Dilly Dip Potato Salad

I've never been much of an experimenter in the kitchen; I have always been pretty dependent upon other people's expertise, cooking wise. That said, I've been getting braver in the last year or so, and today's recipe is representative of that. I adapted two different recipes for this potato salad, which I'll be taking to a party tomorrow. The first recommended baking the potatoes, rather than boiling them, so that's what I did. The second recipe is my own, which usually calls for mayo (Miracle W and mustard); I decided to go really crazy and use a local product that I'd never tried before: Let's Get Dilly dip mix, from Chics-n-Dip.

"Specializing in creating zesty chip & veggie dips, sweet cheesecake dips, meat rubs & bread mixes," Chics-n-Dip is a small Wisconsin company run by two women who work their tails off to offer more than thirty delicious dips and more. My personal favorites are The Villain, I'm Too Sexy for My Beer Belly, and Bling for Carrots; but that's only because I like them so much (as do my guests) that I haven't had the chance to try the rest! I'd never tried the Let's Get Dilly Dip, but since the others are so great, I figured it would be too, and I was right! The directions are simple: mix with one cup each of sour cream (or plain yogurt) and mayo, and you're in business.

I mixed the dip, chilled it, and then prepped the rest:

1 cup chopped celery

1.5 cups chopped cucumber

1 cup chopped dill pickles (my favorite ingredient)

3/4 cup chopped red onion

3 hard boiled eggs, chopped

yellow mustard

1 cup real mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream 

1 pkg Chics-n-Dip Let's Get Dilly dip mix

I used this much mustard:

[I had my ingredients in bags because I prepped them ahead and put them in the fridge.]

1 5-lb bag of potatoes

Poke holes in and bake the potatoes (whole) at 350 degrees for an hour or until soft. 

Cut them in half and let them cool enough to handle.

Remove the skin (or keep it, if that's your style) and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Place on a tray and chill about an hour.

(This helps the bites keep their shape and keeps the dressing cold during mixing.)

Mix everything together,

add salt if desired, and enjoy!

I enjoyed some before it even had time to "get happy," 

and I can't wait to eat my fair share tomorrow!

It has just the right amount of dill in it, and the crunch and zing of the pickles...YUM!

Spinach and Quinoa Mediterranean Salad

I recently made this delicious, healthy salad and plan to make it again, so here you go!

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Ingredients:

Dressing:
3 tbls freshly-squeezed lemon juice
2 tbls red wine vinegar
1/2 tbls olive oil, and a pinch of oregano

Salad Stuff:
1 cup cooked quinoa (I cooked mine in chicken broth.)
3 cups fresh baby spinach (missing from my photo above, btw; Mr.4444 was picking some up)
1 red pepper, diced
1 cup of chopped cucumber (missing from Pop Sugar's recipe, as well as my photo above)
10 grape or cherry tomatoes
10 sliced kalamata olives
1/4 cup feta cheese

First, mix the dressing ingredients while you cook the quinoa.

In a medium-sized bowl, gently mix the spinach, quinoa, and half of the dressing.

  

Add the other vegetables.

  

Fold the feta cheese in gently.

Pretty and delicious!

A few years ago, a woman took the time to leave a comment on Mrs.4444 Cooks, chewing me out for sharing so many unhealthy recipes. I found that hilarious (and still do), as if I was twisting people's arms to make unhealthy food. Whoever she was, she'd be proud of me today; this recipe is relatively healthy; the dressing is deliciously lower in fat than a typical salad dressing. There's plenty of fiber, protein, and potassium here. The olives are 20% of your sodium for the day, but check out the vitamin content!

There are about 300 calories per 2-cup serving (This makes about six cups worth.) and the olives provide a fair amount of monounsaturated fat (the good kind!). As mentioned previously, this salad is delicious, and I look forward to making it again!

Mango Slaw

This recipe was offered to me by 93-year-old Cousin Ed, who assured me it is one of his popular recipes. If he hadn't insisted that I wouldn't even taste the sauerkraut*, I would have politely accepted it and dropped it in the recycling bin, but Ed also shared his wonderful Chicken Pasta Salad, so I had to trust him.

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can sauerkraut (preferably Frank's)
1 cup sugar or artificial sweetener
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 whole mango, chopped (or one large jar) Ed says jarred mango is the best; it's nice and juicy. I agree.)

I took the simple ingredients with my family on a camping trip, figuring it would be easy to assemble. It was. First, drain the jarred mango and sauerkraut.

I measured the sugar at home. It was my first time using sugar that wasn't refined, so it's brown, "in the raw." (It tastes like sugar.haha)

Dice the mango and celery.

Mix everything together. I did this in a Ziploc bag, which worked beautifully.

 I prepped the salad in the morning, for dinner that night. It turned quite juicy by dinner, 

so I used a slotted spoon to serve it, 

along with pan-fried walleye, little red potatoes, and marinated veggies.

You may have noticed the smallish portion on my plate (I was nervous!).

However, I'm very happy to report that Ed was absolutely right;

this salad is a winner, and every one of my family members said that I should make it again,

so it doesn't get better than that.

*Nothing against sauerkraut, of course; I adore it with spareribs and wouldn't dare a bratwurst without it, but in a salad?! I'm so glad I bravely ventured into this recipe :)

Party-Sized Greek Pasta Salad

Ever since I first made this recipe from Chris, at Mele Cotte (via Pinterest), I can't keep enough of it at the ready; Kyle comes home from work and looks for it in the fridge and is clearly disappointed when he comes up empty.  Since this is the fourth time I've made it in less than two weeks, I've decided to post the recipe here.

Ingredients:

(amounts here are different from Chris's, as I wanted to make a large amount)

1 pound of pasta of your choosing

1 cup chopped red onion

1 pint grape tomatoes

1 can whole black olives

1 huge cucumber

6 ounces of feta cheese, crumbled 

Dressing:

1 cup olive oil

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

2 tsps stone ground mustard (dijon or your favorite)

1/2 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp fine sea salt

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the veggies like so...

Yes, I'm aware that black olives can be purchased sliced, 

but I wanted them cut in thirds (chunkier than I feared the sliced kind might be).

When the pasta is cooked to your taste, drain it and rinse it with cold water. 

Set it aside while you make the dressing. 

Mix the dressing ingredients in a closed container like this one...

Pour over the pasta and mixed veggies.
(Use however much is your preference; you'll probably have plenty extra to use another time.)

Mix and top with oregano and freshly-ground pepper.

Chill for at least a few hours 

(tossing the salad periodically to redistribute the dressing until the pasta has absorbed it).

Yum!!!

Autumn Chopped Salad, from Espresso and Cream

I recently caved to peer pressure and joined Pinterest. That's where I found a photo of a beautiful-looking salad from Espresso and Cream and decided to make it for dinner. Except for the addition of pomegranate seeds, I followed Madison's recipe to a T, so I'm not going to give you the blow-by-blow here. You can find the recipe here, but in case you want to know what's in it first, here are the ingredients:

Romaine lettuce
pears
dried cranberries
chopped pecans
crumbled bacon!
feta cheese
poppy seed dressing
balsamic vinaigrette dressing

I fed this to myself, Mr.4444, and three young college guys who thought it was fantastic.  It's as delicious as it is pretty!

Snickers Bar "Salad"

Who am I kidding? It's a dessert. And seriously; it's so easy, a whole post about it would be ridiculous.

And it's so quick, I forgot to take a photo of the ingredients:

6 Snickers bars, chopped
1 big container of Cool-Whip
6 large granny smith apples, cored and sliced

This is all I've got for you (just before the big stir!)

And it's so good, I have no photos of the leftovers.

Really; it's that good.

And tune in next time for the promised "Devil's Sex Cake!"