How do you dress a spud? Delicious ideas for your favorite tuberous stem!

What do you think of that title?  Sounds appetizing, eh?  Yes, the potato is indeed a “tuberous stem”–a part of the nightshade family, actually.

Did you know February is Idaho Potato Lovers month?  I get a kick out of all the special food days and months there are in the year.  National Ice Cream day, hot dog day, if there’s a bacon day that one would be my favorite.

Photo credit: Hexidecimal via Flikr

Though I do love a good baked potato!  I love mine loaded!  The way I do it the potato is more of an excuse for the toppings than anything else.  Toppings–that’s my favorite part of a baked potato.

Though I haven’t tried, I’ll bet you could put just about any topping on a baked potato and call it good.

Here are some of my favorite topping combos (and just for fun I gave each of the topping combos names :)):

The Mount Olympus: Mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, and onion sauteed in butter poured atop a spud with a nice slice of Havarti cheese.  For ultimate meltiness make sure to sandwich the cheese between the potato and the fresh from the frying pan veggie fixins. The gods of old would be more than satisfied by this topping combo.

The Glutton: A personal favorite.  This one can be left up to personal interpretation.  The goal is to put on as many toppings as possible!  Some of my favorites are: minced onion, bell pepper, fresh mushroom, bacon <—I used the Real Crumbled Bacon by Hormel last time, it was perfect–cilantro, fresh diced tomatoes, and guacamole or fresh avocados.  If I wasn’t dairy free right now I’d add some cheese and sour cream.

The Plain Jane: Though a crime in my eyes to see a perfectly good potato done this way, I can’t in good conscious leave it out. But better not let me see you eating one this way. Sour cream and/or butter and a few chives.  If this is how you eat your potato I’d challenge you to take a few more risks in life.  Starting with how you eat your potatoes.

The Pie: Everyone loves pizza!  So why not put your favorite pizza toppings on your baked potato.

The Indigestor: Quite possibly America’s favorite way to eat a potato.  Load with chili, cheese, onions, and–if you’re really a glutton for punishment–jalapeños then sit back and enjoy the heartburn.

Now that I’ve written all this I’m terribly hungry for a “Glutton” spud!  Guess what’s for dinner!

A baked potato is only as good as its maker so what’s your favorite way to dress up your spud?

Disclosure: Some items were provided to facilitate this post.  I wrote this post as a Hormel Extended Family Blogger.