Hearty Twice Baked Potatoes

This is from Taste of Home Quick Cooking and was a 4th place winner. We really loved them. We used it as a main dish but are a great side, too.
8 large baking potatoes
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage (I used some pre-cooked patties and broke them up and browned them.)
1/4 C margarine, softened
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 C diced fulley cooked ham
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 C (8 ounces) sour cream
1/2 C Italian salad dressing
Salt and pepper to taste

Scrub and pierce potatoes. Bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes or microwave, uncovered, on high for 12-14 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile in a skillet cook the sausage over medium heat until no longer pink, drain.
When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp, leaving a 1/4 in shell. In a large mixing bowl, mash the pulp with butter. Stir in the sausage, cheese, ham, bacon, sour cream salad dressing salt and pepper.
spoon into potato shells. Place on two ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. ( We were in a hurry so I popped them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes until the cheese was melted and they were hot.) Yield 16 servings.

Easy to cut down. Example for 3 potatoes, I used one sausage patty, 4 strips of bacon, 1/3 C chopped ham, about 1/2 C cheese, a scoop of sour cream and about 2 T Italian dressing. I mixed these all together in a bowl and then added it all to the mashed potatoes and then filled the shells. Yummy.

Grandma Linda