Potato Skins

Preheat your oven to 450° Fahrenheit 

Wash your potatoes thoroughly, then stab each one multiple times with a knife to vent them. Rub olive oil all over each potato and season each potato generously with kosher salt. Place potatoes on a sheet pan and bake for 45 minutes. 

While potatoes are baking, prepare your toppings.  Chop up your pound of bacon and fry in a pan until crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on some paper towels. If you're making the other topping variations (chili dog and mac and cheese), heat up your chili in a pot and slice up your hot dogs, then just add your hot dogs to the warm chili and stir.  Prepare your mac and cheese according to box directions. Chop all fresh herbs and veggies and get out your cheese and sour cream.

After you've removed your potatoes from the oven, cut each potato in half length-wise. Using a spoon, scoop out most of the potato insides and set them aside in a bowl to be used for another recipes (like mashed potatoes) later on. 

Melt your butter and sprinkle in some garlic salt and stir.  Using a brush, paint on some garlicky butter onto the inside of each potato skin. 

Top each potato with some shredded cheddar cheese.  For the classic topping combination, also add your chopped bacon.  Save the sour cream and chives for after they come back out of the oven. For the chili dog combo, spoon on some of the chili-hot dog mixture and top with chopped onion. For the mac and cheese combo, simply spoon some mac and cheese into each potato skin.  

Return the topped potato skins back to the oven for just another 10 minutes to make everything delicious and melty. 

Remove the potato skins from the oven and top with any additional cool toppings like sour cream and fresh chives. Enjoy!