Homemade Potato Skins

Homemade Red Potato Skins

So, Ritz and I were experimenting in the kitchen with a recipe for the cafe.  We decided that homemade potato skins would be worth exploring, but that neither of us really like russet potatoes.

Ingredients:

About 8 or so decent-sized red potatoes, washed
1 bag Mexican blend cheese
Bacon ends and pieces
Lawry's Seasoned Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Ritz started the potatoes off, baking them at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes wrapped in foil, though the larger potatoes stayed in the oven a bit longer until they were tender.

After the potatoes cooled off a bit, we sliced each potato in half and scooped out the insides, leaving about a quarter inch or slightly less of the innards around the skin.  After they were hollowed out, we made two separate batches to check taste with our teenage boy audience.

Both batches were fried (I used peanut oil because no one has allergies to that, but I'll use sunflower for the masses, since it has lower occurrences of creating allergy problems).  I seem to have misplaced my lovely home frier with its basket, so I fried them in a pot instead.  Unfortunately, that means I can't estimate the temperature, but I basically just watched them until they were nicely brown.

The first batch was filled with cheese (each got enough cheese that the cheese came up to the level top of the skin, rather than a set amount for each one) and we sprinkled the fried bacon pieces over the tops.  These were then baked in the oven until the cheese got nice and melty, which was around 7 or 8 minutes at 325 degrees.  The boys liked these, but said they were a little bland.

The second batch was sprinkled with a gentle dash of seasoned salt and pepper before being stuffed with the cheese and bacon.  I made half of that batch with the seasoning on the bottom of the potatoes and half with the seasoning inside the bowl of the potatoes, with the taste test winner being the potatoes which had the seasoning inside the bowl area immediately after frying.