Baked Potato Casserole

Carnation Milk

8 medium potatoes (about 2 ½ to 3 lb. total), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup evaporated milk

½ cup light sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups (8-oz pkg.) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

6 slices turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided

Sliced green onions (optional)

No matter how hard you try to get all of the little potato peelings into the trash can, you will always find one stuck to an obscure corner of your kitchen wall five days later. I'm pretty sure that's one of the basic laws of physics. 

Turkey Bacon: It's cheaper, it's probably healthier, and it's kosher/halal. It's a triple threat!

Place potatoes in large saucepan. Cover with water, bring to a boil. Cook over medium-high heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender; drain.

Six potatoes ended up being more than enough to fill my pot, actually. I wish I would known that before I peeled all eight of them. 

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 2 ½ - to 3-quart casserole dish.

Return potatoes to saucepan; add evaporated milk, sour cream, salt and pepper. Beat with hand-held mixer until smooth. 

I mean, I just mashed mine. Because who owns a hand-held mixer?

Stir in 1 ½ cups cheese and half of bacon. 

DO NOT USE ALL THE BACON YET. This is very important. So important they put it in italics!

Spoon mixture into prepared casserole dish.

See? Waaay more than enough potatoes. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through. Top with remaining ½ cup cheese, remaining bacon and green onions. Bake for an additional 3 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

There's the rest of that bacon and cheese!

Served at a dinner party with (clockwise) Laura's amazingly moist sun"flour" bread (made with sunflower seed flour!), and Andrea's fresh-flavored curried rice with lemon and golden raisins (which we all know are more delicious than purple ones). 

My Rating: 4/5 "Cheese, bacon and green onions together? Hooray! It's heavy, but it has a nice savory flavor and it makes enough to feed a small army, so look at it as an investment."