Get in the kitchen and make me some: Potato Salad

	"Healthified" Classic Potato Salad 53% fewer calories • 74% less fat • 75% less sat fat than the original recipe—see the comparison. Feel good about passing this slimmed salad at picnics and potlucks!
	Prep Time: 30 min Total Time: 1 hr 30 min Servings: 8 servings (3/4 cup each)

• Salad
• 6 medium red potatoes (2 lb), unpeeled
• 2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
• 2 medium stalks celery, thinly sliced (1 cup)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
• Dressing
• 3/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Place potatoes in 4-quart saucepan; add enough water just to cover potatoes. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 20 to 30 minutes or until tender. Drain; let stand until cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes into cubes.

2. In large bowl, place potatoes, eggs, celery and onion; toss gently to mix. In small bowl, mix dressing ingredients until well blended.

3. Add dressing to potato mixture; toss gently to coat. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour or until serving time.

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My first impression after making this recipe is that it takes waaaay too long. It took me an hour and a half! (Which, upon further review, is exactly how long the recipe said it would take). Going to the store and buying a cheap container of potato salad seems A LOT easier. But I digress....

Okay, first step: boil the redskin potatoes and the eggs. Not too difficult, if of course, you know how long you're supposed to boil eggs and I do not. So I have to google it. Source says put eggs in cold water, bring to a boil, reduce to low, simmer for 1 minute, remove from heat and cover for 10-12 minutes. That's what I did. To a T. And guess what? They aren't done! I'm pretty sure hard boiled eggs aren't supposed to be bright yellow. Oh well. I'm using them anyway!

While I'm letting the eggs and potatoes cool, I start chopping the celery. What knife should you use to cut celery? I always struggle with choosing the right knife. "Thinly sliced," the recipe says. Well that's kind of a subjective statement, don't you think? What exactly does thinly sliced mean? Mine doesn't even look sliced. It looks chopped.

Okay, so now I'm supposed to cut the potatoes into cubes. What sized cubes are we talking about? I'm trying to remember how big the potatoes usually are in potato salad, but I don't eat it that often because I hate onions (side note - the beauty of making homemade potato salad is that I can omit the onions). Okay, so the skin of the redskin potatoes is completely coming off as I'm "cubing." Is that normal?

Next I mix up the dressing. Impressive. I didn't screw it up! BUT... I came VERY close to just dumping the mayonnaise right into the potatoes instead of mixing it with the other sauce ingredients separately. Probably wouldn't have done too much damage, but another example of how I (almost) screw up following directions in recipes. Now I put it in the refrigerator for an hour and wait for my guinea pig, I mean my husband Pat, to get home and try it.

Questions for the Martha Stewart's out there:

How do you boil eggs?
What knife would you have used to cut the celery and/or potatoes?
How would you have cubed the redskin potatoes?

Pat's Review:

"It was awesome." And a big thumbs up! That's what I like to see.

My Review:

Definitely worth the time it took to make. You would NEVER know it was made with low fat/fat free ingredients. If you invite me to a picnic this summer...I will bring you some. :)