Idaho gets a bad rep for being a flyover state but in reality, the Gem State has provided us with cultural necessities and icons like Napoleon Dynamite, Lou Dobbs, and Sarah Palin as well as one of the most important root vegetables of all-time, the potato. Idaho is one of the top producers of the potato in North America and even has a museum to honor its contributions to the state's economy and culture at the Idaho Potato Museum in the city of Blackfoot.
With the state willing to honor the spud with its very own museum, it's only right that the Canada-bordering state appropriate the vegetable for their most notorious dish, the Jim Spud Baked Potato. The loaded potato is known for its dense toppings of caramelized onions, six ounces of chopped up teriyaki steak scraps, butter, sour cream, and gushing, melty cheddar cheese. Households across America have been composing their very own loaded baked potato recipes, but nothing matches Idaho's original Jim Spud Baked Potato.
Chefs made their way into celebrity land a while ago. But how many celebrities that weren’t trained as professional cooks are actually whizzes in the kitchen? Here are several that come to mind.
Actress Julia Roberts is confident about her cooking skills. “I’m quite a good cook,” she told E! News. “I’m like a closet home ec teacher…I can really cook anything.” Roberts has said she often cooks fish for herself and her kids. And speaking of her three children, “They think that I’m a good cook,” Roberts told People. “They actually told me that I should open a restaurant.” She also relishes cooking for the holidays, particularly shredded Brussel sprouts. Roberts hasn’t published a cookbook, but we did find recipes attributed to her for peach crisp and banana hemp muffins. Or you can make the same summer salad the actress supposedly eats.
Chrissy Teigen started off as a supermodel. Then her love of cooking filtered into her professional life too. At this point, she’s created recipes for a limited Blue Apron release and also just launched her own home and cooking line at Target named “Cravings,” after the two cookbooks she’s released. Teigen describes cooking as “a time of peace” for herself. So maybe peace out to her tuna melt sandwich or the fried chicken wings that are a favorite of her husband, John Legend.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, comes from a cooking Italian family. Her father started his own restaurant in New York and also published a cookbook. And apparently, Lady Gaga has inherited the family’s cooking genes. Her Instagram account occasionally features photos of her culinary activities. Sure, sometimes it’s topless cooking. But other times it’s more poignant like in the post she shared about her bringing food to the family of her dear friend who passed away. Want to try a Gaga/Germanotta family favorite? Check out her recipe for whole wheat pasta with a sweet fennel sauce.