Thursday's Rambling - Celebrating The 4th Of July And A Gift For You

Freedom is never free. 
                     ~Author Unknown

 

Can you believe it's almost July 4?  I don't know about you, but time just seems to go by faster and faster.  I grew up in a city south of Detroit, named Wyandotte.  It's on the Detroit River and all the cities around it were referred to as Downriver.  I can remember starting the 4th of July by watching the parade and then later in the evening we all went to Bishop Park to watch the fireworks over the river.  And I loved the sparklers we had fun with when it got dark, writing our name and making circles and designs in the dark...

Then I married Mr. Cottage and I moved to the other side of the state.  Over the years we spent the 4th of July either at home, camping, on our sailboat, or like now, at our cottage...

I actually had something different I was going to share with you today, but we didn't have time to set it up at our cottage.  So you might be seeing a second blog posting later today or two tomorrow morning, because this has to do with the 4th of July. 

I know this is about my ramblings and sharing, but it's also TBT (Throw Back Thursday's) for those who don't know.  Three years ago I did a blog posting where I shared my famous and well-loved potato salad.  It seems like every other person has the best potato salad ever, but I seriously do!  My family devours it and whenever I take it anywhere, people are always complimenting me on it and can't eat enough of it...

 

I know it looks like every other potato salad, but I guarantee it taste so good and you'll get lots of requests to make this over and over again.  FYI, I don't give this recipe to just anyone, so please enjoy it because you're special to me for following my blog.  Enjoy!!


CAROL'S POTATO SALAD

6-7 potatoes
5-6 eggs (2 for the top)
5 radishes, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1/4 cucumber, cored and finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 bunch green onions, finely diced

Dressing
1 1/2 cups real mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste

Scrub and clean the potatoes.  Cook with the skin on, do not peel until later.  Make sure not to overcook.  I cook them until I can just get the fork in and it comes out easily.  As soon as I get the potatoes going, I get the eggs on to cook and right around the time my eggs are finished, the potatoes are about cooked.  Peel the potatoes after they are fully cooked and cooled a bit.

The easiest way to cook hard boiled eggs is to put the eggs into a pot and add cold water.  Bring to a boil.  As soon as it boils, turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid and let set for 20 minutes.  Perfect hard boiled eggs every time! 

For the radishes, carrot, cucumber, celery and green onions; they all need to be finely diced.  I use my food processor for this.  Just cut your veggies into smaller, 1 inch pieces before putting into your processor, if you have one...
 
 

For the cucumber, I peel and cut what I need, then cut into quarters so you can core it more easily...


 

This is before I use the food processor...

 

and after...
 

If you don't have a food processor, just make sure all the veggies are cut as shown above.  But for the potatoes and the eggs, I cut them larger...

 

The dressing needs to be made in a separate bowl and mixed together well.  After putting all the vegetables into a bowl, along with the cut eggs, add the dressing and mix well...
 

 

Because I made a larger batch than normal, I put 3 sliced eggs on the top.  I also like to sprinkle a little paprika to add a touch of color...

 

I know you'll enjoy eating this...

Hoping you have a great 4th of July, and watch for my second posting with my 4th of July DIY.