Recently I saw a picture of twice-baked potatoes. Maybe it’s because I love potatoes so much, but I couldn’t stop thinking about those tasty potato halves filled with fluffy mashed potatoes and topped with gooey melted cheese. But therein lies the problem: Because of a dairy allergy, I could never make them because of the cheese topping.
Fortunately I have found a good work-around. Sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted and chopped small, add the right saltiness and pungency to the filling so I don’t miss the cheese. Of course it doesn’t hurt that the filling also includes bacon–along with butter and whole coconut milk yogurt!
Fear not if you’re vegan, however. For the bacon, I experimented with Pumfu Chorizo Crumbles, a plant-based protein made from organic pumpkin seeds with real food chorizo flavors. It made an excellent plant-based substitute. 
One problem is that twice-bakeds do take a bit of time. This is also partly why I rarely made them. Many nights I can barely get a potato baked for dinner, much less scoop and fill them up for a second baking. But the effort is well worth it. In fact, I’ve made them three times over the last few weeks! And be sure to make double for your effort because they make great leftovers.
Although there is nothing too hard about making this dish, there are a number of steps so it will be helpful to print the full recipe PDF here. Following is a summary of the steps.
Step 1: VERY IMPORTANT Advance Prep
- Bake Potatoes Be sure to start baking the potatoes and soaking the tomatoes about an hour and a half before mealtime which will allow time to bake the potatoes, cool, scoop and fill them and then bake again. Note the recipe’s tip for speeding the initial baking time: 2 minutes in the microwave will reduce oven time by 10 to 20 minutes.
- Soak Tomatoes Place sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl with water to cover and let soak at least 20 to 30 minutes or longer until softened. Chop into small, 1/2″ pieces.
Step 2: Cook and Chop the Bacon and Saute Sliced Green Onions (unless raw onions are preferred)
Step 3: Make the Filling
Once baked potatoes are cool enough to handle, carefully scoop out the flesh and mash in a mixing bowl with butter, yogurt and salt and pepper.
To the mashed potato mixture, stir in about three quarters each of the chopped bacon (or Pumfu), chopped tomatoes and green onions.
Step 4: Fill and Bake Potato Shells
Scoop filling into potato shells, lightly packing it in. Bake another 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are heated through.
Step 5: Serve potatoes topped with remaining tomato, bacon and onion pieces.
