recipe: broccoli & cheddar twice baked potato

these potatoes were another find of mine from my intoxicated journey through foodgawker.com this past weekend. the recipe is taken from Good Life Eats, although i left out the bacon and cream cheese to make them a little healthier (booo!), and added in a bit more seasoning to compensate for that sad, sad piggy elimination.

although i'm not a big broccoli fan (delicately put, i hate it and hope it dies), these were pretty good - enough so that i would make them again. while broccoli on it's own can be offensive IMO, here the flavor blends well with the rest of the potato/cheesy goodness, so it's more like secretly sneaking in veggies than it is being overtly "healthy". i topped these with crushed red pepper flakes and some smoked chipotle bacon sea salt, which gave me that little hit of bacon these needed.

ingredients list: 
- 4 russet potatoes
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1.5 cups (roughly) of broccoli florets, chopped (*the original recipe calls for the broccoli to be steamed, i left it raw since i prefer uncooked/crunchy broccoli)
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 green onion, sliced
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- salt & pepper to taste



to make: preheat oven to 375F degrees. pierce potatoes all over and bake until tender, about 45 minutes. 

allow potatoes to cool (enough so to handle), and cut them in half, carefully scooping out the insides into a medium sized bowl. line the potato skins on a baking sheet and set aside.

combine the potato insides with the sour cream, and mash until smooth (milk or chicken broth can be added if needed if mixture is too dry). stir in the broccoli, half the cheddar cheese, and all remaining ingredients. add the potato mixture evenly into all potato shells, and top the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. 

bake at 375 until heated through and cheese begins to melt.