Ask someone what they like to put on their baked potato.

You’ll get a variety of answers, including any and all of these:

 
We have a longer list here.

We’ve also written about sweet potato toppings, and how they can turn a simple potato into a dazzling main or side.

But today, we discovered a new topping:
 
 
A GREAT TOPPING FOR SWEET POTATOES: BELLE CHEVRE CREAM CHEESE

Belle Chevre cream cheese is one of our favorite products.

It’s a line of four sweet-and-tangy spreadable cheeses in fab flavors:

 
Here’s our full review.

Each of the flavors is splendid: perfect for spreading on your bagel, toast, muffin, crispbread and any place you’d spread cream cheese.

Truth to tell, we can eat an entire container as a snack or “cheese course.”

But thanks to a suggestion from Belle Chevre, we have a new use for it: sweet potato topping.

The Cinnamon, Fig and Honey flavors beautifully complement the sweetness of the potato.

You can buy them online from Belle Chevre.

If you need a quick hack, buy whipped cream cheese and flavor it to taste with cinnamon sugar or honey.

Remember that less is more.
 
 
> POTATO HISTORY
 
 
> TYPES OF POTATOES

[1] Load your baked sweet potato with Belle Chevre goat cream cheese in Cinnamon, Fig or Honey (photos #1 and #2 © Fromagerie Belle Chevre).

[2] One of five flavors of Belle Chevre cream cheese. Each of them might do well in a baked sweet potato.

[3] Six ways to top sweet potatoes. Check ‘em out (photo © North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission).

[1] Make mini popcorn balls in your favorite colors (photo © National Popcorn Board).

[2] You can buy bags of popcorn or pop your own (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[3] Popcorn trail mix is easy to make. Here’s the recipe (photo © Delicious Meets Healthy).

[4] You can flavor popcorn with herbs and spices for any occasion. Here, pumpkin pie spices create Pumpkin Spice Popcorn (photo © National Popcorn Association).

[5] Use popcorn as a garnish, like this caramel corn garnish on a carrot cake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Honest Cooking).

January 19th is National Popcorn Day, celebrating an all-American treat. (October is National Popcorn Month.)

Popcorn is an all-American food, born by accident thousands of years ago. The oldest popcorn known to date was discovered in 1948 in a cave in New Mexico.

Here’s the history of popcorn.

We’ve got interesting ways to use popcorn, below.

For today, here’s a fun recipe from the National Popcorn Board. They call it Pop-a-rif-ic Popcorn Balls.

You can leave them their natural beige color, but there’s more eye appeal with a bit of food color (photo #1).

For the rest of the year, you can use the same recipe with theme food colors to make the popcorn balls for specific holidays and sports teams.

Make a batch for movie night, game-watching or for general snacking.

Note that while this recipe is not a low-calorie snack like plain popcorn, it is a whole-grain snack.
 
 
RECIPE: POPCORN CANDY BALLS

Ingredients For 14 Balls

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the popped popcorn in a large bowl.

2. COMBINE the marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan over low heat; cook until melted and smooth. To color the popcorn balls, add a few drops of food coloring to the smooth marshmallow mixture.

3. MIX well to distribute the color evenly, then pour over the popcorn. Toss gently to mix well. Cool for 5 minutes.

4. ADD the optional mix-ins and stir well to distribute.

5. BUTTER your hands well and form the mixture into 2-1/2 inch balls. Makes about 14 balls.
Variations:

Place nonpareils in a shallow bowl or plate. Roll popcorn balls in nonpareils after forming.
 

MORE POPCORN RECIPES

What Makes Popcorn Kernels Pop

 
 
SEASONAL POPCORN RECIPES

Over the last few years there’s been a huge move to non-dairy substitutes.

As part of the move to veganism and/or sustainability, plus diets that are kosher or lactose-free, more consumers seek animal-free dairy products.

You can now find delicious milks, yogurts, ice creams and cheeses made from non-dairy plant products.

Some examples in the milk category alone:

 
Non-dairy ice cream has long been made from coconut milk. But more recently, flavor scientists have developed alternatives that provide superior creaminess without the coconut undercurrent.

Most of us wouldn’t realize that we’re eating a non-dairy frozen dessert (which is the proper term for non-dairy ice cream).

Haagen Dazs’s Non-Dairy flavors are made from a base of almonds, sunflower oil and coconut oil.

Graeter’s Perfect Indulgence line is made with Perfect Day®’s animal-free dairy proteins (more about that in a minute).

Eclipse Foods’ non-dairy ice cream—“cowlessly creamy,” they call it—has a base made from cassava, corn, oats and potatoes, plus canola oil.

Note that non-dairy doesn’t mean lower calorie. These products have calories equal to the dairy-based originals.
 
 
1. PERFECT INDULGENCE FROM GRAETER’S ICE CREAM

Graeter’s, America’s oldest family-owned and operated ice cream producer, has joined the non-dairy movement with its handcrafted ice creams.

The company has turned its favorite ice cream flavors into a dairy-free line called Perfect Indulgence.

The line is named after a product developed by Perfect Day Foods, which has developed a Non-Animal Whey Protein Isolate*.

This non-animal whey protein has the same nutrition profile and culinary functionality as whey protein from cow’s milk.

But it’s vegan; free from lactose, cholesterol, hormones and antibiotics; and has a smaller environmental footprint than conventional whey protein isolate.

It also provides a rich, creamy, smooth, and indulgent eating experience.

Note that while Perfect Indulgence is vegan and lactose-free, the animal-free dairy proteins that are produced still contain certain milk allergens.

Those with sensitivity to dairy products should read the ingredient panel closely.

 
Our favorite conventional Graeter’s flavor, Black Cherry Chocolate Chip, tasted as good or maybe even better as Perfect Indulgence.

The other flavors also hit it out of the park.

> Discover more at Graeters.com.
 
 
ECLIPSE NON-DAIRY FROZEN DESSERT

The Eclipse line is nut free, and divided into the “classic” flavors plus the Chef Collection.

As with Graeter’s and Häagen-Dazs (and other brands not covered here), no one will realize they’re eating a non-dairy ice cream.

The classic flavors:

 
The Chef’s Collection is made in collaboration with leading chefs, with proceeds going to the charity of each chef’s choice.

The collection currently includes:

 
The Chocolate and Vanilla are excellent. Chocolate, made with Alter Ego chocolate, is one of the best chocolate ice creams you can try—dairy or non-dairy.

[1] The new plant-based ice creams are indistinguishable in looks and taste (photo © Häagen-Dazs Nondairy).

[2] Graeter’s classic flavors are now available in non-dairy versions (photos #2 and #3 © Graeter’s Ice Cream).

[3] Dairy-free Perfect Indulgence Cookies & Cream from Graeter’s.

[4] Eclipse’s outstanding nondairy Chocolate ice cream (photos #4, #5 and #6 © Eclipse Foods).

[5] Eclipse’s Vanilla is an intense vanilla experience.

[6] At left, a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich with Eclipse Vanilla; at right, a dish of Chocolate accompanied by squares of Alter Ego chocolate.

The Vanilla is super-charged with vanilla flavor. It, too, is indistinguishable from its dairy colleagues.

The Cookie Butter was not our cup of tea, but that’s a personal preference.

We tried only one of the Chef’s Collection, Palmier Cookie with Calvados Caramel.

The sophisticated, complex layering of flavors made us long to try the other two. (Fortunately, they’re easily available online.

> Get Your Eclipse pints here.

 
________________

*Rather than using the traditional dairy from cows or other animals, these proteins come from a process utilizing micro-flora fermentation. It’s still dairy; it’s just animal-free dairy because of the manufacturing process. The isolate comprises lab-grown versions of the proteins that are found in cow’s milk, such as casein and whey, but without the need for any animals. The sustainability argument is that the production of cellular milk requires less energy, greenhouse gas emissions and land usage, and is thus more resource-efficient than animal farming.