Twice Baked Yukon Gold Potatoes

It's Friday night and time to relax as I slip into the weekend. Since I gained weight yesterday despite going for a walk and doing my calisthenics, I got more serious today and skipped all the sweetened drinks.

And when supper time arrived, I wanted something light but didn't feel like poking through the leftovers (which are plentiful).

So, I found a recipe for Twice Baked New Potatoes and decided to tweak it a little for my own preferences.

Ingredients

6-7 Yukon Gold potatoes, about 2-3 pounds
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup diced green onions
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
3/4 cup shredded medium cheddar cheese
2 slices bacon, diced and fried till crisp but not dry

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Scrub potatoes thoroughly with a brush. Mine weren't quite as new as when I bought them from the vendor for a local farm, but they still had dirt on the skin. Fortunately it had dried and washed off easily with just water. Pat dry with a cloth or towel and wrap the potatoes in aluminum foil.
2. If there is a large size difference, put the largest potatoes in the oven first and set the timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, add the rest and reset the timer for another 45 minutes. Take the potatoes out and check one of the large ones for doneness. Mine were still a little hard, so I kept the small ones out and put the large ones back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
3. Cut a slice off the top of each potato. Peel the skin off this slice and put the potato in a large metal bowl for mixing. Discard the skin. Using a melon baller or small ice cream scoop, remove most of the potato from the middle and add it to the bowl. If any potatoes had to cook longer, take them out and do the same with them.
4. Using a potato masher or electric mixer on low (I actually used my pastry blender), gently mash the potato pulp. Add the sour cream, green onions, mustard, salt, paprika and blend into the mashed potatoes. I used a wooden spoon for this step. Then add 1/2 cup of the grated cheese and blend it in as well.

5. Set the scooped out potatoes on a baking sheet. Spoon the mashed potato mixture into the potato shells. Place them in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
6. Sprinkle the remain cheddar on top of the potatoes and bake for another 3 minutes to melt the cheese.

7. Top with the bacon bits and enjoy with a light side salad or cole slaw. Our recipe uses a boiled vinegar and oil dressing, which lasts much longer than the more common mayonnaise dressing and saves on the fat!

We especially enjoyed these. I'm glad I decided to use green onions instead of the chives, because they gave a nice onion flavor to the potato filling. Also, the cheddar cheese and paprika added a slightly darker color to the natural yellow color of the potatoes themselves.

And, my exercise app estimates the total calories for the whole meal at less than 400!