Cheddar Bacon Potato "Chips"

After a fun, glorious Thanksgiving celebration here at our house yesterday, today has been a day of relaxation, snuggling with the kids and dancing around the kitchen to Christmas music.

While many are enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers today, my kids asked me to make loaded baked potatoes.  But, I decided to come up with a twist and make these instead.  It turned out to be the perfect finger food lunch while we curled up and watched Toy Story 3 on t.v.  My crew gobbled these babies up so quick and begged for me to make more this weekend!

The hubby is at work today, so this made just enough for the three kiddos and I.  If you're feeding a larger crowd, you may want to double the recipe.

One of my most-popular posts to-date has been my Roasted Ranch Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese.  This is kind of a play on that recipe, but requires no fork and there is no ranch dressing in this recipe.  Also, I used jarred real bacon pieces in this, but I'm sure regular cooked bacon would be even better!

I'm thinking these would be fabulous party food or great for a cozy movie night in with the family!


Ingredients:

2 large potatoes, scrubbed and skins left on
Non-stick spray
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Dried dill weed
Paprika
1 - 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Half of a 2.8 ounce bottle of jarred real bacon pieces
2 - 3 green onions, sliced thinly

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a large baking sheet with foil, then spray foil with non-stick spray.

Using a mandolin, slice potatoes into super thin rounds.  If you don't have a mandolin, just slice potatoes as thin as you can get them.

Arrange potatoes slices in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Using two large potatoes yielded enough potato "rounds" to cover my large baking sheet.

Sprinkle potatoes with salt, pepper, dill weed and paprika.  (You're looking for just a light dusting of each on each round.)

Drizzle on a light coating of olive oil.

Kind of rub the oil across each potato to coat evenly.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes in the oven until potatoes are starting to crisp up and just brown.  You're looking for the bottoms to be pretty crispy.

Remove from oven and arrange them kind of overlapping like you would if you were making nachos.

Let me just say that the baked "chips" themselves are divine just as they are - without the cheese and bacon.  We ate several "naked" ones just standing at the counter before we even topped them!

Sprinkle cheese on each round.  Top with bacon.

Return to oven and bake just until cheese is melted and bacon is warmed through (about 5 minutes).

Remove from oven and top with sliced scallions.  Serve with sour cream or ranch dressing.