Loaded Baked Potato Salad

In keeping with my no-bake summer tradition (except on the days that don't get out of the 70s :)), I decided to make a potato salad.  When I told my husband what we would be having for dinner that night, he did a double-take when I said potato salad. 

See, I'm not a huge fan of potato salad.  Mostly because I don't like mayonnaise much.  So I never made potato salad.  But, while perusing Pinterest one day, I came across this recipe.  And it looked interesting.  So I decided to try it.

Just so you know, I liked it.  I wish I'd had all the ingredients (I was lacking the chives and the cilantro) just so I could taste it as it was written.  But I was too lazy to walk to the garden and clip chives.  And my THRIVE Cilantro hadn't arrived yet (it came later that evening), and I don't like wasting fresh cilantro, so I don't buy the fresh stuff anymore.  Thus, I made the potato salad without those two things.  In the future, I will be sure to add them.  Because I'm pretty sure they would only make it more awesome.

To be fair, I'll also include my husband's opinion.  When he got home that night, he said, "So this is potato salad?"  Hahaha.  Well, he is used to his mom's potato salad, which has egg and black olives and pickles in it.  Her potato salad is good.  I like that she doesn't use much mayonnaise.  But I tried something new.  And my sweetie wasn't expecting that.  He said, "It's not bad, it's just not what I was expecting."

I think my favorite part was the ranch dip dry mix sprinkled on the potatoes after boiling.  Just gave them an awesome flavor!  And I only used 1/2 a packet, rather than the full packet called for in the original recipe.  So, without further ado, here's the recipe as I made it:

6 medium baking potatoes (4 peeled, 2 with skin on), cut into 1" chunks
1/2 package ranch dip mix
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons cilantro (I omitted)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup to 1/3 cup bacon bits
2 tablespoons chopped chives (I omitted)
garlic powder to taste
pepper to taste

Cover potatoes in a pot with about 1" water.  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer.  Cook about 10 minutes or until fork tender. 

Spread out on a baking sheet and sprinkle immediately with ranch.  With a spoon, turn potatoes over and try to stir them together to evenly coat with ranch mix.  Allow them to cool (either on the counter or in the refrigerator).

In a large bowl, mix together sour cream, mayonnaise, mustard, cilantro, garlic powder, pepper.  When potatoes are cool, add them to the sour cream mixture and mix well to coat potatoes.  Stir in cheddar cheese and bacon bits.  Sprinkle with chives.  Enjoy!

Tomato Biscuit & Cheese

As I mentioned here, I got this recipe from my mother-in-law.  It is a great way to enjoy fresh garden tomatoes when the tomato harvest is on!  And ours definitely is!!!  In fact, last night's dinner featured tomatoes and zucchini from our garden.  I made these plus the zucchini garden cakes.  It was delicious! 

This recipe is relatively simple -- and it's one of those I like to call "accordion" recipes.  You can make more or less depending on how many people you are feeding.  There is something about the blend of flavors that really makes this a refreshing and delicious meal, in my opinion.  I'd never had it before I tried it last summer when all our tomatoes were ripening.  But now that our tomatoes are ripening again, I made sure to put it on our list (particularly since the temperatures have been in the 70s the last several days -- you know my rule about heating up the house with the oven in summer!).  So I'm hoping the temperatures drop while we still have fresh tomatoes.  Because I want to make this again :).  (Especially since my sweetie came home from work last night and gobbled up 6 of them ;) -- leaving none for leftovers!  I can't say I blame him, though...  He works 10 hours and doesn't eat lunch.  Poor guy.)

You could probably enjoy this as a side dish as well, but we usually use it as a main dish -- meatless style!  I always use cottage cheese, which has a decent amount of protein, so I feel like we get what we need.

I made the biscuits from scratch, though you can use English Muffins or other pre-prepared biscuits.  The biscuit recipe I used can be found here on my THRIVEing Nilla blog, since I used THRIVE butter powder to make the biscuits.

And here is the recipe for Tomato Biscuit & Cheese:


8 English Muffins or biscuits or home-made recipe of biscuits already baked
8 slices of tomato (thickness of your choice, but probably not super-thick as you want them to get hot and cooked somewhat in the cooking stage)
salt, pepper, oregano, and basil to taste
1/2 cup cottage cheese (or sour cream or plain yogurt -- I always use cottage cheese)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 to 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Place biscuits (or English Muffins) on a baking sheet.  Place a slice of tomato on each biscuit.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil.

Mix cottage cheese and mayonnaise.  Distribute evenly over tomato slices.  Sprinkle all with cheese.  (If you push the biscuits together, you can keep the cheese sprinkling more contained :)).

Bake at 450 degrees until the tomato is hot and cheese is melted (I did about 5 to 7 minutes).  *You can also microwave these individually until the tomato is hot and cheese is melted.

French Bread

I think there are few things finer than freshly baked yeast breads.  Seriously, I could live off of bread (well, my taste-buds could, at least).

Some time ago, I found this recipe through pinterest.  The original recipe is found here.  I follow the recipe exactly -- and it is seriously the best bread ever.

I have actually used some whole wheat flower in a batch (I think I subbed 2 cups whole wheat flour for 2 white).  It's still good, but not nearly as divine.

I love this recipe so much, I actually made several batches of it before it got hot here and froze the loaves so we could enjoy it all summer without heating up the house :).  It is that good.

So, without further ado, here's the recipe (but don't say I didn't warn you if you get addicted):

2 1/2 c. warm water
2 Tbls. yeast
3 Tbls. sugar
2 Tbls. white vinegar
1 Tbls. salt
1/3 c. oil (I use Canola)
6-7 c. flour

Mix first 4 ingredients in a large bowl and let sit 3 to 5 minutes until a little bubbly and frothy.

Add salt and oil, stir. Add flour one cup at a time until dough is soft, but firm enough to mold into loaves. Put in greased bowl in the oven with a pot of boiling water (boiling water will help keep dough moist). Allow to rise to top of bowl (about 45 minutes) and punch down. Allow to rise again. Do this 2 to 5 times (as you have time available).

Empty dough out onto a greased surface and separate into two equal parts. Form into rectangular/french bread loaves and slash each loaf on top 3 to 5 times. Allow to rise 30 minutes or until they reach the size you want. Brush with beaten egg. Bake 25 to 30 minutes at 375.

Recipe makes 2 large loaves or 3 medium sized loaves.  The loaves freeze really well.

Tonight I served this with a hearty vegetable soup.  I used a lot of my THRIVE for the soup, making it a fast and easy meal.  You can find that recipe (the way I made it) here.

Linda's Pasta Salad

So, if there is an official name for this pasta salad, I don't know what it is.  Thus, when I got the recipe years ago, I named it after the awesome lady who shared it with me.  And now I just call it Linda's Pasta Salad.

And it's way yummy.  You could probably add chicken to it, if you want to make it a main dish.  I pretty much always make it as a side dish, though.

3 cups cooked and cooled pasta (colorful rotini is especially eye-pleasing, but I always just have plain elbow)
1/2 of a large red onion, diced small
1 cucumber, cut into small pieces
1 to 2 tomatoes (depending on size), diced
1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Seasoning salt to taste

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Cover and marinate 2 hours overnight.  Serve cold.  Serves 6 to 8.

Added bonus is that I get to use a cucumber from my garden!