Goody Girl Potatoes

Goody Girl Championship Potatoes, these are mmm mm mmmmm good! This is THE PERFECT side dish to take to a BBQ. It taste like a loaded baked potato, but kicked up a notch with hidden spice and easily can feed a hungry crowd.

Here is a photo of the original Goody Girls, a cook-off team that competes at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. This team always has the fun tent at BBQ Cook-Off, live music, crazy crowd and some of the best Q to boot.

Start with three pounds of red potatoes that have been washed and scrubed. Slice into equal size pieces, best you can, about 1/4 inch thick.

Here is the SECRET, a pouch of crab boil.

Fill a large stock pot with COLD water just until potatoes are covered. Add crab boil and stir to combine. Place pot on high burner and bring water to a boil, cooking the potatoes until fork-tender.

Meanwhile I chopped up a pound of bacon (this is peppered bacon) and in a medium saute pan on medium heat, cook bacon until crispy.

Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Chop one onion and add to bacon grease; cook until caramelized. Just before onions are done, add 1 tablespoon of minced garlic and cook until lightly brown.

In a BIG bowl, add half the crispy bacon, four tablespoons butter, one cup shredded cheddar cheese.

Add 3/4 cup sour cream.

The onions and garlic look really good now.

They were a little too greasy, so I strained them first, and then dumped the onion garlic mixture into my big mixing bowl.

I checked the boiling potatoes and they are FORK tender, perfect!

I removed the potatoes from the cooking liquid and plopped them right into the bowl of cheese and sour cream and bacon and butter.

Season the bowl with 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon paprika and a sprinkle of Salt and pepper.

Then top the hot potatoes with three chopped green onions. Another cup of shredded cheddar cheese, 4 tablespoons of butter and the remaining bacon.

Fold ingredients together, trying not to break up the potatoes excessively. Check seasoning and adjust to your taste. These are KILLER!

This makes a lot of potatoes, so with the leftovers, I tried to make spicy potato cakes but they didn't "bind" well - maybe I could have mashed the potatoes better, then added in some egg to help hold it together when sauteing on the stove.

No worries, I have come up with an even better idea for these leftovers. Coming up next is a recipe I haven't named yet. I could call it Twice Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole, or Goody Girl Casserole, Kick It Up Casserole, or Leftover Potato Casserole. I think Goody Girl Casserole has a nice ring to it, but doesn't really say what it is. I will surprise you!

First photo borrowed from Food Network since I forgot to take a finished picture.