Loaded Baked Potato Bake. Oh Yesssss.

This is the stuff that dreams are made of. As long as your dreams usually consist of plates or bowls of warm, cheesy, delicious comfort food. Which mine do. Quite often. And let me tell you, this recipe right here? It does not disappoint! 

From the baked potatoes (twice baked, if you really wanna get technical) the tangy sour cream, the warm gooey cheesiness, to the bacon. Oh yes my friends, there's bacon. Did that seal the deal for you? It should. All of these things on their own are great, but when you throw them all together? Sweet Mother Mary, it sets off explosions of pure, magical, awesomeness in your mouth.

Just make sure you read the recipe through once or twice so you aren't going into this blindly.

You Need:

• 7 medium potatoes, baked
• Olive oil, just to coat the potatoes with when you bake them
• a pinch of salt
• 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, with a good Tbsp or two reserved to top with
• 1 (5 ounce) can of evaporated milk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
  
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided in half
• 2 green onions, sliced, reserve a few slices to top with (I didn't have any on hand this time)
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Scrub the potatoes. Scrub them very well cuz they've been dirty. Really, you should see the pictures they posted on Facebook the other night! Stab each of em a few times with a fork to vent. Unless you want an exploded mess in your oven, which I'm going to go ahead and assume you don't. Toss with some olive oil and salt and place on a pan. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until tender. 
2. While your spuds are sunbathing in the oven, cook the bacon nice and crisp. Set aside, til cooled and then crumble it up, reserving half for garnish.
3. When potatoes are done and cool enough to handle, chop them into roughly 1 inch cubes.
4. Place the chopped potatoes into a large bowl. Add 1 cup of the Cheddar cheese and half of the bacon. Set aside a few of the green onion slices for garnish and add the rest to the potatoes. Toss very well.
5. Turn your oven down to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13x9 baking dish with nonstick spray.
6. In a medium bowl, combine the evaporated milk, sour cream and melted butter. Add parsley, garlic powder, parmesan cheese and pepper. Pour mixture over the potatoes and gently mix it up.
7. Dump the potato mixture into your prepared baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes or til heated through.
8. Top with the remaining cup of shredded Cheddar cheese, return to the oven, and bake uncovered, for 5 minutes or until cheese is nice and melted. Garnish top with remaining bacon and green onion slices.

Ohhhhh Yesssss. Come to mama!