Twice-Baked Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins

I seriously can not get enough of the Creamy Buffalo Chicken Dip tested for www.LoveMyPhilly.com. I've had the dip form, the BBQ Pizza form, and now the twice-baked, twice-delicious potato skin form. I think this dip may have nine lives, and I intend to uncover and cook all nine of them. But for now, let's chat about these twice-baked potato skins.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having all four of my wisdom extracted in one foul swoop! Gnarled teeth be gone! Due to my post-op condition, I am limited to only to a soft foods diet and I have to avoid hot temperatures. Total appetite bummer. To combat the sadness that is not eating what I want when I want, I decided to turn the frown upside down and make some soft foods I would love. Yea! Kitchen crafting to distract my mind from a swollen, painful face and deadly boredom! One of those soft foods I would love was supposed to be Rosemary Green Onion Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes; which would have probably been a lovely and simple dish I could have prepared and enjoyed with relatively light pain. But of course after staring at my pretty little organic Idaho potatoes I thought what a shame it would be to annihilate the petite yet voluptuous, round potato shape. Then, upon examining the contents of my fridge, my eye caught the leftover Creamy Buffalo Chicken Dip and the Twice-Baked Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins were on like Tron, or even on like Donkey Kong. I. E., it was on.

To kick off this dish, I wanted to bump up the skins' flavor a bit on their own so I whipped up a quick herb crust with fresh rosemary, dried basil, dried thyme, sea salt, coarse black pepper, butter, and bread crumbs to cover the outer portion of the skins. I mixed the potato flesh carefully eradicated from their skins with some butter and heaping tablespoons of the already made Creamy Buffalo Chicken Dip and mashed the dickens of all that together. When the skins were finished baking, I began to build my tower-o-flavor. First, blue cheese crumbles followed by the buffalo chicken dip infused mashed potatoes. Topping this potato skin tower-o-flavor I used cheddar cheese crumbles, pre-cooked bacon pieces, and a lavish line of Sriarchi. For the tippy-top topping to enhance flavor, texture, and color are fresh scallions, or green onions.

My, oh my, I couldn't wait to house all 6 of the skins I twice-baked, but oh woe was me! Even though the potato skins were soft they still required a large bite and chewing that caused me deep, dreadful pain. I struggled through two skins when I had to give in and make oatmeal so I wouldn't pass out from starvation. Luckily Pete enjoyed the skins very much and polished them off calming my ego from a total soft food fail.

Twice-Baked Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins

Serving Size: 6 skins, appetizer for 2 people.

• 3 medium organic Idaho Potatoes
• 2 heaping tblsp. of Creamy Buffalo Chicken Dip
• 2 tblsp. canola oil
• 1 tsp. sea salt + sprinklings
• 1 tsp. coarse black pepper
• 1 tblsp. fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried time
• 2 tblsp. butter
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• cheddar cheese crumbs
• blue cheese crumbs
• pre-cooked bacon
• 2 fresh green onions, chopped.
• 2 tsp. Sriarchi hot sauce

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Wash, dry, and then poke potatoes all over with a fork. Wrap in paper towels and microwave on high for 9-1o minutes or until fully cooked.
3. Let potatoes cool a few minutes so they can be handled more easily.
4. Cut cooked potatoes in half vertically.
5. Using a pairing knife, carefully extract the potato flesh from each half leaving the skin in tact and stable enough to stand up.
6. Put the potato flesh in a separate bowl.
7. In a small dish, melt the 1 tblsp. of butter. Mix in the bread crumbs and butter with your fingers. Mix in all the herbs and seasonings.
8. Brush the in and outside of the skins with canola oil. Season the inside with sea salt and coarse black pepper.
9. Roll the outside of the skins in the herb seasonings. Place the coated skins inside-down on a baking sheet.

1. Bake at 450F for 18 minutes.
2. Remove from oven and lower heat to 400F.
3. In the bowl with the reserved potato flesh and 1 tblsp. of butter and microwave for 30 seconds. Mash the butter and potato together. Add the Buffalo Chicken Dip and 2 tsp. of Sriarchi and mash all together.
4. In the baked skins, first add blue cheese crumbles inside the skin. Follow with the mashed potato/buffalo chicken dip mixture. Make mounds. Finish with sprinklings of cheddar cheese, more blue cheese crumbles, pre-cooked bacon, and a last line of Sriarchi.
5. Bake at 400F for 12-14 minutes. Garnish with fresh sliced green onion and serve!

My God, I can not wait until I can eat like a real foodie again.

P.S. - I ate grits today for dinner, and enjoyed them. (Holds head in hand in utter disbelief). Now you know I am desperate.