Summer Food

Ray, Elaine & Betsy arrived back from Vermont last night. Now I have people to cook for again! As I took out the frozen ribs I cooked last week (on sale at Walmart!), I suddenly got to hankering for some real summer food for tonight.

To me, summer means corn-on-the-cob, fresh peaches and plums and berries, sliced homegrown tomatoes, and macaroni and potato salads. I make quite a few variations on potato salad, but the one I wanted to go with the ribs is this one:

Three-Potato Salad

6-8 Red Potatoes
3-4 White Potatoes
1-2 Sweet Potatoes

6 stalks of celery, including leaves, chopped
1 Vidalia onion, diced fine
4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

2 Tbls. cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2/3 cup fat-free mayo
1/3 cup real mayo
Salt & Pepper

1. Peel sweet potato(es). Chop into 2" chunks and microwave along with other potatoes until just fork tender. (Microwaving keeps the kitchen cool and doesn't waterlog the poor things like boiling them). When done, place in a bowl and let cool until you can handle them without burning your fingers.

2. Cut all potatoes into 3/4" to 1 " chunks. Sprinkle with vinegar and lemon juice.
Add celery, onion and eggs. Gently fold in mustard and mayo, then salt and pepper to taste. Chill.

I love the combination of flavors, with the sweetness of the yams, the tang of lemon and vinegar, and the smooth mellowness of the white and red-skin potatoes (don't peel those!). The fat-free mayo is for virtue, the real mayo for flavor.

I have gotten to the point that whatever I put in my mouth has to be absolutely delicious. I spend so much time on the elliptical, huffing and puffing to get rid of those excess calories, every bite has a price. It's a price I'm willing to pay, as long as I get some pure pleasure out of it!