
Mmmm summer picnics. Is there anything more delightful than packing up your favorite foods and driving to the lake and having a picnic? I don’t think so. That’s what summer is about, my friends. (Well, that and these 25 other things.)
On the downside, a lot of picnic foods are pretty heavy, especially if any kind of barbecue action is involved. Hamburgers? Wow. Hot dogs? Yikes. Potato salad? Uh-huh. It’s nice to indulge… but it would be nice to indulge without having to eat just fruit for the rest of the week, right? Right.
For this week, I decided to write about potato salad, mainly because it is one of my favorite summer foods and because it is generally the most unhealthy of picnic and barbecue foods. And I’m throwing you guys a curveball.
Normal, white potatoes are actually very high in nutrients. It’s not true that all the nutrients are in the skin. The difficulty with potatoes is that if you boil them with exposed flesh, a lot of the nutrients are pulled out into the water. If you boil them whole with the skins on, it takes forever, but the nutrients would be retained. Personally, I’m a big fan of small, yellow potatoes, and so I decided to use those for this recipe. Potatoes cooked with the skin on and consumed with the skin contain 45% of the daily value for vitamin C, as well as lots of potassium (as much as a banana), thiamin, riboflavin, folate, magnesium, and iron. Potatoes contain no fat, so on their own, they are reasonably healthy.
Here’s the curveball: I decided to include sweet potatoes (or yams) as well. Why? Sweet potatoes are one of the best sources for vitamins A and C, as well as dietary fiber, potassium, and iron, all while being around 95 calories for one potato. Sweet potatoes are one of the perfect vegetables. Not only that, they’re freaking delicious. Read More »