Cheesy Baked Mashed Potatoes with Bacon

Crazy Cooking Challenge Winning Recipe!
Cheesy Baked Mashed Potatoes with Bacon 

As children we had certain foods that we loved, and often these favorites last throughout our lives. They include dishes like mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, pancakes, and spaghetti. So, when I heard that we were making mashed potatoes for this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge, I was happy.
I love good mashed potatoes! I also love that there are many different ways of preparing mashed potatoes to get many different flavors, kinda like ice cream (yum! ...sorry, I digress).  Anyway, I searched around blog land and found Amber and Ann Kelly's blog, Recipes We Love. These stay-at-home moms just started their blog in January and already have over 500 posts (recipes and meal plans) to share! I can't wait to visit again!

I found their recipe for mashed potatoes with bacon and cheddar and liked it because it's baked till the top is slightly browned and then topped with bacon crumbles. I chose this recipe because of the addition of cheddar and cream cheese which adds lots of cheese flavor and...this spelled w-i-n-n-e-r  in my house!  I made some changes to the original recipe/preparation which I think serves to make prep easier and, most important, tailors the taste to my family. 

Cheesy Baked Mashed Potatoes with Bacon 

Baking dish of Cheesy Baked Mashed Potatoes

I foil wrapped 6 medium potatoes that I halved and pierced (just to cut down on cook time) and placed them in my crock pot on high for 4 hours. Of course, you may prefer to peel, quarter and boil or even oven-bake, or microwave your potatoes as any of these methods will work fine.

Ingredients 

6 medium Idaho Russet potatoes

6-8 slices of bacon, crumbled (or 1/2 cup real bacon bits)

4 oz cream cheese

2 T of chives (or 1/4 c. mixture of chives and diced scallions)
1/2 c. sour cream
1/4 c. butter, melted

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 t. kosher salt (add more if you prefer, this is tailored to my family)

1/4 t. pepper

Directions: Once the potatoes have baked in the crock pot, half the halves and scoop out the potato into a large bowl. Set the skins aside to freeze and serve as a side dish at a future meal.

In a large skillet over medium heat, fry the bacon until crispy. Drain, cool and then crumble half the strips into the potato bowl. Set aside remaining bacon crumbles. Using a fork, mash and mix the potatoes and bacon crumbles. Add the cream cheese, butter, and sour cream, and stir until combined and  creamy. Add the chives, 2 cups of the cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.

Muffin pan meatloaf, Cheesy Baked Mashed Potatoes,
and garden green beans. 

Transfer potatoes into a buttered baking dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are heated through, approximately 30 minutes. Remove from oven and add remaining bacon crumbles for garnish.  Serve immediately.

I hope you try this dish; I know it would be a winner on your dinner table too!