Recipes: Potato Salad, Six Ways

Image via: Faith Durand, the kitchn

When I was growing up, I ate potato salad at school picnics, my friends' pool parties, and the end-of-the-season family BBQs for my brothers' baseball teams. I (admittedly) remember liking it - though what I was eating really tasted like mayonnaise and eggs, with potato-like lumps in between.

Having grown up, (in both age and palate), and become vegan, I hadn't eaten potato salad in a long time - until a couple years ago, when I was craving something starchy to pair with a green salad. French fries would be too, well - fried. I did not want a sandwich - too heavy. And, then I found Lolo's recipes for potato salad - two ways.

Image via: Lauren Ulm, Vegan Yum Yum 

It was one of those joyous moments for young vegans - "Hey, I CAN eat [insert any food you missed from your previous life, but now know you don't have to sacrifice]!"

Since that time, I've been delighted to discover a series of varied, innovative, simple yet sophisticated, recipes for potato salad - all of which taste contain ingredients that taste like their real selves, and impressively, only one of which calls for (vegan) mayonnaise.

With Memorial Day on the horizon, without further ado, I present to you my six favorite recipes for potato salad...

Potato Salad, Two Ways, Vegan Yum Yum

Grilled Potato Salad, 101 Cookbooks

Samosa Potato Salad, Bittersweet

Red Potato Salad with Scallions and Radishes, the kitchn

Mustard Roasted New Potatoes, Joy the Baker

...and challenge you to make them for your non-vegan friends at your next get-together.

Tell me what you (and they) think!


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For those of you who missed it, here is a link to yesterday's issue: The Veg Post, 05.05.11

Thanks for your patience, and your continued support!

Would you have eggplant parm for dessert?

Eggplant parm for dessert...?


It's not what you think - according to Mark Bittman, pastry chef Brooks Headley's version is a "fantastic version of a classic Neapolitan eggplant-and-chocolate dish." In fact, when Bittman, "...ate this dish in Naples, it was grossly sweet; [Headley's] version is like a dessert eggplant Parmesan prepared by a wizard."


Continuing the trend of chefs who are showing that vegetables can be the star of a dish, and in line with predictions that 2011 would be the year of the vegetables, Chef Headley is earning rock-star reviews with his vegetable-based desserts, including a plate composed of "...celery sorbet with a little dressed celery salad; goat-cheese-mousse balls coated with olive-oil-sautéed bread crumbs; [and] macerated figs with balsamic vinegar."


No matter where you fall on the herbivore - omnivore spectrum, it's exciting and inspiring to see continued innovation with fruits and vegetables, further elevating them as foods of interest (not just sides) to the masses. 


Click here to read the full article, with four vegetarian recipes.


LET US KNOW: Would you make one of these vegetable-based desserts?http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/magazine/mag-08Eat-t-000.html

Recipe: Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

I was craving something sweet after dinner tonight.

I knew I didn't have chocolate chips. But, I saw something else on the counter that could be made into a sweet treat: peanut butter.

I Googled "vegan peanut butter cookie recipe," and found this absolutely perfect one:

Auntie Angie's Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

I loved that the cookies in this recipe are sweetened with maple syrup. And, I had all of the required ingredients to create soft, moist morsels of peanut butter goodness.

So, I set out to create the dough,

break off chunks, roll them into balls, and flatten them with a fork.

Just as I was getting ready to pop these in the oven, I thought, "PB&J...wouldn't these be delicious with a dollop of jam?"

So, I used my pinky to create a small dent in a few of the cookies, before popping them into the oven.

Eleven minutes later, I had these:

And, with a tiny spoonful of jam, here's dessert:

Want these now? Get the recipe here.

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Veganized Recipe: Roasted Asparagus Soup (Six ingredients, five minutes)

Inspired by a series of asparagus-related tweets, I was moved to do something with the lovely spring asparagus in my fridge today.

I've made one-pot, multi-step, asparagus soup recipes before. But, these recipes have long time gaps between sauteeing the onions and adding the asparagus, leaving me standing in kitchen, filling my time by rearranging my oils and adding dishes to the dishwasher, one by one.

So, I was delighted when I found this incredibly simple asparagus soup recipe today - it basically boils down to chop, roast, and blend - and adapted it to be vegan.

Added bonus - this recipe calls for roasting the asparagus. I love how roasting adds depth to my butternut squash soup, and a soulful quality to my red pepper hummus. Here, it adds an earthiness that layers beautifully with the lightness of the asparagus.

Recipe: Roasted Asparagus Soup
Adapted from Pictures and Pancakes

4 cups, coarsely chopped asparagus
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp., olive oil
1 1/2 cups, vegetable stock
1/2 cup, soy milk
salt & pepper


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Mix the asparagus, garlic, onion, and olive oil in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet.
Roast for 20 minutes.
Transfer the roasted mixture to a blender.
Add the stock and soy milk.
Puree until smooth.
Add salt and pepper, if necessary.
Serve and enjoy!