Super Stuffed Potatoes

6 large baking potatoes

one pound of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

one stick of butter cut into chunks, plus more for rubbing

1 cup of cottage cheese, whirled in the blender to smoothness

2 cups grated sharp cheddar

up to 1 cup of milk

6 or so stalks of broccoli

seasoned salt to taste

Wash the potatoes well and then cut a small, shallow  slit all the way around the long way. This is where you will halve the potatoes after you cook them. This is a Laurel trick, though no doubt, Laurel would be horrified by the bacon addition;-)

Rub the potatoes generously with butter.

Bake the potatoes at 400 degrees for about an hour, until they are very soft inside and the skins are crisp.

While the potatoes are baking, peel the broccoli stems and then steam the whole stalks until they are very tender.

Turn the oven down to 350.

Carefully cut the potatoes in half and scoop the insides into a big bowl. Leave enough potato in the skin so that the skins don't fall apart.

Mash the broccoli (I pulse it in the food processor). Add the broccoli, the cottage cheese, the seasoned salt, the butter, the bacon, and a cup of the grated cheddar to the big bowl of potatoes and mix well, adding milk until the filling is smoothe.

Fill the potato skins with mixture and top with the rest of the cheese. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

You can make these even less healthy by using sour cream instead of cottage cheese and leaving out the broccoli. You can make them healthier, by using up to a half cup of milk instead of butter and leaving out the bacon. Or you can throw it all in there and persuade yourself that you are getting the best of all worlds.

Visit Faith and Family Live! for more Super Bowl Snack ideas.