Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

I wanted something different for our annual spring festival/easter get together and I remembered seeing a loaded baked potato casserole on a cooking show so that is what I set out to make

I used about

5lbs of russet/idaho potatoes

a pound of bacon

a pint of sourcream

a stick of butter

a bag of precut peppers and onions

2 bags of shredded cheese, cheddar and monterey jack

olive oil

kosher or sea salt

I washed and trimmed the potatoes then I microwaved them for 12 minutes and let them cool until I could handle them. Once cool enough to handle I gave them a coating of olive oil and a heavy sprinkle of salt. I then placed them in a 350 degree fahrenheit oven for about 15 minutes to crisp the skin a little

Using a cast iron skillet I cooled the bacon until crispy and allowed it to cool on a paper towel. Remove teh bacon drippings to a safe container, reserving approximately 2 tablespoons for later

add the stick of butter and reserved bacon ambrosia to the cast iron frying pan, add in the peppers and onions and cook until the veggies are soft, add about 1/2 the container of sour cream to the mix and stir well

Now it's time to mash the potatoes, I started out using a spoon but then I had to rip up the skin, because I wanted it in the dish, you can leave it out if you want, but that was WAT TO SLOW so... I grabbed the still warm potato and just squeezed it, YES I washed my hands well!

I crumbled the bacon on top of the mashed potatoes then added a package of preshredded cheese and finally the still very warm "dressing" and stirred/mixed it up thoroughly

I poured the mixture into a large casserole dish and covered it with 1/2 a bag of shredded montery jack cheese. At this point I covered it in foil and placed in the refrigerator, all that is left is to maybe pop it in the oven for 20 minutes to warm through and melt the cheese or cut and sprinkle chives over it and serveit cold. We ended up serving the potatoes warm but I wasn't able to get a picture. I was happy to see it disappear quickly and I'll definitely be making this again