strips bacon, rendered until crispy, and broken into pieces
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced and sauteed in the bacon fat until golden brown
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the potatoes on a baking sheet, and bake until they’re tender and cooked through, about an hour and 15 minutes. Slice the tops open, and slightly push the potatoes in, prepping them for the innards. I like the word innards.

For the kids’ potatoes, give each russet potato a good dollop of sour cream, a sprinkling of cheddar cheese, and a few broccoli florets. Done.

For the adult potatoes, fill each sweet potato with crumbled blue cheese, bacon crumbles, garlic chips, scallions and red onion. Done.

Devour!

Follow Bev on her blog, Bev Cooks, if you think you can even handle more.

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