Potato Salad Tips

• I add crumbled cooked bacon and stuffed olives to my favorite potato salad. It's, oh, so good. —Karla H., Lenox, Massachusetts
• To give potato salad zip, I stir in prepared horseradish, grated Parmesan cheese and a few drops of hot pepper sauce. —Allen R., Diboll, Texas.
• Whenever I need fresh minced onion in a recipe, I use my cabbage grater. It also works great on hard-boiled eggs for egg salad or potato salad. —Jane Y., Toledo, Ohio
• I mix a tad of prepared horseradish sauce with the mayonnaise I use to dress my potato salad. —Carolyn S., Windsor Heights, Iowa.
• I stir in a teaspoon or more of crab boil spices (those normally used to cook crab or shrimp) to the boiling water when cooking potatoes for salad. They absorb the spices and give the potato salad a tangy "New Orleans" flavor. —Beth H., Boulder, Colorado
• To fix an extra-large batch of potato salad, I first mix all of the ingredients except the potatoes into the dressing. Then I stir a third of the potatoes with a third of the dressing and transfer that portion to a serving bowl. Repeat until all potatoes are coated. The potato slices stay intact since they're not overmixed. —Jessie S., Santa Barbara, California
• Our family doesn't like raw celery in recipes for chicken salad or potato salad. So I substitute the same amount of chopped water chestnuts. They provide bulk, crunch and a mild flavor that we prefer.