Ingredients
- BAKED POTATOES
- 3 large potatoes
- olive oil
- sea salt
- HAMBURGER STUFFING
- 1 pound ground beef, lean (9% or lower fat content)
- 6 medium mushrooms
- 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz)
- 3 ounces milk
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- MASHED POTATO TOPPING
- insides of baked potatoes
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese, room temperature
- small amount of milk
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Preperation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Clean potatoes. With a fork, poke each potato 3 times on both sides. Generously rub each potato with olive oil then lightly salt the entire potato. Place potatoes in the oven directly on the middle rack. Bake 45 minutes to an hour or until tender. Turn potatoes over halfway through baking. Baking the potatoes this way will ensure that the skins are crunchy so they won’t tear when stuffed.
Step 2
After the potatoes are done, remove them from the oven and set aside to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Step 3
While potatoes are cooling, in a large skillet brown ground beef and chopped onion on medium heat, breaking ground beef into small chunks.
Step 4
Dice the mushrooms into small chunks. Add mushrooms and garlic to cooked ground beef. Salt and pepper the mixture. Cook until mushrooms are tender.
Step 5
Mix in cream of mushroom soup and approximately 1/4 of the soup can of milk to rinse the remaining soup in the can and thin the soup a little. Add a little more milk if the mixture is too thick to stir easily. Heat to near boiling then reduce heat to simmer.
Step 6
While the ground beef mixture simmers, slice each potato lengthwise. If possible, try to cut the potatoes so that each half has a flat side so they won’t tip over when stuffed.
Step 7
Carefully spoon out the white of the potatoes and place them in a mixing bowl. Don’t scrape out all of the white, leave a little so the skins aren’t flimsy. Place the skins in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and set aside.
Step 8
Add the butter and cream cheese to the potatoes and beat with an electric mixer. Slowly add milk until the potatoes are fluffy and creamy. I test for the correct consistency by taking a spoonful of potatoes and turning the spoon sideways. If the potatoes stick to the spoon, then they’re done.
Step 9
Fill each potato skin to the rim with the ground beef mixture.
Step 10
Spoon mashed potatoes on top of each filled potato. Top them with the shredded cheese.
Step 11
Bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the mashed potatoes are hot. Sometimes just before I remove them from the oven, I broil the potatoes to make the cheese a little crispy.