Madhouse recipe : Mexican stuffed potatoes

We love Twice-Baked Potatoes (or Fully Loaded Potato Skins if I'm trying to make them sound extra cool !) here at The Madhouse, firstly because they're the ultimate comfort food and secondly because they can be prepared in advance, making my life easier when I get home from work. As I had half a can of red kidney beans in the fridge, I decided to have a play around with the filling and came up with this Mexican-inspired twist on my usual recipe. It's a great way of sneaking extra veg onto your kids' plates without them noticing !

 Mexican stuffed potatoes

1 baked potato per person (or half depending on their size)

salt, pepper, butter

300g bacon lardons

1/3 red pepper

1/3 green pepper

1/3 yellow pepper

2 onions

1/2 large can of red kidney beans, drained

1tsp chilli powder (optional)

grated cheese

Put the bacon lardons (or chopped bacon) and onions in a large pan and cook until the bacon releases its fat. Usually I drain it off but for this recipe, you need to keep it in to make the potato filling rich and creamy.

Add the peppers and keep cooking until the bacon is fully cooked and the veggies are soft but still retain some crunch.

Add the red kidney beans and a shake or chilli powder, if you want to spice things up.

Spoon the potato flesh out of the skins into the pan. Place the empty skins in an ovenproof dish. (Leave about 1cm of flesh all over to prevent the skins from ripping.)

Season with salt and pepper and add extra butter if needed. Roughly mash the potato pieces with a fork until you get the desired consistency - I wanted mine to stay lumpy but you could make a smooth mash before adding it to the pan, if you prefer.

Use the potato mixture to stuff the skins. (I challenge you to not eat a few spoonfuls while you're doing this !)

Sprinkle with grated cheese and pop under the grill for 10 minutes until piping hot.

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky because it used up half a tin of red kidney beans that were feeling sorry for themselves in the fridge.