The Healthy Cooking Coach

The Everlasting Salad

I know the weather’s getting chillier and some of you may be swearing off salads in favor of more cooked vegetables. Still many of you will probably keep consuming salads throughout the winter, paired with warm soups, stews, roasts, or grilled meats. I didn’t want to miss the chance to share a cool salad recipe and time-saving technique with you.

Photo right by Chef Rachel ©2009

Healthy eating just got easier
Are you looking for a way to make it more convenient to get vegetables into your daily diet? Do you rush out the door in the morning with a pack lunch that’s missing vegetables? Do you come home at night and want to get dinner on the table more quickly? Great leftovers are the key to packing great lunches and assembling low maintenance dinners.

Cook ahead
If you’ve read my cookbook, The Garden of Eating, or attended my cooking classes you know I encourage people to Shop Ahead, Chop Ahead, and Cook Ahead. I’m a fan of the “cook once, eat twice,” or “cook once, eat thrice,” motto. I almost always cook with two or three meals or days in mind. I cook extra portions of fish, poultry, or meat, hard boil extra eggs. I roast, bake, grill, or blanch vegetables and make soups with multiple meals in mind. Those planned-overs made it easy for me to assemble breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in a dash.

What about green salads? Have you ever made a salad, dressed it, then stashed the leftovers in a  covered bowl and found it wilted, watery, and unappealing the next day? They don’t always work, particularly if your dressing contains salt or vinegar.

Salad keeping secret
Would you like to make a green salad today and have it look and taste just as delicious tomorrow and the next day? This summer I discovered a way to make green salads that last for several days and still look and taste great. Actually, my dear friend, Don, hit on this idea with no prompting from me. He shared his secret with me and let me taste some of the salads he concocted using his new technique.

Olives and raisins
If you’ve never added olives and raisins to the same salad try it. It’s really delicious. You can experiment with different dried fruits, different salad veggies, and combinations of ingredients. If you add grated carrots, try using the super tiny hole on a standard box grater for an entirely different effect (more tender bites of carrot that spread throughout the salad). You can add a sprinkle of toasted nuts or seeds if you like and/or some crumbled goat or sheep milk feta if you tolerate dairy products.

Spice it up
If you want to spice up the salad at the table, you can peel, finely grate and squeeze fresh ginger juice or add a few drops of hot sauce to your portion of salad (not the whole salad) at the table.

So don’t be shy, give the recipe and variations a try and let me know what you think.

The Everlasting Salad 

Prep: 15 minutes/ Cooking: 0 /   Yield: 4 to 6 servings                                                          

I don’t consider a bowl of lettuce or baby greens a salad. It’s a start, but it needs color and texture. My friend Don shared this cool tip with me for making a green salad that will keep well for three days in the fridge. It’s super convenient and easy to make and goes with just about any kind of meat, fish, poultry, or bean dish. I like to add a root, tuber, squash, or fruit dish to the meal as well.

The trick is to coat the veggies with olive or avocado oil and to avoid adding vinegar, lemon juice, or salt to the salad. You can salt and other things at the table if you like. All measurements are approximate. You can vary the type of lettuce (romaine’s the most durable) and the colorful mix-ins. I like to start with a 4 quart bowl. I figure about 2 cups of salad per person per meal/day.

Ingredients:
6 to 8 cups lettuce, washed well, spun dry, and cut or torn into bite-size pieces:
    romaine, red leaf, green leaf, oak leaf, Boston, buttercrunch, bib, lollo rosso lettuce, or some combination of 2 or more mild lettuces
1/2 small or medium red onion or 1 bunch scallions (green onions), sliced paper thin
1/2 cup red radish, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced or 3 stalks sliced celery, optional
1 or 2 medium carrot, peeled and grated very, very finely, optional
1/2 cup pitted black olives, thinly sliced into rounds or strips, optional
1/4 to 1/2 cup raisins, optional
2 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil (essential!)

Optional additions at the table
2 to 4 ounces goat or sheep milk feta, crumbled
2 to 4 tablespoons soaked and dehydrated (see Crispy Nuts) or toasted nuts or seeds:
almonds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, or pistachios,left whole or coarsely chopped

1. Layer vegetables in a 3- or 4-quart bowl.  Toss gently with olive oil  to coat. Cover and refrigerate whatever you don’t plan to use right away.
2. When ready to eat, you can lightly season your portion with sea salt, pepper, or lemon juice as you like. Add a dash more oil if the salad seems dry or you need more calories and/or toss with goat or sheep milk feta or chopped or whole toasted almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds.
3. Cover and refrigerate leftovers. Use within about 3 days.

Variations:

• Experiment with different vegetables and combinations of ingredients.

 

The secret for making vegetables look & taste great

Looking healthier lower carb alternatives to crackers, chips, and other grain and potato products? Do you want make vegetables more tender, tasty, and digestable? Do you want to eat more of them and encourage your family and friends to do the same? Then you’ll want to try my secret weapon of a recipe below and add it to your recipe repertoire.

Raw veggies, raw deal
Many people who don’t like raw broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, and radishes, enjoy these vegetables when they’re parboiled. Personally, I don’t eat or serve raw broccoli or cauliflower; they contain goitrogens that can inhibit your thyroid function and your digestive enzymes and cause painful gas and bloating.

What’s in it for you?
This method makes vegetables more vibrant and eye appealing. It’s virtually guaranteed to invite people to take first and even second helpings of vegetables. I’ve watched four and five year olds, grade school children, teenagers, and picky adults take first and second helpings of vegetables prepared this way and express utter amazement at how good they taste. Take note: It’s not steaming––not even close!

What’s the secret?
I was first introduced to the Japanese technique Ohitashi, which means boiled salad in Japanese, more than 20 years ago. To many people “boiled salad,” conjures up visions of soggy boiled lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes, so I prefer to use the term, “parboiled salad.” It’s almost identical to blanching.

You cut the vegetables into thin slices or bite-size pieces, then cook them briefly in lightly salted, rapidly boiling water with the lid off, then plunge them into an ice bath to stop the cooking and hold the colors. Then you drain the vegetables, pat them dry, and serve them with a dip or salad dressing.

Don’t for get the salt
Salt the cooking water to create osmotic pressure to minimize the migration of minerals from the vegetables into the cooking water. (Remember high school biology?)

Leave the lid off
You can leave the lid on the pot when you start it boiling, but once you start adding vegetables, leave it off! This keeps the vegetables from over cooking and allows you to watch them and take them out in a timely manner. It also keeps the temperature from getting too high in the pot and the water.

One kind at a time
To maintain the unique flavor of each vegetable, cook each kind separately, but in the same water. That way the carrots won’t taste like broccoli, and cauliflower won’t taste like onions. Remember, you’re not making soup here!

Do it in order
The order of cooking makes a difference. Start with the most mild or sweetest-tasting vegetables (carrots or onions). Finish with strong, bitter, or pungent vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, celery, cabbage, daikon radish, or mustard greens) or vegetables whose colors that might bleed into the water (red radish or purple cabbage).
       
Ready the ice bath
Plunging the cooked vegetables into ice water stops cooking and holds their vibrant colors. You don’t want these lovely vegetables to look like broccoli left in the steamer too long with the lid on.

Drain 'em
Draining is just as crucial. Do it twice to remove all traces of water, otherwise your salad dressing will pool in the bottom of the bowl.

Serving blanched vegetables
You can toss blanched vegetables together in a serving bowl, artfully arrange them on a platter for a composed salad, or refrigerate them in separate jars for a salad bar effect in your fridge.You can dress an entire bowlful (I usually don’t) or just enough for a meal. I usually allow each person to dress his or her portions to taste at the table.

Plan for leftovers but don’t go overboard
Cook enough vegetables to serve 2 to 3 days in a row. Don’t make enough for the week. The longer they sit in the fridge the more nutrients they lose. However, if you don’t make leftovers you’ll miss out on more nutrients by not having veggies on hand when hunger and meal time strikes. Remove the  leftovers from the fridge 30 minutes before serving if you like, to take the chill off.

Here’s what you need (equipment):
(1) A sturdy vegetable knife, a Mac or Caddie knife or a chef’s knife
(2) 4 to 6 bowls for holding the chopped vegetables
(3) A 3- or 6-quart pot with a lid
(4) A large stainless steel colander nestled inside a larger stainless steel bowl
(5) A skimmer, spider, deep fry basket, or pasta insert
(6) Ice and cool or cold water
(7 A large platter and some wide-mouth glass jars or bowls with lids for storing

See how to make this recipe:

   
Crudité Platter of Seasonal Vegetables 

Prep: 30 minutes/ Cooking: 10 to 15 minutes total/ Yield: 12 or more servings   

This recipe encourages people to take second helpings of vegetables. Parboiling reduces bitter flavors, making vegetables more eye appealing and more tender, tasty, and digestible. Try it or sit-down dinners, potlucks, pack lunches, or party trays with a couple of delicious dips, such as Spicy Peanut Sauce and Cashew-Dill or Cashew-Macadamia dill Dip.

Notes: Salting the water keeps more minerals and flavor in the vegetables. As an appetizer, figure 1/2 to 1 cup cooked vegetables per person. As a side dish, figure 1 1/2 to 2 cups per person if you don’t serve a tossed salad or cooked greens in the meal.  

Ingredients:
3 medium carrots (about 3 cups), peeled and cut into finger-like sticks for dipping
1 medium cauliflower (about 5 cups), cut into florets with enough stem to hold on to
1 pound asparagus (about 4 cups), woody bottom portion discarded where it breaks easily, remaining stems cut into 2-inch lengths or broccoli cut into bite-size florets
1 medium-size sweet red bell pepper, halved, cored, seeded, cut into 1-inch wide strips
1 sweet yellow bell pepper, halved, cored, seeded, cut into 1-inch wide strips
3 to 4 quarts of filtered water for cooking
1 1/2 or 2 teaspoons unrefined sea salt (1/2 to 1 teaspoon per quart of H20)
Additional filtered water
8 or more cups of ice for chilling the vegetables after cooking

1. Arrange each kind of sliced vegetable in a separate bowl.

2. Salt the water and bring it to boil in a covered 4 to 6-quart pot over high heat. Set a pasta insert into the water, at least 3-inches deep, or have a large Chinese skimmer on hand.  Prepare an ice bath (filtered water with plenty of ice) in a large bowl.

3. Cook each kind of vegetable separately but in the same water in this order: carrots 30 to 60 seconds; cauliflower or broccoli 2 to 3 minutes; asparagus and daikon radish 1 to 2 minutes; peppers 30 to 60 seconds. Let the water return to boil before adding vegetables; watch clock to avoid overcooking. Leave lid off during cooking.

4. Use the pasta insert or Chinese skimmer to quickly transfer cooked vegetables to the reserved ice bath to stop the cooking and set the color. Leave vegetables in the ice water until cool to the touch (about 2 minutes), drain in a colander, and then squeeze to remove excess water, or pat dry. Add more ice to the bowl as needed. While one vegetable cools, cook the next kind, and then transfer to ice water, then colander.     

5. Arrange vegetables on one or more platter(s) and serve with dips, or transfer to glass jars or bowls with lids. Refrigerate and use within 3 days. Do not reheat.

Entire recipe: 565 calories, 35 g protein, 104 g carbohydrate (32 g fiber), 1 g fat, 784 mg calcium, 797 mg sodium
1 heaping cup: 47 calories, 3 g protein, 9 g carbohydrate (3 g fiber), 65 mg calcium, 65 mg sodium

Source: The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook by Rachel Albert Matesz & Don Matesz (Planetary Press, Copyright 2004)

To order and get a FREE sample shopping list for the menus in the book, click here:

Winter Squash: The Great Pumpkin Imposter

Superfood: Winter squash 
Even if you eat copious quantities of vegetables, consider eating more winter squash––––more butternut, buttercup, kabocha, honey delight, delicata, sweet dumpling, carnival, and hubbard squash. Winter squash is an excellent source of betacarotene, vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and mangagnese. It is also a good source of folate, thiamin, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, niacin, and copper. The nutrients it contains will nourish your body, ward of disease, and slow the aging process.

Winter vs. summer squash, what's the difference?
Botanically winter squash falls into the fruit family, although most of us think of it as a vegetable. It belongs to the gourd family along with cucumbers. Unlike their summery cousins (zucchini, yellow, and patty pan squash), which have a soft skin and watery flesh and require refrigeration, winter squash have hard skin, firm flesh, and will keep for up to 6 months unbagged in a cool dry place at room temperature. 

How to store winter squash
Set winter squash on a mantle above the fire place, on shelves away from the heat of the oven or steam, in your living room, a spare bedroom, or in an attic, if you have one. If possible set them on butcher paper, newspaper, or packing paper and separate them so they don’t touch. You can crumple up paper and place it between them. Moisture can collect where they touch, which invites mold, particularly if left for more than a few weeks. Only refrigerate it after slicing or cooking. Use cut, uncooked squash within 5 days. After cooking and cooling, freeze what you don’t plan to use within 3 days.

How to shop for winter squash
Choose Hokkaido pumpkin, kabocha, buttercup, butternut, honey delight, sweet dumpling or carnival squash that feels heavy in relation to its size.  Kabocha, Hokkaido, and buttercup squash should have dark green skins; any spots should be bright orange, not pale or yellow. A ripe butternut squash will be orange all over with no hint of green.  It should have fairly smooth, unblemished skin. Store it at room temperature.

Winter squash wins the flavor race
Most varieties, if grown in nutrient rich soil and allowed to ripen and cure, will have a sweet, fruity flavor that can satisfy your sweet tooth in a  healthy way. You'll find some exceptions: spaghetti squash isn’t nearly as sweet as other kinds of winter squash. Sometimes butternuts, buttercups, and other normally sweet winter squashes come up short on flavor. You may occasionally get a dud, one that tastes bland and mealy. That's a good reason to bake more than you think you'll need. After you taste it, you can freeze whatever you don't think you will use within 3 days. At a later date you can turn it into a custard, pudding, pie filling, soup, bread, muffin, ice cream, or Ice Dream.

Subbing squash for pumpkin 
You can use winter squash in almost any dish from soup to dessert. Consider using winter squash in any recipe that calls for pumpkin––in cookies, cakes, breads, custards, puddings, pies, soups, and frozen desserts. Winter squash lends a satisfying, rich, and (usually) sweet taste to recipes and meals.

Rumor has it that most canned pumpkin actually contains winter squash, butternut to be exact! From a factual standpoint, winter squash is a more ecological food to grow.

Why use winter squash in place of pumpkin?
* It requires less water and less space to grow.
* It’s less susceptible to bugs.
* It produces a higher yield and has a longer shelf life.
* It’s usually lighter and easier to life.
* If you get as sweet one you can cut back on the amount of sweetener in recipes.
* You’ll find squash easier to cut than pumpkins.

By the way, no one will know if you use squash your pumpkin recipes.

These are carnival squash, baked cut side down, then turned flesh side up for serving. They taste similar to delicata and sweet dumpling squash. Notice the deep color and caramelization.

Basic Baked Squash Halves

Prep: 10 minutes/ Cooking: 30 to 45 minutes/ Yield: 4 to 8 servings

Baked squash is incredibly sweet if you pick the right variety and prepare it properly. It should be heavy for its size. The stem should be dry, and any markings on the skin should be deep, dark orange. Halved and baked cut side down, so they don’t dry out; with no foil, water, or cover, the natural sugars caramelize. If you get a dud, you can sweeten it with honey, agavé nectar, date sugar, or stevia and vanilla.             Leftovers are convenient and delicious warmed in a toaster oven. One sweet dumpling or delicata will yield about 1 cup of mashed squash and can stand in for potatoes or pumpkin in a meal or recipe.

Ingredients:
2 sweet dumpling, or delicata squash (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds each) or 1 (3 to 3 1/2 pound) kabocha, Hokaido, buttercup, or butternut squash
Extra-virgin olive oil, clarified butter or unrefined coconut oil to grease pan, optional
Ground cinnamon or apple pie spice, optional
2 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil, flax oil, butter or 1/2 cup Fluffy Almond Butter (at the table), optional

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Wash and scrub squash, leaving skin intact. Snap or cut stem off with  sturdy vegetable knife (I suggest a Mac, Caddie, or Santoku knive). Place squash on folded kitchen towel on cutting board. Rock sturdy vegetable or chef knife back and forth to press through squash. Discard seeds. Brush or mist cut sides with coconut or olive oil and dust with cinnamon or pie spice, if desired.
2. Arrange squash cut side down in 1 or 2 cake pans or rimmed baking sheets. (Baked cut side up your squash will dry out and then scream out for gobs of fat and sugar!)
3. Bake uncovered in the center of the oven until tender, easily pierced with fork, and slightly golden on the bottom, 30 to 40 minutes. Syrupy juices may ooze out during baking (this is why you want a baking pan with sides).
4. Quarter large squash halves. Garnish as desired and serve or cover and refrigerate. Reheat in a heat-proof dish in the toaster oven or serve at room temp in a pack lunch. Use leftovers within 3 days for optimal flavor and nutrition.

1/2 cup: 55 calories, 1 g protein, 11 g carbohydrate (4 g fiber), 1 g fat, 15 mg calcium, 1 mg sodium

Variations:

*   For Pumpkin or Squash Purée: Scoop out the baked squash flesh and discard the skin. Purée the flesh in a food processor or force it through a medium mesh sieve or the medium disk of a food mill.  Freeze what you don’t plan to use within 3 days.  

*   You can turn leftover squash into Squash Pudding Pie, Creamy Squash Bisque, or Tomato, Squash & Ginger Bisque (see The Garden of Eating for recipes) or Pumpkin Ice Dream, Pumpkin Spice Ice Dream Sandwich Cookies, or Pumpkin Pudding Pie (see The Ice Dream Cookbook).

Source: The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook by Rachel Albert-Matesz & Don Matesz (Planetary Press, 2004).

Paring Away the Diet Myths

Do Vegetables & Fruits Make You Fat?   
Potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, and bananas have been attacked by some nutritionists who say you should avoid them because they score high on the glycemic index. Supposedly they will promote elevated insulin levels and consequently make people fat.

I don’t believe it! I struggled with my weight for more than 10 years, starting in my early teens. The more I dieted the heavier I got. Losing more than 40 pounds and keeping it off for more than 15 years didn't require giving up those delicious vegetables and fruits. In fact, eating more of those foods was one of the keys to my feeling more satisfied at meals and avoiding snacking and overeating. The effect of a food has a lot to do with the quality, the quantity we eat of it, and context in which we eat it.

Quality Matters
Baked or roasted potatoes will have a very different effect on your body than French fries, potato chips, or instant mashed potatoes. The more refined and processed a food, the more likely it is to adversely affect your blood sugar and your overall health. Foods in their whole, unrefined, or minimally refined state contain more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants than refined, processed foods and those that have been damaged by excessively high heat and processed oils.

Quantity & Context Matter
People rarely eat a food alone the way they do in tests to determine their glycemic index. When you eat carbohydrate-rich foods in the context of a meal with protein- or fat-rich foods, the glycemic response is reduced.

The glycemic index of a single food is less important than the impact of the entire meal. A medium baked potatoes eaten with a palm size portion of fish, chicken, or lean meat and large green salad will have a very different effect on your body than a meal of lunchmeat and processed cheese food on white bread with potato chips, soda, and a conventioanl cookie.

Glycemic Index vs. Glycemic Load
To promote elevated insulin and fat-formation, a food must have a high glycemic load, calculated by multiplying it’s glycemic index by the amount of carbohydrate in a 10-gram portion. Although potatoes and some other vegetables score relatively high on the glycemic index, they actually have relatively low glycemic loads compared to modern refined foods.

Parsnips and white potatoes both score high on the glycemic index, but they deliver a glycemic load about half that of a bagel or slice of white bread, and about one-fourth that of a bowl of Rice Krispies or Cornflakes cereals. Carrots and beets deliver glycemic loads one-tenth of those of processed cereals. So processed grain foods are the more likely culprits for blood sugar disorders and obesity, not fruits, roots, and tubers, such as potatoes.

In general, vegetables and fruits fill you up long before you can eat enough to fill you out. Based on caloric density, an overuse of fat-rich foods (nuts, seeds, oil, butter, mayo, bacon, cheese, and sourcream) is more likely to make you gain body fat, since fats are up to 45 times more calorie dense than vegetables and fruits.

More Good News About Potatoes
Potatoes are packed with potassium and other alkaline minerals. They also have a high satiety value. The "Satiety Index," developed by Australian researcher Dr. Susanna Holt at the University of Sydney, ranks different foods on their ability to satisfy hunger. Of 38 different foods tested, volunteers ranked boiled potatoes most satisfying. The size, bulk and blandness of potatoes may account for its high satiety value. “Their "portion weight was up to four times greater than the other foods [for the same caloric content]," says Holt. Note: French fries did not score well!

Potato Warning!
Potatoes contain Solanine, a toxic glyco-alkaloid. Sublethal doses can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Higher doses can cause low blood pressure, fever, rapid weak pulse, hallucinations, delirium, coma, and death. Exposure to light increases the content of this toxin. Store uncooked potatoes in the dark––e.g., a closed paper bag or shoebox in the kitchen or pantry. Avoid buying or eating potatoes with green-colored skins or sprouts longer than 1/8-inch.

For more about potatoes, glyemic index, and glycemic load, please refer to The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet and Cookbook, a book I co-wrote with Don Matesz.

Parisian-Style Potato Salad  

Prep: less than 30 minutes     Cooking: 30 minutes     Yield: 8 servings

The inspiration for this vinaigrette-style potato salad came from Vegetables by James Peterson. Try it for a picnic, party, potluck, or pack-lunch. You can make it in the morning so it’s ready for lunch or dinner on a hot day. Or assemble it the night before to allow the flavors to marry.

For a blood-sugar balancing meal, serve with fish, poultry, meat, or beans and a large green salad or cooked leafy green or mixed vegetables.

Potatoes:
2 1/2 pounds potatoes of a similar size with smooth skin free of sprouts and green coloring:
    Yellow Finn, Yukon gold, butterball, fingerling, new potato or an heirloom variety (the smaller the better); use baking potatoes (Russet or Idaho varieties) as a last resort
Filtered water to cover potatoes by 1-inch

Dressing:
2 tablespoons dry white wine (e.g., Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)
1/4 cup brown rice vinegar or raw apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, untoasted, unrefined sesame oil, flax oil, or combination of 2 oils
3 to 4 shallots, peeled and finely minced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 to 1 cup finely minced parsley leaves (wash impeccably well, remove stems, and pat or spin leaves dry before chopping or pulsing in a food processor)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon finely ground, unrefined sea salt (I use Celtic, Eden, Lima or Real Salt)
1/2 teaspoon finely or coarsely ground black pepper, or to taste

1. Add potatoes to a large bowl of water. Scrub with a vegetable brush, then rinse and transfer to a 4-quart pot. Add enough filtered water to cover. Bring to boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until you can easily pierce the potatoes with a skewer. They should still offer some resistance. Remove them from heat before the skins crack all over. Figure 25 to 35 minutes for medium-size potatoes, less for small fingerlings.

2. Drain potatoes in a metal colander. Cool for 30 minutes. Peel by holding one potato in a towel and removing the skin in long strips with a serrated spreader or paring knife.

3.  Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl or 2-cup measure (do not purée). Slice potatoes into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Halve or quarter large potatoes, then slice. Layer 1/4 of potatoes in a 3-quart non-metallic bowl or baking pan. Add 1/4 of the dressing and repeat, quickly and lightly stirring each layer to evenly distribute. Avoid over-mixing.

1 serving: 195 calories, 3 g protein, 26 g carbohydrate (1 g fiber), 9 g fat, 20 mg calcium, 122 mg sodium

Variations:

*    Reduce oil to 1/4 cup then add 1 more tablespoon white wine to reduce fat.

*    Replace vinegar with fresh lemon juice.

*    Parisian-Style Potato Salad with Cilantro & Lime: Replace vinegar and lemon juice with lime juice and parsley with minced cilantro. Add 2 cloves of finely minced or pressed garlic.

*    Chipotlé Potato Salad: In the master recipe above, replace vinegar with lime juice; replace parsley with cilantro; replace half of the black pepper with ground chipotlé pepper powder. Another option: replace the oil and vinegar in the master recipe with 1/2 cup Grapeseed Vegenaise (a high quality eggless soy mayo) or homemade mayo, and add1/2 cup each of minced red and yellow bell pepper.

*    American Style Potato Salad: Replace the dressing in the master recipe with 1/2 cup homemade mayo or Grapeseed Vegenaise plus 2 tablespoons vinegar (sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar, brown rice vinegar, or raw apple cider vinegar). Add 1 heaping tablespoon yellow, dijon, or honey-flavored mustard (I like True Natural Taste gluten-free mustard). Add 4 minced celery stalks, 1 small minced red onion or 1/2 cup coarsely chopped scallions, 1/4 cup minced natural dill pickles (Bubbies or Cascadian Farms), and 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley, dill weed, chives, or some combination.

Copyright 2008, Chef Rachel, The Healthy Cooking Coach
http://www.thehealthycookingcoach.com/