Loaded Potato Grilled Cheese with Ranch Sour Cream Dipping Sauce

This sandwich is one of those crazy ideas I had that turned out SO DELICIOUS! Like, I could eat these every day, delicious!

It all started out with a kids free valentine's dinner for me and the hubby. My in laws were in town so we got to go out without the kids for a change. This seriously never happens around here. Everywhere was extremely busy, so we ended up at Outback Steakhouse. I enjoyed my kid free dinner so much I think I had a few too many drinks...

Which leads me to the amazing idea I had for this sandwich. Anytime I drink a few too many (which lets be honest is only 3 drinks these days) I always want greasy, dried, unhealthy food to soak up all that excess alcohol. Not to mention today is my grocery day so I didn't have a whole lot in the house to eat. But I did have some potatoes and some frozen bakery bread, so I thought "what the heck!"

First, I want to say that I think good quality sliced bakery bread is key to this sandwich. regular old sandwich bread just wouldn't be hearty enough for the potato and cheese filling. I also recommend using the (on any other day I would call "icky") processed cheese, like Kraft Singles or Velveeta. I happened to have Velveeta so I sliced it as thin as I could.

I then sliced up a red potato, but Idaho potato would work if that's what you have. I used a slicer on the #2 setting, but just try to get thin even slices. Heat up about a tablespoon on vegetable oil in a pan, throw in the potatoes and add plenty of salt and pepper. I cooked this on medium-low, covered, for about 10 minutes maybe. Make sure to flip the potatoes often. They are done when they are fork tender and a little browned.

While the potatoes were cooking I mixed up the dipping sauce. I used about a 1/2 cup sour cream and a tablespoon of a Hidden Valley Ranch packet. Afterwards I realized this was way more dipping sauce than I needed, but I'll keep for another creation later this week.






I also buttered up 4 slices of the bread. I wanted it buttery, so I did both sides:) When the potatoes were done, I removed them from the pan and piled them on a piece of bread. I added the cheese slices, then some real bacon bits and dried chives. Topped with another piece of buttery bread and placed back in the same pan. I made two of these today and had leftover potatoes. I would say this recipe could really make 3 or 4 depending on the size of the bread.

I cooked like any other grilled cheese, over medium heat until one side was a toasty, golden brown. Then I flipped and repeated for the other side. Remove from the pan, slice it in half and serve with the dipping sauce, and OMG this was heaven! It hit the spot perfectly. Of course it's nowhere near healthy, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I can't wait to try more creative takes on the grilled cheese!

Enjoy!

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