A Home Cooked 4th!

I wasn’t planning on making potato salad, but when buying grass fed beef (trust me, it tastes sooo much better) for burgers, I saw a bag of potatoes and figured why not!  It’s not hard to make and if you know your way around the kitchen, you really don’t need to refer to a written recipe.

Knowing I wanted to get an early start, so everything could be nice and chilled for later today, I started at about 7:45 and was out of the kitchen with potatoes and eggs cooked, and dishes done by 8:30.  That’s with all of my usual distractions including making and drinking coffee, and taking photographs, too.  Here’s my morning prep:

Scrub and chop your potatoes. I leave the skins on because there are more nutrients there.  (Totally staged shot, because I’m left handed. HaHa)

 

Put eggs in a pan of cold water with about 1t of salt & 1T of vinegar (makes for easier peeling). Bring to boil and then remove from heat. Let sit for 20 minutes off heat.

Add chopped potatoes to cold salted water and bring to boil.

Optional Seasoning; I usually use Herbs de Provence, but my local store was out so I substituted and used about 1T of this seasoning blend.

Potatoes cooking in seasoned water.

Bring potatoes to a rolling boil; reduce heat and cook for about 5 more minutes. Taste for desired doneness.

Drain eggs; run under cold water and place in ice bath to halt cooking.

Drain potatoes into a colander and rinse with cold water to stop further cooking.

Wash up your dishes. I like to clean as I cook so there is not a big mess in the kitchen.

Have a refreshing beverage, you earned it!

I’m having cold brew iced tea.

 

Next steps for later in the day.

Potatoes and eggs are cooked and cooled! Now it’s time to gather our ingredients and make some potato salad – – –

Crunchy celery,

part of an onion,

and some pickles.

Time to practice our knife skills – –

Chop the celery,

small dice on the onions,

chop pickles and add to bowl with the celery and onion.

Peel and chop the eggs:

 

The ingredients are chopped,  so now we need some seasonings – –

French seasoning mix, Italian dressing, mayonnaise, salt & pepper.

Oops, almost forgot the dill.

 

Let’s mix it all together – –

Add potatoes to large mixing bowl and season with the Italian dressing – about 2T

Add and stir in the chopped ingredients. The eggs to the left are for Deviled Eggs.

About 1/3 cup of mayonnaise

Time for the herbs! Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Mix well, place in lidded container, and refrigerate.  Correct seasoning prior to serving.

Clean up the dishes and you’re done!

 

It took me about 35 minutes to chop, mix, season, and clean up. If I hadn’t been taking photographs during the process, it would have take less time. Added bonuses to your time spent in the kitchen – – tastes better than store bought, you can control the ingredients, the satisfaction and pleasure of making good food!

 

Don’t forget to give your kitchen supervisor a treat.

 

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Flying the Flag

Making a Wall Hanging for the 4th of July!

This is not my original idea, but I was inspired by a photo I saw on Hillary’s Hook Crochet Along Group, a sister page to Hillary’s Hook on Facebook.

Flag Hanging from Hillary’s Hook

However, Hillary was also inspired by another image from Meg Made With Love.  Click photo for Meg’s project information.

Flag Hanging from Meg Made With Love

Instead of just copying what someone else created, I decided to use their idea as an  inspiration for my own hanging.  My project is currently in the works, and began with a little bit of research on the American Flag and reviewing stitch patterns to utilize.

The Union, that’s the blue field with 50 stars, is part one of my version and is stitched with the Arcade Shell Stitch.  This stitch can be found on page 58 of Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia by Robyn Chachula.

I wanted to have 50 “stars” in my version, so following pattern instructions I chained 38.  While creating the fabric, I realized that I goofed because the first complete row of “stars” was one less than I anticipated.  To get 50 “stars” in this pattern, I should have chained 44.  My prototype flag hanging will have a “star” missing.  Opps!

 

 

So, that’s the first part.  Now to begin the stripes . . .

Until later,

Happy Crafting