Blue Cheese and Bacon Twice-Baked Potatoes

You can stuff and refrigerate the potato shells up to two days ahead. Add about five minutes to the cook time if starting with cold potatoes. Serve with everything from steak to Thanksgiving dinner.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 stuffed shell)

Ingredients

• 5  (12-ounce) baking potatoes
• 1 1/2  cups  low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4  cup  finely chopped fresh chives
• 2  tablespoons  butter
• 1 1/4  teaspoons  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 4  bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

Bake potatoes at 375° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Cut each potato in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp, leaving a 1/4-inch-thick shell. Place potato pulp, buttermilk, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Spoon about 1/2 cup potato mixture into each of 8 shells (reserve remaining shells for another use). Arrange stuffed shells on a baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

264 (25% from fat)

Fat:

7.4g (sat 3.8g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.4g)

Protein:

8.5g

Carbohydrate:

41.7g

Fiber:

3.8g

Cholesterol:

20mg

Iron:

2.3mg

Sodium:

658mg

Calcium:

117mg