Party Potato Bites

~Jackie~

So I like to eat potatoes. Red potatoes, sweet potatoes, yellow potatoes, purple potatoes, I like potatoes. I like fried potatoes, baked potatoes, twice baked potatoes, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, even boiled potatoes. BUT what I still can’t seem to understand is Potato Skins. Why cook a potato only to spoon out the delicious warm insides to fill its shell with something else?! TGI Fridays might think they know what they are doing, but I propose we do something different. Lets EAT the potato – all of it. Lets not scoop out the middle, but keep it and load it with all those tasty toppings. I present to you – baked potato rounds/bites. YUM! These are way easier to make than the traditional potato skin and more scrumptious. Win and win. 

The Super Bowl is coming up (your welcome for the week of awesome recipes!) so lets talk about some party ideas! Food essentials: DIPS – whether its chips and guacamole, veggies and ranch, crackers and spinach dip; make sure to have one or two easy dips for people to snack on and you can refill quickly. It’s also important to make sure you have some protein in your snacks with all the drinking going on and whatnot. My favorites: bacon wrapped dates, chicken wings, meat and cheese plate, chicken skewers, and sausage and pineapple bites. Lets also not forget that some people hate football (shocker!) and are probably only coming to your party to have a good time, a cold drink, and eat some salty tasty finger food. It can be a good idea to have some easy games to get everyone involved – for example: scorecards for the commercials (rating 1-5) at the end of every commercial everyone puts up their score to compare and winner is determined at the end of the game. To get people more involved in actually watching the game I like this drinking game! 

These potato bite rounds are almost impossible to mess up and so quick to make. First choose a variety of potatoes (sweet, yellow, red, purple) or stick with the good old russet and slice into 1/4 inch thick slices. You want these to be bite size for the most part so if you have large potatoes just cut the rounds in half. Roast the potatoes in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. Take the potatoes out and wrap all (or half) with strips of bacon and stuff with a jalapeno slice. Return to oven for another 15 minutes. Pull out of oven and top with more jalapenos (if desired) and shredded cheese. Return to oven just for a few minutes to melt the cheese and crisp the bacon. When cheese is melted, top with sour cream, green onions, and spicy chili sauce. Serve immediately.

These potato bites are made with the traditional potato skin ingredients (bacon, cheese, sour cream), but here are a few other fancy flavor combinations to try: bacon and blue cheese, parmesan and rosemary, avocado and cilantro, arugula and balsamic, artichokes and mozzarella, goat cheese and figs, apricots and onions, sausage and spinach, capers and smoked salmon. The fantastic combinations will wow your guests! Enjoy!