German Potato Salad

Posted on August 8, 2021 by Sarah

A tangy potato salad with DIY pickled red onions–perfect with brats or as part of a plant-based feast!

If you’ve been following this blog for awhile (all three of you), you may recall that your family spent the summer of 2017 in Germany, mostly in Cologne. That summer was one of the most memorable times in my entire life. To this day, my husband and I talk and think about it all. the. time. and in many ways it feels like it was just yesterday.

One of our favorite parts of the whole experience–especially for my husband–was the frequency with which we visited Biergartens. (Who wouldn’t like eating brats and drinking great beer in an open-air green space? There’s truly nothing like it in the U.S.)

We both remember one particular meal with special fondness. My husband’s friend and his wife, who live in Munich, treated us to a *s p e c t a c u l a r* home-cooked, authentically German meal, which they brought in a series of large picnic baskets to the English Garden. We ate that meal over the course of probably 90 minutes, there was SO much food. Jessie, our hostess, created a flight of salads, veggies, meats, and breads I’ll never forget. Among them was, of course, a German potato salad.

Fast-forward to summer 2021. My husband’s and my 17th wedding anniversary was in July, and I’ll confess, I always struggle to land on the right gift for him. I mean, technically, the official gift for a 17th anniversary is furniture, but our house is pretty well-equipped and I wasn’t about to surprise him with a new end table or cabinet (unless maybe it’s this cow-shaped cabinet, because, come on, that’s just badass).

Somehow, though, I landed on the idea of recreating the Munich meal Jessie had made for us four years ago. I hauled out the photo album to look back at the pictures we took of that meal and, to the best of my ability, made the same brats, German beer (thanks, Total Wine!), and salads, including a zesty tomato-onion mixture and…this German potato salad!

I’m so glad this inspiration struck! This potato salad turned out tangy, savory, and the perfect accompaniment to bratwurst. (On the other hand, it’s totally vegan, so you could also make it as a part of a plant-based feast.) My husband was thrilled to have an edible reminder of the good times we enjoyed in the English Garden years ago–so I’d call it an anniversary win.

If you’re looking for a German potato salad that’s simple to make and doesn’t come with a dairy-based sauce, this is it. Despite being free of animal products, I thought this side had a smoky, almost meaty flavor. It lasted in our fridge for days on end, and we enjoyed it not only alongside bratwurst, but several other meals, both plant- and animal-based.

What will you make it with?

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3.67 from 3 votes

German Potato Salad

A tangy dressing and pickled red onions give this potato salad bite!

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Servings: 12

Ingredients

3 lbs. baby gold potatoes
4 tsp. salt, divided
2/3 c. vegetable oil
6 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water by about 1 inch. Add 2 tsp. salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the vegetable oil, rice vinegar, sugar, paprika, black pepper, and remaining 2 tsp. salt. Stir in the sliced red onions and parsley and let sit at least 10 minutes.
Slice the potatoes in half or into quarters, depending on their size. (You want bite-sized pieces.) Add the sliced potatoes to the bowl with your dressing and onions and stir gently to coat.
Refrigerate for several hours or overnight for best flavor.

Notes

Adapted from Once Upon a Chef.

Healthy Strawberry Yogurt Fruit Dip

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Sarah

This healthy strawberry yogurt fruit dip only takes three ingredients to make!

So…what do YOU do when your husband comes home from Costco with enough Chobani yogurt to feed a small army?

Approximately 8% of the epic yogurt haul of 2021.

I love yogurt–in fact, it’s one of those foods that’s almost always on my grocery list because I use so much of it–but even I have my limits as far as how much I can just sit and eat. So when my husband recently came home with yogurt galore (not realizing that I already had a ton of it in the fridge), I was motivated to find a way to use it up.

Fortunately, a potluck get-together with friends was on the horizon, so it only made sense to make a tasty fruit dip to share, especially since it’s berry season. I mean, luscious strawberries and big, bold blueberries are yummy all on their own, but it’s a law of nature that:

EVERYTHING’S BETTER WITH DIP.

In fact, I need that on a t-shirt. Or a wall hanging in my kitchen. My husband calls me the Condiment Queen–a title I happily own.

Anyway, the problem with most fruit dips–even those with yogurt–is, well, their ingredients. There may be a time and place for marshmallow fluff (like in Christmas fudge), but it’s an an ingredient I’d generally rather keep out of my diet. And yet, somehow, it’s virtually inescapable in fruit dip recipes. I even tried googling for fruit dip with the minus sign in front of the words “marshmallow fluff” and STILL all I got was a wall of fluff, fluff, fluff! With the occasional Cool Whip thrown in as salt in the wound.

Convinced that one does not need processed corn syrup products to make an appealing dip, I decided it was time to concoct a healthier version. And guess what? It really wasn’t difficult. (So why the heck does every recipe cling to marshmallow fluff like a sugary security blanket? Who knows?)

This healthy strawberry yogurt fruit dip uses just three ingredients: Greek yogurt-style cream cheese, Chobani lower-sugar strawberry yogurt, and maple syrup. What, you may ask, is the idea behind adding sweetener to a lower-sugar yogurt? As awesome as Chobani’s line of lower-sugar yogurts are for snacking, a more dessert-like treat requires a bit more sweetness. And, as sweeteners go, you can’t do much better than maple syrup. (Trust me on this! I recently wrote a whole article about how maple syrup compares to honey, and I’m Team Maple for its lower calorie and carb counts.)

The most important question, though, is how this healthy strawberry yogurt fruit dip actually tastes. I may be biased, but I think its cool-and-creamy, pillowy fluff is the real deal. Serve with fresh berries and graham crackers for a summery snack everyone can feel good about.

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1 from 1 vote