potato chips
Getty ImagesFor a spud, there's no higher calling than being turned into a golden heap of potato chips. Baked potatoes and mashed potatoes are pretty great -- and let's not forget French fries -- but potato chips are perfect. And you don't even have to make them yourself! In fact, the chips you can buy are usually better than the ones you could make at home!

I love potato chips so much that I almost never let myself eat them straight-up. To me, a six-ounce bag of kettle chips-the thick, strong, premium kind-constitutes a single serving. And don't tell me just to take a handful and put the bag away, because I bet you can't do that either. No, once a potato chip bag has been opened, we might as well consider it empty.

But using potato chips as an ingredient in other dishes? That's different. A potato chip plays well with others and still retains its own identity. You register the fact that it's there in all its snacky deliciousness, but now it's been elevated into the category of main dish or dessert or even vegetable. You're not eating potato chips any longer: You're eating food.

There's the crushed potato chip as topping, of course. (When my friend Cindy was little, she only got to taste potato chips when her mother baked them on top of tuna casserole.) Chips also make a wonderful breading for chicken and fish: crisp and pre-seasoned, especially if you use a flavored brand. Used judiciously, they give desserts and baked goods extra oomph. And try using them as the base for pass-around appetizers. I guarantee that your friends will like them better than party rye.

Though the following recipes call for different kinds of potato chips, don't go nuts if you can't find a specific kind. Just substitute whatever looks good. Well, don't use barbecue chips in the ice cream recipe -- but you didn't need me to tell you that.

Make these potato-chip recipes:
• Fancy-Pants Potato Chip Canapes recipe
• Potato Chip Soup
• Chip Chick
• Fish and (literally!) Chips
• Chippy Green Beans
• Homemade Potato Chips
• Double Chip Cookies
• Seven-Layer Bars
• Caramel Ice Cream with Potato Chips
• Tater Toffee