Potato Salad

I love potato salad. It's one of the first "recipes" that I had that I used successfully for years. It came from my mom and involved italian salad dressing and mayo. Pretty good.

I also found a good recipe in a Pampered Chef cookbook that added sour cream, which made it fluffier.

Now, though - while I like mayo, I try to avoid it in potato and pasta salads. I used the directions for how to cook the potatoes from Pampered Chef, because I like the consistency.

Potato Salad
2 lbs potatoes, peeled if not organic, diced into 1 inch cubes: 0.54
1 lb fresh green beans: 1.69
6 large radishes, cut in half lengthwise and sliced (about 1 cup before slicing): 0.50
1/4 c. green olives, sliced: 0.50
fresh parsley (from my garden)

dressing
2 cloves garlic, minced: 0.10
1/4 c olive oil: 0.44
1/4 c tarragon vinegar: 0.40
1 Tbsp dried onion flakes: 0.10 (you can use real onion, like red onion or green onion)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano: 0.05

Total: $4.32 for about 7 cups, or $0.62 per cup

Mix dressing ingredients in a measuring cup. Set aside.

Peel potatoes (if desired) and dice. Put a large pot of water on to boil with several cups of water and a steamer basket. Once boiling, add the potatoes, reduce heat to maintain boil, and cover. Steam for 14 minutes.

When done, test for doneness with a knife. Drain and rinse in cold running water to stop the cooking.

Meanwhile (or after, I usually do this a day ahead, so I do it in series), bring a pot of water to boil. Trim the ends of the green beans. Drop beans into boiling water and boil 4 minutes. Drain and rinse to cool. Cut the beans into 1-inch lengths. Add to the potatoes. Add the dressing and toss ingredients together.

When beans and potatoes are fully cool, add the radishes, parsley, and olives.

Options:
It's also pretty good with sun-dried tomatoes.
You can add real onion if you like. Or celery. I'm not a fan of celery in potato salad.
I generally make this with red wine vinegar, but I ran out. Hence the tarragon.
Sugar snap peas are a good alternative to green beans.