I went shopping at Sun Harvest after work today with every intention of making a guilt-free, delicious salad that my boyfriend’s sister taught me. That salad is made with

• 1 head iceberg or romaine lettuce, chopped
• 3 avacados, peeled, pitted and chopped
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

It is full of healthy fats and fiber. It will make you feel virtuous and skinny.

Unfortunately, Sun Harvest was out of ripe avacados so I ended up making potato salad instead. Potato salad is much less virtuous, with no healthy fats in sight. Plenty of bacon and mayonnaise, though! I also added celery, radishes, and onion to help offset the carb load of the potatoes.

• 2 lbs. red skinned new potatoes
• 6 ribs celery
• 1 large white onion
• 6 radishes
• 3 slices of bacon
• dressing: 3/4 c. mayonnaise, 2 tbs. lemon juice, 2 tbs. mustard, 2 tbs. white vinegar, 1 tbs. dill weed, salt and pepper

First, boil the potatoes. (My potatoes were the size of racquetballs and took about 20 minutes to become tender.) While the potatoes cook, dice the celery, radishes, and onion.  Then make up the dressing in a large bowl. Combine the diced vegetables with the dressing and pop the bowl in the freezer. Next, drain the potatoes. To cool the potatoes quickly, toss a few cups of ice on them and pop them in the freezer. While the potatoes cool, cook up the bacon.

By the time you finish cooking the bacon, the potatoes should be cool enough to chop. Leave the skins on and cut the potatoes into chunky pieces. Combine the potato pieces with the cold dressing. If needed, pop the salad back in the freezer until it’s cool enough to serve. Crumble the bacon over the top of the salad before serving.

P.S. I added about 2 tsps. of the bacon drippings to the dressing. Somehow it feels less sinful if I just leave it out of the regular recipe and tell you about it here.