Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Cheddar

Ingredients:

2 bags frozen mashed potatoes
10 slices of bacon
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. sour cream
2 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
salt & pepper

Cook potatoes according to package directions and set aside. Fry bacon till crispy, allow to cool and crumble/break into small pieces. Using a fork, mash the potatoes until light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese, butter and sour cream and stir till well mixed and smooth. Add 2 cups of the cheddar cheese, half of the bacon pieces, salt and pepper to taste. Stir until well mixed. Put potato mixture into large casserole dish and top with the remaining cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 until slightly golden brown, about 30 minutes. Garnish with remaining bacon and serve.

I discovered this dish on Pinterest. It had all the ingredients I love - mashed potatoes, bacon and cheddar. The original recipe had you making the mashed potatoes from scratch. I cheated and used the frozen kind that you cook in their bag in the microwave. This takes all the hard work out of it as far as I'm concerned. The combination is delicious - I like it better than my old potluck recipe for hash brown cheesy potatoes. I'm making this to go with our ham this weekend for our family Easter dinner. I hope everyone likes it as much as we did.