Marinated Potatoes a Creative Choice for St. Patrick's Day

Here is a healthy version of potato salad to serve this spring provided by Kerry Dunnington, the author of two cookbooks focused on healthier and seasonal eating. The recipe was created in response to the fact that mayonnaise was being rationed during the 1940s.

Kerry writes:

My mother has been serving this potato dish since she and my father first ate it at a picnic with friends in the summer of 1945. The picnic was in honor of their return from the war. It was a potluck event, and one of the women brought this potato dish, announcing it wasn’t at all like traditional potato salad because it only had a tablespoon of mayonnaise. (Mayonnaise was being rationed at the time.) Everyone loved it and no one missed the traditional potato salad laden with mayonnaise.

½ cup canola oil

¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon black pepper

6 medium potatoes, unpeeled (peel if you prefer), quartered

1½ cups quartered and thinly sliced onion

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

In a 1-cup jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine oil, vinegar, celery seed, salt and pepper. Shak contents until well combined. Allow marinade to stand at room temperature for several hours.Cook potatoes in boiling, salted water for about 15 minutes or until tender. Allow the potatoes to cool. When cool enough to handle, thinly slice. In the dish you will be serving the potato salad, layer the potatoes and the onions alternately. Shake marinade and pour evenly over the potatoes and onions. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Just before serving, toss the potatoes with the mayonnaise. Season with additional salt if necessary.

6 servings

Kerry is the author of Tasting the Seasons: Inspired, In-Season Cuisine That's Easy, Healthy, Fresh and Fun and This Book Cooks 

Valentines from the Heart

Here are some of the Valentine canvases I decorated for Valentine's Day as gifts for friends. A little bit of lace, fabric flowers and a heart charm dress these up to making them sweet enough for the holiday.

For those of you who want more details, the background was covered with a piece of deli paper that was a pulled print from my gelli plate. The purple felt heart was cut out using the Brother Scan n Cut machine which I am only beginning to learn how to use. Other embellishments used were things I had on hand, like the "friends" stamp for which I used Versamark ink and then embossed the image. I also had some small pieces of lace which I used to dress up the canvas and a little bit of pink trim (top) which I had bought on clearance.

Actually the only thing I had to buy to make these were the 5 x 7 canvases. It makes me happy to use up things I have on hand, One of my favorite quotes which I have used in this blog is:

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

Amen.

Left Brain, Right Brain, Ha!

This is just one of the grocery shopping lists I made and used during the holidays. I usually throw these away in the store when I am done shopping, but this one fascinated me. I couldn't help but think about all those left brain/right brain references I always find in books about creativity and especially, about writing. And I wondered what a psychiatrist would think of my work above, wondering if I may have created a whole new part of the brain.

For a quick review, the left brain is supposedly in charge of logic, language, math and the ability to retrieve facts. Think Mr. Spock. The right brain, on the other hand, is the creative part. It's intuitive, subjective and thoughtful. Think Capt. Kirk.

So in those writer's texts, the lesson was that you should create your greatest work by relying on the right brain, and trying to keep the left side, also known as The Editor, from making comments like: What are you thinking? No one will read this! Or This is the worst story/article/poem I have ever read. Delete it now before someone gets hurt!

Of course these situations would also apply to anyone trying to create anything. Not a happy meeting of the minds for sure.

But today's experts now say these two brain hemispheres always work together, helping each other out when the time comes. So no one is so entrenched in one side of their brain to the point that they can't make use of the talents the other hemisphere offers.

So my disorganized shopping list doesn't define me either way. I'm just a messy thinker no matter which side of the brain I am using.

I can live with that.