Thursday, July 19, 2012

Old-Fashioned Potato Salad


This potato salad is the epitome of what a potato salad should be. It's that classic, all-American, slightly Miracle-Whip mayonnaise tasting potato salad. Yet, oh so much better! It's got a subtle tang, richness from smashed egg yolks, a slight bite and texture from chopped red onions and sweet pickles. And what's completely crazy about it all is that I don't like sweet pickles, and frankly, I don't like Miracle-Whip's flavor either {sorry Miracle-Whip lovers out there}. But for some reason this recipe has the right balance of everything and I loved it so much I could probably polish off the whole bowl.
Thing is - there actually isn't any Mircale-Whip in this potato salad, but I reference it because to me using that brand of mayonnaise yields a sweeter than I prefer dressing. I'm a Hellmann's {Best Foods} girl all the way. So when I took a look at the ingredient list for this salad and saw it included a bit of sugar in the dressing and sweet pickles to boot, I figured I probably wouldn't be crazy about it.
But the photo that accompanied the recipe in a recent issue of Bon Appetit sold me on making it anyway. If you click over and look at that photo I think you'll have to agree. Uh-huh. Told you. 
I love this recipe so much that I've made it three times this Summer already. It's received rave reviews and many requests for seconds each time. I especially love that it doesn't involve any hard to find, exotic ingredients, and it doesn't require hours of preparation. I'm also assuming it would taste great days after it's made, but I can't say for sure because we've never had enough leftover to test it.
The first time I tried the recipe I tweaked it a bit based on what I had available at the time, and I'll share those changes with you in case you find yourself in a similar situation...or simply want to try a variation.
I had a couple bags of those itty bitty, multicolor potatoes - red-skinned, yellow, and purple potatoes to be exact. The photo above doesn't show the purple ones because I added them in at the end for fear they would dye the whole salad purple! But they didn't. So I could have added them in with the rest. In the finished salad you can see a few flecks of the purple ones in there...it was pretty cool having purple potato salad.
Because the potatoes were so little I didn't follow the recipe instructions, which called for peeling the potatoes before boiling them. That would have been a nightmare! Instead I boiled them with the skins on, then cooled them enough so I could handle them, and rubbed off the skins, which fell off easily after boiling. I would say you could use either method, but for someone like myself who happens to hate peeling potatoes, the rubbing method worked well for me.
What makes the dressing for this potato salad so darn good is the addition of sweet pickle juice. The recipe also instructs to garnish the finished salad with slices of sweet pickle. But since I don't particularly care for sweet pickles, I was light-handed with them the first time around. However, after deciding that they were quite alright in this recipe I added in some chopped pickles for the subsequent versions - which was quite delicious. Any way you decide to make this I'm certain you won't be disappointed, and either will your guests!
A few other Summer Sides I love - Dilled Potato & Pickled Cucumber Salad | Citrus Rice Salad | Macaroni Salad | Roasted Corn & Edamame Succotash 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

A Lost Gem: Grandma Betty's Meatballs

Diving into the world of how to best make Italian Meatballs is a dangerous move. Is there any other food subject that might illicit more disagreement? I don't think so. Except maybe in the area of how to make Barbecue.
But this isn't my first time taking this step. You see, this post was originally written in August 2008, but like many of my posts those first few months {ahem, maybe years}, it was a sad excuse of a food blog post in every sense imaginable. Quite frankly, it's downright embarrassing.
I don't have the time to update every sorry post I've ever written, and really I don't want to. They serve as a reminder of how much I've learned since beginning this blog. But, if there's one recipe in my entire arsenal that deserves the most love and attention I can give it, it's my grandmother's meatball recipe.
So - there may be a time when a post here or there gets a facelift, and when the said facelift is significant enough for me to bring it to your attention, I will. Beginning with Grandma Betty's Meatballs. Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Weekend //

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Most of you are probably in the midst of your holiday festivities - or, maybe some you might have a vacation this week...or just a few extra days off? While I was searching around the Internet for some Independence Day picnic inspiration I came across so many outrageously delicious looking and creative recipes I couldn't help but share them with you. If it's too late to use them in your menu plan for the holiday, you'll surely have more than one occasion to try them at some point this Summer! At least, I know I will...
{1.} rainier cherry mojito | cookie + kate {2.} summer cherry sours & cherry citrus-ade | chasing delicious {3.} soba noodle & herb tofu salad | green kitchen stories {4.} homemade barbecue sauce | delicious shots {5.} lobster rolls | dinner: a love story {6.} tiny cherry & blueberry star pies in jars | brooklyn supper via the family kitchen {7.} lemon meringue pie | licking the plate via design sponge {8.} fudgesicles | rikki synder {9.} cherry pie | whisk kid {10.} strawberry basil ice cream pie with waffle cone crust | butter me up, brooklyn

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Some Things I Just Love...

In honor of Independence Day I'm sharing some of my favorite Red, White and Blue finds. I've discovered that I'm very fond of anything involving stars, stripes and/or polka dots while preparing this post, as keeping the list to a manageable size was difficult for me. We had some fireworks in our neighborhood tonight that we could see right from our windows...and these weren't your average street fireworks either. It was pretty amazing. Tomorrow we will see the real deal, up close, at a local park and I've been busy preparing some picnic foods - some that I'm looking forward to sharing here. Hope you have something fun planned and have a lovely holiday! Happy 4th of July!
a. | dixie dot dress b. | vintage fold out fan c. | flag favors d. | 4th of july paper badges e. | nautical hair ties  f. | enamel pie set g. | jfk rope bracelet h. | whipstitch seersucker napkin i. | picnic basket