There are just about as many varieties of potato salad in this world as there are people. There’s red skinned, baked, fingerling, German, Lebanese, Dublin, heavy on the mustard, heavy on the mayo, with eggs, without eggs, with peas, asparagus… the list could go on for days! These delicious recipes are just as unique as their creators. My daddy, who’s never met a recipe he couldn’t improve, sought to create a hash brown potato salad. Grandmama never fails to bring her classic Southern potato salad to almost every summer family gathering and I’m a sucker for my own kind of red skinned potato salad (see recipe below).

Next to the potato salad on the picnic table, you’ll usually find macaroni salad. I’ve only recently acquired a taste for this staple. As the name implies, macaroni salad starts with macaroni noodles and usually features celery, onion, bell pepper and sometimes even ham tossed in mayonnaise and seasonings. I’m not quite sure why, but this dish seems to perfectly complement pork ribs and baked beans.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention, with a great deal of respect, the congealed salad. I can truly NEVER think of a time when I’ve been to a family gathering where there wasn’t at least one congealed salad (if not more) present. You can bet your booties (as Papa Dan used to say) that Grandmama would bring a delicious mixture of strawberries, cream cheese and pecans that was just like dessert and one of the aunts would bring cranberry and walnut congealed salad to every luncheon, funeral, family reunion, holiday feast or birthday party. As a child, I recoiled at the thought of eating something pink (or green!) and jelly-like but now I make a bee-line for the stuff!

Sara Jane’s Red Skin Potato Salad
8 medium red skin potatoes
¼ cup finely diced sweet onion
1 can English peas
4 strips crisp bacon, crumbled (optional)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream*
Salt to taste

Boil potatoes with skins for 10 to 15 minutes, until tender. Let cool just to the touch and cut into cubes. In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add potatoes. Mix gently and serve at room temperature or chill for a 2-3 hours and serve.

* I HATE mayonnaise so I came up with my own version of potato salad that omits my least favorite ingredient.

Strawberry Congealed Salad
¾ cups sugar
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 8 oz. container whipped topping
2 3 oz. packages strawberry gelatin
2 cups boiling water
2 10 oz. packages frozen strawberries
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple
¾ cups chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts are best)

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar. In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple and mix gelatin mixture with cream cheese mixture. Fold in the whipped topping. Pour into a 9x13 casserole and refrigerate until set. You may also put a graham cracker crust on the bottom of the casserole if you like. Serve salad on a lettuce leaf with a dollop of whipped topping.