Food Friday

I was having dinner at a friend's house when I saw a very interesting, colorful dish containing a main ingredient of what seemed to be sweet potatoes. Quite surprising was this cold dish that was full of such strange flavors that I just had to have the recipe. To my delight, I found that I already owned the cookbook it came from, Simply in Season! Oh yes, the Mennonites know how to fill a supper table well. Delicious, nutritious, and budget-friendly. I've mentioned before how much I loved the Mennonites' book Living More with Less while I lived overseas, as well as the accompanying cookbook More with Less. I highly recommend any of these. And I love the idea of completely different flavors complementing each other to make something new and I've noticed the unsuspected combination of mustard and sweet potatoes quite a bit lately. (P.S. I vote Sweet Potatoes as one of the Tastiest Healthy Foods that exists worldwide. And they're just so easy to prepare. Egyptian sweet potatoes are much smaller and thinner than what we see in the States and my friends there would take them fresh from the oven, cut one end off, and eat it like a banana.)

Sweet Potato Salad

3 cups sweet potatoes, or more (cooked, peeled, diced)
1 cup celery (diced)
3/4 cup green or red sweet pepper, or both! (diced)
1/2 cup onion (chopped)
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley or cilantro (chopped)
3 green onions (thinly sliced)

Combine in a large bowl and top with dressing. (I prefer to leave out the yellow onion and just use the green. I also use cilantro instead of parsley, better flavor in my opinion, and of course I use more than just 2 Tbsp. Give it a big ol' handful!)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. prepared mustard (or more as you like)
1 Tbsp. honey

Combine and pour over vegetables. Toss until well coated. Serve on a bed of lettuce (or by itself).