Seasoned Baked Potatoes

Baked potato seasoned with Lawry's Seasoned Salt

Baked potato seasoned with Pampered Chef Smoky Barbecue Rub 

My mom used to make the best baked potatoes. Those were the days before microwave ovens and when I didn't have to watch how much butter I put on my food. I would open it up, butter up the fluffy interior and add as much salt and pepper as I liked. Once I ate the fluffy white part, I would get MORE butter, and butter the skin. I'd add more salt and pepper, pick it up with my fingers and dig in as the butter dripped down the side of my little hand. Oh, those were the days...
Once I became a responsible cooking adult, I still made the baked potatoes the same way mom did: scrubbed, dried, pierced, lubed with vegetable oil and baked in the REAL oven. The exterior was crisp and a little chewy, the interior steamy, fluffy, and delicious. I used less butter, and started cutting into the whole thing so as to get fluffy white and crisp skin at the same time. Then I decided to pump up the flavor by sprinkling the potatoes with seasoned salt right after they'd been greased. That way, the salty seasony flavor would adhere to the potato's exterior and make each bite a tasty morsel of potatoeness. It worked, and I did that regularly for a while. 
Then one day about 10 years ago, my husband said to me, "You know, I don't really like baked potatoes that much." So being the extreme person that I am, I stopped making plain baked potatoes all together. I still made twice baked potatoes, but not plain ones. 
To shorten up a story that's already too long, I was reminded of delicious salty baked potatoes after seeing a pin from I Wash You Dry. She just salted hers, which I'm sure would be fabulous, but tonight, I decided to go old school with the Lawry's Seasoned Salt for my family and  for me Pampered Chef Smoky Barbecue Rub (lower in sodium). Mmmm... so good. I just cut mine in half, spread just a little butter over the inside of each half and cut into it. So flavorful, and such nice textures: chewy, crispy outside, soft and a little buttery on the inside. Thank you Pinterest, and I Wash You Dry, for the reminder.

Seasoned Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 4 medium russet potatoes
• 1-2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon (approximately) seasoned salt
• baked potato toppings (butter, sour cream, green onions, cheese, etc., if desired)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Scrub potatoes clean and thoroughly dry. Trim the ends and pierce each potato 6-10 times with a sharp knife.
Place potatoes on a plate and drizzle with canola oil. Rub oil all over each potato. Sprinkle each potato all over with season salt. 
Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for about an hour, or until they yield when squeezed gently with tongs or an oven-mitted hand.
Remove from oven. Serve hot with preferred baked potato toppings.

Makes 4 servings