Two Yummy Salads

I have two different salad recipes to share today. The first is a sweet and greasy German potato salad recipe passed down from my grandma. My dad used to make it when I was a kid. Something made me think of it recently and I called him for the recipe. He said he would get back to me. He had to dig and riffle for it. When he called back he expressed delight at what he encountered in the process of the hunt. Handwritten recipes on cards through the generations. Recipes written by me as a small child. Recipes my father carefully recorded after a particular success in the kitchen but maybe never replicated again. Difficult to read recipes scrawled in wavery cursive by aging grandmothers. Ahhhh, good stuff indeed. Among them all, it was there: German Potato Salad from Lydia's Kitchen.

We have harvested the small new potatoes from our potato container twice so far. There is nothing like the treasure hunt of digging for potatoes. Ours were red gems in the brown dirt. I used a mix of the new red potatoes with a few yukon golds I found in the fridge. The recipe called for sliced hard-boiled eggs on top. Because our eggs had just been delivered and were too fresh to successfully hard-boil, I fried a few over-easy in a bit of the left-over bacon grease and topped the salad with those. I modified the dressing slightly to accommodate the gluten-free me and voila. It was like I remembered it and a hit with our guests.

Look at that yummy greasy mess! Mmmmmm.....

Sweet and Greasy German Potato Salad
Ingredient List:
1 large red onion finely chopped
1/2 pound of good bacon
3 or so lbs of small to medium potatoes
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 T. cornstarch
3 eggs
Instructions:
Boil, peel, and slice the potatoes. Fry bacon until it is crisp. Save the grease. Boil gently 1 cup of water, the vinegar, and the sugar. Mix the cornstarch in 1 T. water and add to simmering dressing. Stir for a minute until you see it begin to thicken. Add 3 or 4 T. of the bacon grease to the dressing. Let thicken for a couple more minutes while stirring.
Pour the dressing over the potato slices in a serving dish. Top with chopped onions and crumbled or chopped bacon pieces. Fry eggs over-easy. Place on top of salad and break yolks. Serve warm. Serves 6-8 as a side dish.

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The second salad I encountered at a Mexican-themed birthday party I attended a couple weeks ago. It is a simple slaw with colors that say, "Eat me and thrive!". The whole dinner was like that actually. If I'd had my camera, you can bet I would have taken pictures. The hostess worked at a cafe in Chico, Ca in her college days and they served a salad similar to this. She's been making it ever since. It goes something like this:

Colorful Mexican Style Slaw
Salad:
1 small purple cabbage
4 carrots
1/4 cup chopped parseley
Shred the cabbage and carrots in a food processor. Place in a large bowl and stir in chopped parsley.
Dressing:
Combine:
1/4 cup canola oil
1 T. olive oil
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 T. rice vinegar
(Note: fresh squeezed lime juice would be a good substitution here for either or both of the vinegars)
3/4 t. ground cumin
3/4 t. ancho chili powder
1/2 t. salt
Optional: 1 small clove pressed garlic
Pour over salad and stir to combine.

Eat your colors and enjoy!