Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes with Onion, Peppers and Bacon

This recipe is a good one to use for the holidays — it can be made a day or two in advance.

A strange, but interesting variation, is to use shredded potatoes, instead of mashed, either homemade or the type you can get at your local market.

Enjoy :)

Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes with Onion, Green Peppers and Bacon

5-6 pieces of bacon to equal about 1/2 cup when cooked, and crumbled.
1 tablespoon of leftover bacon fat/grease
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
5-6 cups of mashed potatoes (prepared with butter & milk)(leftover or made previous day is fine)
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (divided)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Cook the bacon — about 5-6 pieces, depending on the size, until nicely crispy. Set aside to drain, and then crumble.

Take about 1 tablespoon of the leftover bacon fat and saute scallions and green pepper until peppers are tender.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the scallion/green pepper mixture, mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup of the cheese, 1/4 cup of the bacon, salt and pepper.  Pour into a lightly greased baking dish – about 2 quart size.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese and the bacon over top.

Bake uncovered at 350F for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and golden.

Notes:

• I’ve mixed this up totally the day before, put it in the refrigerator and, the next day, about 1 hour before I want to put it in the oven, I take it out, and let it come to room temp.  Bake then as usual.
• If you don’t want to cook the onion and pepper in the bacon fat, just use vegetable oil
• Don’t have mashed potatoes?? Just bake 7-8 red potatoes in your oven for about 50 minutes at 400F.  Once done, allow to cool a bit, and then mash the potatoes (leave the skins on if you like, or remove them)(I like them left on — looks good and tastes great), mash with butter, and milk.  Continue the recipe as above.  The baking time may need to be adjusted as the potatoes will still be hot from baking.
• Add things you like:

Sour cream — add 1/2 cup sour cream

a clove of garlic added when you saute the scallions and green peppers

instead of cheddar, use a mix of feta and Parmesan or Romano — yummy when combined with the addition of garlic, as above.  Use 1/2 cup feta, and 1/2 cup Parmesan.

mix the peppers up — use yellow, red and orange bell peppers

use a medium yellow or white onion, instead of scallions

use chives, instead of scallions