Loaded Baked Potato Salad

A couple of weeks ago I had lunch at Victoria's in town.  I had their version of potato salad.  It was different.  It tasted like a loaded baked potato. So like I do a lot these days I went to Pinterest to see if I could recreate the recipe.  I came pretty close.  Even if it wasn't the same it was good and a keeper.

Looks like you are going to make some loaded baked potatoes.

Start out with 8-10 potatoes.  Wash them and place them on a foil liked cookie sheet.

Poke some holes in the potatoes with a fork.

Brush each with some oil.  I used olive oil.

Then sprinkle them with sea salt. Place in a preheated 400 oven.  Bake for about an hour.  Turning them a couple of times.

While they are baking, you can get the bacon ready.  I like to cook mine in the oven.  Place on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Place in a cold oven and set the temp to 375 and bake for 20 minutes.

When the potatoes are done, let them cool for a little bit before cutting them.

The cut the potatoes in bite sized chunks.

All the potatoes are cut.

Take one stick of softened butter.

Whip it a little.

Add 1 cup sour cream

Whip together.

1/2 cup mayo

1 cup grated cheese

Chop up the bacon.  I kept out one strip for the top.

Mix all this together.

Add on top of the potatoes. Stir well.

Chop up some green onions.  My mother does not like green onions so I put a few on top ad then the rest in a bowl so people could add them if they wanted to.   I guess I just got busy and forgot to take a picture of the finished  bowl.  Add some cheese, bacon and green onions in the middle on top for garnish.

I did go back and take a picture of the potato salad.  I really liked this one because it had a different taste than the traditional potato salad with pickles and eggs.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad Recipe

8-10 potatoes baked

1 lb bacon cooked and crumbled

1 stick butter softened

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayo

1 cup grated cheese

4-6 green onions sliced thin

oil for brushing on potatoes

salt and pepper

Buttercream Frosting- Sunflower Cupcakes

I found the directions for making these really cute sunflower cupcakes.  I have a friend with a birthday coming up and she loves sunflowers, so it gave me the perfect excuse to try them.  You will also need yesterday's chocolate frosting for these cute little cupcakes.

Very simple frosting recipe.

Start with 2 sticks softened butter

Whip it pretty good

Add 5 cups confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time.  Mix well after each cup.

After the last cup of sugar, add 2 teaspoons vanilla.  Now if you are going to tint your frosting the dark vanilla is fine.  If you are going to leave it white you will need to use the clear vanilla. Or you can use any flavoring that you like.

Add 3 Tablespoons milk.

After the milk has been mixed well into the frosting, add the color.  I couldn't remember if I had a yellow coloring or not and forgot to look.  So I found this gold and thought it would work well for the sunflowers.  It isn't real bright but it is a pretty color.

Now to put the cupcakes together.  I got a star tip.  I ended up changing to a larger star to make it go faster.

I poured out a few chocolate sprinkles into a shallow bowl.

I filled the pastry bag with the chocolate frosting and was ready to go.

Make a circle in the middle with the chocolate frosting.

Then dip them in the chocolate sprinkles

You will need to kind of push them down.

Now you are ready for the petals.  The directions said use a 70 leave tip.  I looked and searched until I found one.  I couldn't get it to look right to I pulled out my tips and found a larger leaf tip I think it was 254 or something like that and started making petals.  You make one row around the edge of the cupcake.

Then go back around on top of that row between it and the chocolate.  Looks like a sunflower.  I found out something.  Your hands are hot and it causes the frosting to get soft after a while.  You might want to give you hand a break and put the bag in the fridge to firm up a little bit more.

Buttercream Frosting Recipe

1 cup butter softened

5 cups confectioners sugar

3 Tablespoons milk

2 teaspoon vanilla

The Best & Easiest Chocolate Frosting

I needed a chocolate frosting for the center of my sunflower cupcakes and saw this recipe and I wanted to take the challenge.  Any recipe that says it is the easiest and best I have to try.  I could have made half the recipe for what I was making but if you are going to completely ice cupcakes or a cake a full recipe would work.

Looks pretty easy confectioner's sugar, cocoa, butter and a little milk.

Start with two sticks softened butter.

Beat it until it is fluffy.

1/2 cocoa

I sifted the cocoa because it had lumps.

Looks much better now.

Now add 5 cups confectioner's sugar one at a time.  Mix well between cups.

Be careful to not let the sugar go flying all over the kitchen.

It starts getting thicker and thicker.

After the last cup add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Measure out 3-4 Tablespoons milk

Add a little at a time mixing between each addition.  I think I only used about 3 Tablespoons.

It is nice and smooth and read to use.  Check out the other icing recipe tomorrow to see how I used this great chocolate icing.

Best and Easiest Chocolate Frosting Recipe

1 cup softened butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

5 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-4 Tablespoons milk

Strawberry Banana Bread

Everyone likes banana bread but sometimes you want to try something a little different.  That is where this strawberry banana bread comes in.  Try it the next time you have some overripe bananas.

Looks like the makings of any ordinary banana bread except no nuts and strawberries instead.

Start with 4 ripe bananas.  Put them in a bowl and mash them.

But before you start mashing bananas, go ahead and melt 1/3 cup of butter so it will have time to cool before you need it.

Mash the bananas well.  After I get them started with a fork I use the mixer to help make them smooth.

Then add the butter.

Add 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

Then mix well.

Add 1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Wash, hull and chop one cup of strawberries.

Add those and lightly mix.

Spray a 4x8 loaf pan and add the dough.  Place in a preheated 350 oven and bake for 1 hour.

You will want to check the loaf before you take it out.  I used a skewer to get to the bottom.  It did take some additional time on mine.  I added 2-3 minutes at a time.  When you take it out of the oven, let stand in the pan for 5-7 minutes before removing from pan.

Then remove from pan and let cool completely before covering.

Strawberry Banana Bread Recipe

4 very ripe bananas

1/3 cup melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup diced strawberries

Preheat oven to 350.  Bake for about 1 hour