We love Boomer’s BBQ in Carthage. We try to go every two or three weeks and got late in the afternoon – 3:00-ish – and there’s usually no one else in there. I always get the same thing – pulled pork dinner, and it comes with two sides. I get two servings of the Twice Baked Potato Casserole. I’m pretty sure they use either instant potatoes or potatoes that come already made. Of course, I could use homemade mashed potatoes but since I love their version, I’ll just make it easy on myself and use instant potatoes.
I found a recipe online for Shortcut Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole and it looks like what I think the recipe should be. It looks like he’s using potatoes that come already made.
Every now and then I use a bread recipe that calls for potato flakes and Addie likes the instant mashed potatoes fine so I keep these here.
I used two packages and made the potatoes by the directions (2 cups of boiling water per package). They seemed not as moist as what I get in the restaurant so I added some milk and a bit more water. I also added about 2 T. of butter. Otherwise, I followed the directions on the recipe.
This morning when I fixed breakfast, I cooked plenty of extra bacon and stuck it in the fridge; I grated extra cheese and stuck that in the fridge so this was quick to make.
These were delicious – not 100% the same as what the restaurant serves but close enough that I was thrilled with them.
One more tip: When I don’t have green onions growing (like now), I’ll almost always add a bundle or two to each grocery delivery. I wash them and chop them up, put them in a jar and keep them in the fridge. They last so much longer that way – the ones above have been in the fridge a couple of weeks. When I need them, I just shake out whatever I need. Simple!
Teri says
Never thought to do that with the green onions. I’m going to try it.
Shauna Trueblood says
My mom used to make a dish using those potatoes. She would reduce the water and replace it with evaporated milk, made the potatoes taste richer. In a pinch she would make mashed potatoes with them, but she would use the evaporated milk and they weren’t bad. I haven’t made them in years but that recipe looks good.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Maybe I’ll try the evaporated milk next time! Thanks.
Linda in NE says
Those Idahoan instant potatoes are really good. I use them for Christmas dinner. Make them in the crock pot and turn it on “warm” to keep them just right until we’re ready to eat. So much easier than peeling and cooking all those potatoes and nobody has complained yet, probably don’t even realize they’re instant, unless my daughter knows. She makes them for Thanksgiving 🙂
montanaclarks says
Thanks for the green onion tip!
Nancy H. says
Oh I have to try that green onion tip.