A Potato Salad to Love!

The reasons for this post are three fold, so read on! 

• For most of my life, I have not loved potato salad.  I especially have not loved the ones I have made.  I really wanted to like it.  Potato salad is such a staple when it comes to barbecues and pot lucks.  It seems like something I would like because I like the ingredients that go in it, like potatoes and hard boiled eggs.  But, it just never really did anything for me. Well, a number of years ago, I was asked to bring the potato salad to a get together with friends.  I was determined to make it the best potato salad ever!  And guess what!  I did it!  I used a couple of secret ingredients that really perked this salad up.  Now I'm willing to make and bring potato salad to dinners. I use this recipe and I have never looked back! 
  
• Reason #2 is that our weather here in Phoenix, as with the rest of the country, has been very strange and unpredictable.  We had cold and overcast skies with rain over this long weekend, and then on Monday mid-morning, the skies cleared and the sun was shining!  My husband asked if I wanted to have a campfire in our backyard and cookout that evening!  That sounded like fun so I invited our local-living kids over and we started preparing to grill burgers. Of course, I had to make potato salad to go with burgers! We have a fire pit in our backyard that we love to use as much as possible.  My husband built ours, but you can find portable ones here or here. The prices on both of those are really good right now!
• The final reason I decided to give you the potato salad recipe is that I haven't finished the tutorial for the boy's Valentines yet, because I was busy making potato salad! 

Depending on the number of people you will be serving, I make that many potatoes for my salad. We were serving 7 adults, (because not everyone could come) so I cooked 7 potatoes. Scrub them, then either boil them or cook them in the microwave until nice and tender. There is nothing worse than a hard potato in a potato salad!

       We don't always peel our potatoes for potato salad, it is up to you.  I baked them in the microwave this time and then peeled the skins off easily.  It makes for a prettier pictures.     Also, while you are cooking your potatoes, you should be boiling about 6 eggs. 

To me, one of the best parts of the potato salad is the hard boiled eggs! I will talk more about them in a moment.

Here are the potatoes all cut up into the bowl.

         Now you will add the first secret ingredient!  Italian salad dressing. 

Can you see how much dressing is in this bottle, I used the rest of it to marinate the potatoes. It doesn't matter the brand, just use what you like. I happened to have this in my fridge and just used it up.

You want enough salad dressing to cover the potatoes. Just stir it up and let them sit while you chop up the rest of the ingredients.

Now you chop up a couple stalks of celery, some onion and pickles. I used dill pickles this time, but sometimes I use sweet and they are both equally good. The amount that you use is according to your taste. I used 2 celery stalks, 1/2 of a small onion and about 1 c. of small pickles. Mix these ingredients in with the potatoes, plus about 1/4 c. of pickle juice.

     Now, back to those eggs!  Click on the pictures to see my tips.

Add salt to your water when you are boiling them to help them peel nicely.

I use my egg slicer to do most of the work for me. Lay your egg on it horizontally to get nice slices.

Save two of the eggs sliced like this for garnish. (You can salt and eat the ends that don't show the pretty yellow yolk!)

With 4 of the eggs, lay them on the slicer vertically and slice again.

You will end up with these nice cubed pieces to put in the salad.

So, to recap, now you have the salad dressing, vegetables and eggs, plus pickle juice mixed together.

        The egg slicer really is a nice little gadget.  I have had mine for a long time.  But,  here is a Kitchen Aid  one that would match my mixer! Here is one that cuts all different kinds of slices and wedges! 
​          Now it is time for the final ingredients, including one more unexpected one.  

To this size recipe, add 1 heaping T. of mayonnaise and 1 heaping T. of SOUR CREAM! The sour cream helps to mellow out the flavor a little and adds creaminess to the salad. It is so good! Come on, sour cream and potatoes is classic! You then add a squirt of yellow mustard.

       Now, the amount of mustard you use is up to you  As a matter of fact, this time I felt that the amount shown here was a little bit too much. But some people like a mustard potato salad, so it is up to you.  Also, at this point I add a little salt and pepper, about a tsp. of garlic powder and 1/2 tsp. of turmeric. Mix it all together really well. 

Finally, smooth the salad out in the bowl and garnish with the egg slices. Sprinkle with paprika to garnish.

        I like to put lots of slices because everyone love to get one on their salad.  I asked my husband to remind me to take a picture of a serving of the salad on a plate before we ate it all, but he failed me in that request! Wow! You give a guy one job....(jk).
        I am going to give you a written recipe, but I want you to remember that many of the ingredients are a matter of taste, so you will want to add more or less according to what you like.  I am giving you this 7 potato recipe.  You will need to change amounts accordingly if you make a larger or smaller salad.
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Helen's Potato Salad

     Now I am off to finish that tutorial for Valentine's for your little boys!  (or girls, too)  So come back tomorrow and see how they turned out!  I am loving them!