Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

We had this for dinner this week, and my husband loves it. It's definitely a man's kind of meal, but a skinny mama can enjoy it too. The recipe says it serves 4, but they are large man-sized servings. We only ate this, but it would be great with a side salad and some type of green vegetable. It calls for ground turkey, but I used lean ground beef. And of course I used the Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I also used less cheese than what it called for, and you could probably do without it and the casserole would still taste great. I'm including the recipe here along with two homemade mixes: Ranch dressing mix, and onion soup mix. These are great staples to have in your pantry whenever a recipe calls for one of these. Plus, they're much healthier for you than the store-bought mixes. All these recipes are from groceryshrink.com.

Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

Ingredients
4 Russet potatoes
1 lb. ground turkey (or lean ground beef)
2 tsp olive oil
2 Tbsp onion soup mix
8 turkey bacon slices
1/4 c green onion, chopped (I didn't use because hubby doesn't like them)
1/2 c sour cream or Greek yogurt
1 tsp Ranch dressing mix
1 cup cheddar cheese, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scrub potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I cut mine into pretty large chunks, and boiled them before adding to the casserole. Otherwise, it would take way longer to bake). Toss potatoes with olive oil and onion soup mix. Spread into bottom of a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Brown ground turkey with a little garlic powder to taste. Drain and spread over potato mixture. Combine sour cream or Greek yogurt and ranch dressing mix. Dollop over ground turkey. Cook and crumble bacon (or open your packet of bacon bits). Sprinkle bacon crumbles, sliced green onions, and shredded cheese over all. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

1/4 c dried parsley
4 tsp onion powder
4 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Mix all and store in a zipper seal baggie. Yields 8 Tbsp.

Homemade Onion Soup Mix

2/3 c dried, minced onion
3 tsp parsley flakes
2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp celery seed (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Use 3 Tbsp of this mix in place of a packet of onion soup mix