A Potato Salad Summer

When I promised to bring the potato salad for a BBQ we were invited to last month, I forgot that my usual go-to recipe called for red-skinned spuds and all we had were russets. Oops. So off I went to look online for another recipe, because I just love making something for the first time at the last minute... don't you? (that was just the tiniest bit of sarcasm)

Martha Stewart came through (as she so often does) with a delicious and oh-so-beautiful potato salad recipe featuring good old russet potatoes. So colorful, it's worthy of the most festive of picnics and other summer events. It's practically a party all by itself. I was entirely pleased with how it came out, which is, of course, a good thing. So I made it again last weekend for our church picnic... as far as recipes go, it's definitely a keeper.

Festive, delicious, and easy to put together, this potato salad is both familiar and a little special at the same time...

Summer Garden Potato Salad  
adapted from Martha Stewart Living magazine (June 2000) and The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook (page 226)

3 large eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
8-9 russet potatoes
3 T apple cider vinegar
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp dry mustard
kosher salt & black pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped chives
2 Tblsp chopped fresh parsley
3 stalks of celery, diced
2 carrots, shredded
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced

Hard-boil your eggs first...
Place the eggs in the bottom of a pan and fill with cool water, covering by 1/2 to 1-inch. Bring to a boil, remove pan from heat, cover and let sit for 12 minutes. Carefully transfer eggs to a bowl of cold water to stop them cooking further. When eggs are completely cooled, tap them all over against the side of the sink and peel under cool running water. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Cook the potatoes...
Scrub the potatoes and place in a large pot. Cover with at least 2-inches of water and bring to a boil. Add a tablespoon of salt and turn the heat down. Simmer for about 25 minutes, or until a paring knife slides easily to the center. Drain the potatoes and very carefully remove the skins with the paring knife, protecting your hands with gloves or towels. Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes, place into a bowl and sprinkle the vinegar over them.

Make the dressing...
Chop the hard-boiled eggs and add them to a large bowl along with the mayonnaise, mustard, 2 tsp of salt, and 1 tsp black pepper. Whisk together. Add the potatoes, herbs and vegetables, stirring well to distribute everything. Taste it and add more seasoning if needed. The flavors will benefit from some time together in the fridge, so try to make this the day before you want to serve it. Serves 10-12.

My Notes: I initially chose this recipe because it used russets (which I had a lot of) instead of red-skinned (which I had none of). But what was unexpected was how great it was to use some things from my garden and also how much better it tasted because of the homemade mayo.  If you have the few minutes it takes to quickly make up a batch of mayo, I truly think the potato salad tastes better for it.

Simply Simpler Simple Syrup

I kind of love recipes that are expressed as ratios; where any unit of measure will work regardless of whether you use metric, Imperial, or an old chipped teacup. You know: one part of this to three parts of that, where the "part" can be anything from a thimble to a 5-gallon drum. Super simple.

Well, the other day I needed to make a small amount of simple syrup for a batch of iced tea I was making. The classic simple syrup recipe is 1:1 (one part sugar to one part water, boiled together and cooled). Couldn't be simpler... or could it?

It was HOT that day—the day I needed to make my liquid sweetener. I did not want to turn on the stove for anything. Not even 10 minutes. Besides, I really didn't need a lot of it; hardly worth dirtying a saucepan for. And that's when it hit me... when I feed my water kefir grains, I just add the sugar to the water and swirl the heck out of it for a few seconds until it dissolves. No heat required... Hello!

I quickly tossed a half-cup of sugar and a half-cup of water into a pint Mason jar, then I capped it and shook it like I meant it. It took about 2-3 minutes of shimmying, but the result was a jar of liquid sweetener, ready to use.

Banana Split… In A Glass… For Breakfast

It wasn't until taking the last few sips of my breakfast smoothie the other day that I realized just how much it reminded me of a banana split. Up until that point I just kept thinking, "This tastes gooooood! Maybe too good for something that's supposed to be breakfast?… Nah!"

Just like a real banana split it's got dairy, bananas, strawberries, vanilla, and chocolate (yum!). The only things missing are the whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cherry on top. Oh yeah... and the "I-can't-believe-I-ate-all-that" guilt. There's not a lick of that.

Unlike a bona fide banana split, this is packed with pro-biotics, leafy greens, and wheat germ. But you'd sure never know it from the taste....

Savoring The Simple Gifts Of Summer

I didn't plan on taking a photo of my dinner last night. I didn't plan on blogging about it today. I didn't plan the meal at all. Sure, I knew we'd be having leftover bratwurst with mustard, but beyond that, it all just fell together, and when I sat down and started to dig into it... my senses took everything in and I had to grab the camera.

What you don't see in the photo is the color of the summer evening sky. You can't feel the perfectly soft warmth paired with the gentlest of breezes in such contrast with the scorching heat earlier in the day. You might get a hint of the relaxed ease of the meal, but what about the thrift? What about the sense of accomplishment, stewardship, gratitude, and relief? And, of course, there's the deliciousness to consider as well. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but how many can you really see? To anyone else, it's just a plate of food, but to me it represents so much more...

Putting The Corn in Corningware

Have you seen the "Easiest Way To Cook Corn"? It's from Cait Hates Cake and is all over Pinterest (which is where it caught my eye). I wasn't even looking for a new method for cooking corn... we always just grill them on the Weber alongside the rest of the meal. They're pretty darned awesome that way, but a bit of work to remove the silk while leaving the husks on and then re-wrapping. And that was precisely what intrigued me about this oven method... the simplicity. The corncobs cook whole and un-shucked, and  separate easily from both husk and silk when they're done... oh yeah, and they're cooked to perfection.