100th Post and Recipe!

Guess what? This is my 100th post! Way cool; let's party!!! :D

Okay, that's enough. Now, seeing as how summer {ugh, not my favorite season!} is just around the corner, folks are gonna be out barbecuing more often and one of the more popular side-dishes for anything barbecued {aside from watermelon} is potato salad, I'm gonna give you the recipe for my famous potato salad! See, aren't I nice? ;)

What you will need:
12 to 16 good sized red potatoes. Brown potatoes will work too but they tend to fall apart during the cooking process. You can also vary the amount of spuds; my family is rather large and everyone has large appetites so. . . :)
3 to 6 hard boiled eggs.
1 tub of sour cream {trust me on this one}.
2 sticks of celery, minced {or at least chopped into small pieces}.
1/2 red onion, finely chopped.
1 large pickle or 6 small pickles {depending on how much you like pickles that is}.

Now, the above ingredients are the basics. The ingredients below are optional; actually, everything aside from the first three items are optional.

1 can of black or green olives.
12 to 24 pickled green olives {you know, those things sitting at the bottom of your martini glass?}
1 carrot, finely chopped.
1/3 to 1/2 cup of pickled peppers or fresh peppers {the equivalent of one half of a bell pepper}, chopped of course.
I suppose you could put mushrooms in it but I never have.
Some apple cider vinegar {I'll explain in a minute}.
Salt and black pepper.

Step 1: Gently scrub the potatoes; red potatoes have a thinner skin than brown potatoes so you don't need to peel them. Besides, the skin is the healthy part of the spud anyway. Tip: to eliminate any bitter flavors, scrub out or remove the eyes on the spuds. Place the clean potatoes in a pot of boiling water {add a dash of salt to the water before you stick the spuds in for flavor} and boil until a fork is easily inserted into the middle of the potato. Remove, drain, rinse under cold water and let cool while you get the eggs boiling.

Step 2: While the spuds cool and the eggs slowly boil {which they should do for about fifteen to twenty minutes or so}, get out a sharp chopping knife, a cutting board and a large bowl {like, very large!}. Chop up the celery, carrot and onion first; put these into the bowl and then pour a little of the vinegar over them. This is a trick I learned from my mom: the celery and other veggies will soak up the vinegar and when you eat them later, they'll be more flavorful. Okay, once those are in, chop up and add in the olives, peppers, pickles and such.

Step 3: The eggs should be finished boiling about now so drain and rinse them with cold water before you move onto the potatoes, which you will chop up and add to the vegetables. Peel the eggs {I advised rinsing them off once after you've gotten rid of the shells} and then either chop into small pieces or use one of those handy-dandy things that slice the eggs with wire. What are those things called anyway?? Well, when you've all the ingredients, sprinkle with salt and pepper then dump the entire tub of sour cream into the mix and thoroughly combine the ingredients. Add a dash of salt and pepper to your tastes and serve with the rest of the meal.

See, wasn't that easy? :) Typically takes two to three hours from start {scrubbing the spuds} to finish {adding in the sour cream}, and serves oh, ten people depending on how much you actually made. A sixteen-potato salad typically serves my family of seven for two days after the main meal it was made for. We often have leftovers for breakfast and lunch around my house. ;) Enjoy!!