my favorite potato salad

 I love the word "salad"; it can cover a multitude of sins. Especially in the South, where salads usually involve something creamy--mayonnaise, cream cheese, even cool whip--they are often much less healthy than they sound. I won't say I'm above such mayo-laden delicacies as grape or broccoli salad, but sometimes I want something a little more complex and a little less heart-stopping. Earlier this summer my mom asked me to make some potato salad for dinner at the beach, and based on a recipe I liked and what we had in the fridge, I came up with the recipe below. It's creamy, yes, and I don't know that I would call it health food, but it's more than potatoes+mayo+celery, and it is absolutely delicious warm or cold.

my favorite potato salad
adapted from food52
serves 4-6

ingredients:
10 or so medium red-skinned potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs), cut in half
Olive oil and kosher salt, for roasting
1/2 c Greek yogurt
1/4 c mayo
2 tbsp sweet pickle relish
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green onion or 1/4 large onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
A few shakes Tabasco
1/2 tsp Creole seasoning

instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Toss potatoes with olive oil and kosher salt, and roast until cooked through and golden brown on the bottom (40-45 minutes). Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl to make the dressing. When potatoes are done and you're ready to serve the salad, cut them into bite-sized pieces and toss with the dressing. Don't do this until you're ready to serve the salad (warm or cold is fine), since the potatoes soak up the dressing pretty quickly.

P.S. - I made a much larger batch of this for a meal we served this week at The Nashville Food Project, alongside pulled pork, maque choux, and banana blueberry cake. It's not up yet, but in the next few days they will have the recipe for maque choux on their website feature Cook for a Crowd. Check it out!

microwaves are magical.

We're reading Augustine's Confessions for my Formation of the Christian Tradition class, and this has inspired me to make my own public confession. Today I did something I have not done since college...I bought Lean Cuisines. (Gotcha! This will not be a theologically-themed post.)

I'm coming up on Week 5 (I think it deserves the capitalization) of class, and as my time spent reading, writing papers, and working increases, my time in the kitchen decreases an equivalent amount. For the most part I've continued to subsist off of fresh produce, grains, and beans (cheap!), but sometimes you just need a meal that only requires you to pierce plastic with a fork.

Anyway, the recipe I have today is a cross between freshness and convenience. Thanks to my friend Hailey, I happened across this method for microwaving potato chips on Pinterest. I was skeptical but tried it anyway, and it really did work. This week my CSA box has a few sweet potatoes in it so I made a batch of chips with one of those, seasoned with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and fresh rosemary. I had them for lunch with what I'm calling an early fall BLT, with tomatoes (still sort of in-season!), thick-cut bacon, sauteed kale, and lemon-garlic mayo. Yum.

The chips taste like they're baked rather than fried, but they are about as crunchy as kettle chips, which I love. They're a great option if you want something snacky but not junky. You can change these up with whatever flavors you'd like, and serve them with a dip if you want--they're definitely sturdy enough to handle it. Here are a few flavor suggestions:

-sweet potato chips with cinnamon and sugar and a side of maple syrup
-regular potato chips with seasoned salt and a side of ketchup (easy, and a good substitute for seasoned fries!)
-potato chip "nachos" with bacon, cheddar, sour cream, and scallions (not exactly healthy, but I bet they would be delicious!)

microwaved (sweet) potato chips
makes about two servings, easily multiplied
per serving:  88 cal, 2.4g fat, 15.8g carb, 2g fiber, 1.1g protein, 2+ weight watchers 

ingredients:
1 medium potato or sweet potato, sliced into thin disks (a mandolin would be helpful
   here, although mine turned out fine without one)
1 tsp oil
seasoning of your choice

instructions:
Toss potato slices with oil and seasoning, and place in a single layer a microwable dish (I used a casserole). Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. Flip the slices over and microwave for another 2-4 minutes, keeping an eye on them to make sure they don't burn. Let cool--they will crisp up as they cool.