sweet potato salad

Our nutritionist's first rule of thumb for her clients is, "Don't be the weirdo." I struggle with this more than I'd like to admit, since I'm an adamant rule-follower, but still, I get where she's coming from.

So when we were invited to our church's young adult pig-picking and told to bring a side dish, we knew we might not be able to eat everything (or anything) there. But there would be at least one item of food we had control over: the one we made.

After much deliberation (thank you, Pinterest), we landed on this sweet potato salad. Like potato salad, but made with sweet potatoes, which, miraculously, we're allowed to eat. Casual enough to go with barbecue, nice enough to make it seem like we made an effort (we're the new kids, remember?), and healthy enough that, you know, B and I could both eat it if all else failed.

While all else didn't really fail per se, I'm glad we brought it. The barbecue itself was fine, but we couldn't really eat any of the other side dishes (like mac and cheese...sigh). But we devoured our host's home-smoked barbecue, and our potato salad was wonderful. B says it reminds him a little of his family's German potato salad. He loved it, full stop, but I thought it was definitely best served warm. Either way, you really can't go wrong here. I have a feeling this will become a picnic/party staple for us, and possibly even, you know, a life staple. Because it was delicious the next morning for brunch served with an omelet. I mean, from pig-picking to post-church homemade brunch - how versatile can you get?

If you need a happy, healthy addition to a holiday potluck or your own church Christmas party, I suggest looking no further than, well, here. Enjoy!

xoxo,
E and B

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sweet potato salad with bacon

A yummy side dish for those looking to eliminate starches and sugars.

Serves 8

Ingredients:

4 thick-cut bacon slices

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 cup thinly sliced celery hearts

1 cup thinly sliced green scallion onions

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely minced (or leave some seeds in, it's fine)

2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, then add sweet potatoes.

Simmer for 10-15 minutes until they're just tender. Remember, you want potato salad, not mashed potatoes.

Drain potatoes, quickly rinse with cold water, and set aside.

Cook the bacon. Let cool, then crumble into a large bowl.

Add celery and onion to bowl.

Prepare the dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together pepper, mustard, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Add sweet potatoes and dresing to the bowl and toss gently to combine.

Season with additional salt and pepper as need be.

Serve and enjoy!

nutrition:
gluten-free
sugar-free

Recipe from Well Plated by Erin.