The Golden Potato Salad.

Ok...I was going to do my recipe for a quite nummy chicken casserole. It had chicken on top of rice and was a quite easy to prepare one dish meal (gotta' like that) but, uh, guess what? I lost the recipe! I think it was from the Looney Spoons book that I just returned to the library! So, let this be a lesson to all you kids out there...be sure to write down your recipes before you forget where you got them from...or return your cook-books to the library!

So, instead, I bring you the side dish: Golden Potato Salad.

This recipe is from "The Vegetarian Family Cookbook" and I have made it two slightly different ways.

Here are the ingredients:

1 large sweet potato

4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes

1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into narrow strips

2 scallions (a.k.a. green onion), thinly sliced

Dressing

1/2 cup [soy] mayonnaise

1/2 cup low-fat yogurt

2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard

Juice of 1/2 lemon or lime

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Minced fresh parsley and/or dill, to taste.

Directions:

Bake or microwave the potatoes in their skins until done but still firm. Allow 2 to 3 minutes per potato, test for doneness, then add a little time as needed. Let them cool to room temperature. Slip their skins off and cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch chunks and place in a serving container with the peas, bell pepper, and scallions.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and stir together. Stir into the potato mixture.

Season with salt and pepper. Add parsley to taste, or put in a small bowl and pass for topping individual portions.

The first time I made this I used the soy mayonnaise which is called "Veganaise" and I only added 1 teaspoon of mustard and, of course, no disgusting dill. I hate both mustard and dill. Horrible, horrible, things. And, it was DELICIOUS!! Even Dave who doesn't hate much more in this world than peas - loved it. When he saw the peas he just about flipped out and said, "I am not eating peas. Don't even bother. I won't eat it". But, I explained to him that they are not cooked and they taste totally different (and very good) when they aren't cooked. So, you HAVE to use frozen and NOT canned peas! Dave also really, really, loved the Veganaise but then we discovered something that wasn't so good about it and stopped buying it. It was either the high price and/or I think it had a lot of cholesterol (which doesn't even make sense...but I think it really had more cholesterol than reg. mayonnaise). I can't really remember now what the reason was to not buy it again (short shelf life, too, I believe). But, I must say, this potato salad was gobbled up. Everyone was practically fighting over it. The girls kept asking for more and Dave brought a bunch in his lunch the next day.

The second time I made this I used the full amount of mustard, regular mayonnaise, and I over-cooked the potatoes a bit. It wasn't as good at all. So, be very careful about cooking your potatoes in the microwave...you may not need as much time as they suggest you may. And, you may want to go ahead and try the Veganaise because I think it made it taste really, really, good. The sweet potatoes make it different and very nummy and the peas are fantastic in this potato salad so don't listen to your family of pea-haters and add them in!

Be sure to hop on over to The Fairy BlogMother's site (the Home of "What's Cooking Wednesday") to find a bunch of other great recipes and...hey...why dontcha' join in and let us know what's cooking at your place while you're there?