This recipe is quick and easy to throw together and serves as a wonderful side dish but the versatility allows you to use leftovers to turn this into a main entree! The fun thing about it though is that you can make several ahead of time and freeze them to use in a jiffy at a later date. Reheating may then be done either in the oven or microwave, so this is a win-win either way you look at it.
Back when we had people over for dinner on a regular basis, this was a go-to dish for me that I served just about every time. It was a great way to round out the meal without taking any additional prep time and they always got rave reviews. I don’t get to have folks over nearly as often these days, much to my dismay. With the kids getting older and having activities of their own amidst our every quickening schedules, our focus has turned to making sure we get to spend our quality time together as a family.
Things sure were different when I was little though! It’s amazing but almost every memory I have of our dinner table growing up includes my mother, father, sister, brother, and at least one or two “extras.” No matter how tight our grocery budget or schedule was, Mama always found time and managed to feed more.
Usually it was a rookie police officer my dad was training; they were riding around in the patrol car so if Daddy was to come home for supper we couldn’t hardly not feed them as well. Sometimes it was a random uncle or bachelor friend of the family and as we got older our friends also clamored into the mix as they got to see that a full supper at our house wasn’t a special occasion but a daily event. There were two kids (well, they were teens at the time) who took to eating at our house and literally ate supper with us every single night for about two years. Mama and Daddy always said that if anything ever happened to them, they hoped someone would do the same for us.
Inviting folks over to dinner is one of those “oldie but goodie” practices that is, in my mind, the ultimate show of welcoming and graciousness towards your neighbors and friends. I’d love to hear from you why you do or don’t have folks over more often. Is it time constraints? Budget? Lack of time alone as a family?
But mostly, I’d love for you to answer a question my mother posed to me recently (because Mama and I sit and come up with the strangest things to talk about from time to time):
If you could have dinner with any living person, who would it be and why?
I know y’all are going to have some great answers to this so I’m gonna hold off on my answer until I read a few of yours! I’ll post mine in the comments along with y’all. There are no limits here aside from it being a living person.
How bout some loaded ’taters?
Loaded Potatoes
*This is my recipe, feel free to adapt, omit, or add to it to suit your family’s tastes
-
7 medium sized potatoes, washed
-
1/2 cup Sour Cream
-
3 tablespoon margarine
-
1/2 teaspoon salt
-
1/4 teaspoon pepper
-
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
-
4 green onions, chopped
-
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
-
8-10 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
Bake potatoes and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out pulp, leaving enough for the skin to retain it’s shape. In bowl, combine scooped potatoes, butter, and sour cream. Mash together well. Add cheese, mash. Stir in all other ingredients. Spoon filling into potato shells.
-
To bake from frozen: Place on cookie sheet in 350 oven for half an hour, top with cheese and return to oven until melted.
-
To bake from room temp: Top with cheese and place in oven until heated through.
-
Can also be microwaved from frozen or room temp as well. I microwave my frozen ones for a minute and a half to two minutes.
Originally published on SouthernPlate
Photo courtesy of SouthernPlate