Paula Deen's Red Potato Salad with Bacon

My good friend, Dawn, was kind enough to get me a subscription to The Food Network magazine. (Thanks, Dawn!!) This month's issue has a "He-Made, She-Made" potato salad cook off between Paula Deen and Aaron McCargo, Jr, and both recipes looked so good that I decided to make them (though not in the same weekend.) Mother's Day seemed like a great day to try a new recipe. I chose Paula's Red Potato Salad with Bacon to make today, and I'm glad, because it was delicious. Here's the play-by-play:

Before I begin, I have to explain the first photo, which I took when my camera was set on Macro. For the record, I don't know macro from macaroni, so when it turned out terribly, I decided to go to Picnik (my favorite phot0-editing website) and just do something fun with it, so here it is.Ingredients:
6 cups cubed red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled (about 1 and 3/4 lbs)
2-3 strips of bacon
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup chopped sweet pepper (any color or combination)
1/4 cup minced red onion
2 sliced scallions
1 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoons mayo (Paula might die, but I used Miracle Whip)
3/4 teaspoon salt x 2

First, clean your potatoes. Again, I love Veggie Wash for this (and they are not paying me to say that!)Place the potatoes in a large pot, and cover them with water.Add 3/4 tsp sea saltand bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until tender, 8-12 minutes. Drain and cool slightly.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon (or just take it out of the box, like I did. Don't you love precooked bacon?!) After the bacon is cooked and no longer dripping with grease, cut it up.Clean and cut up the rest of the veggies...(BTW, I only used part of these peppers; Mr.4444 grilled up the remaining parts for supper--yummmm.) Isn't that picture gorgeous? I even looks misleadingly like my kitchen sink is immaculate! Believe me (and anyone who has ever been to my house), my kitchen sink is never immaculate.)

Here's another pic, which pretty much sums up the remaining ingredients (besides the potatoes, of course) in a neat little package:In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise, 3/4 tsp of salt, and pepper.Cut up the potatoes and add with other veggies to a large bowl. Pour previous whisked mixture over veggies, and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate or serve at room temperature.We ate when it was room temperature, and it was terrific; the dijon mustard and red wine vinegar made this a unique potato salad, but one that everyone liked. Now to put it up against Aaron's Classic Potato Salad. (I'll keep you posted!)