The Sage Vegan: Applelicious Potato Salad

January 4, 2015

I am so excited to introduce to you the very first blog entry by my awesome 8-year-old daughter, Sage. A vegetarian since birth and a vegan for almost a year now, Sage has been hankering to get into the kitchen like her Mama and see where her culinary inclinations lead her. I know I’m her Mom but let me just tell you, this girl has what it takes. Acute sensory instincts, patience and skill in the kitchen, and a deep love for compassionate, slow food… I plan to hire her as my personal chef someday. Well, actually, she should cook for me for free right? ; ) Sage and I are proud to bring you The Sage Vegan, a mini-blog within One Happy Table, filled with recipes and adventures of this kid-sized foodie. These recipes are designed with kids in mind. Whether your little one is vegan or not, they will have great fun following Sage’s kitchen adventures and trying their hand as a chef as well! Be sure to click on the tab at the top of the page labeled “For Kids” (or click here) for an introduction written by Sage. All recipes for The Sage Vegan will appear both here on One Happy Table’s page as well as in list form under that tab. Before I hand it over to Sage, let me offer one piece of advice. These recipes may be conceived and concocted by a kid but they are wholesome, flavorful and quite mature if I do say so myself. So adults, roll up those sleeves and get ready to cook with The Sage Vegan! You’ll be hooked. : ) Hi. This is Sage. Thanks for checking out my very first recipe. I’m really excited about it! I came up with this recipe because I miss summer and I wanted to add a little summer into this winter season. Normally you eat potato salad at picnics in the summertime but why not enjoy it in the winter? I decided to put apples into the recipe because I thought it would give it crunchiness, color and a little sweet flavor. This Applelicious Potato Salad is creamy, comforting and with some unexpected yumminess (my Dad’s words). ; ) I hope you’ll love it and share it with other people! Here are the delicious ingredients (this is enough for a WHOLE PARTY so if you want it for just your family, cut this recipe in half):

• 4 russet potatoes, washed, peeled and cubed
• 1 red apple (skin on), washed, cored and diced
• 1/4 cup minced red onion
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2-3 tbsp fresh dill
• 8-10 ounces Just Mayo vegan mayonnaise, to taste
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper, to taste

Wash your potatoes well!

See my tips below on how to safely use a vegetable peeler!

Have an adult help you with the chopping. Take your time, always pay attention to what you’re doing and let your parent help you if you’re having trouble. It’s hard work!

Once you’ve cubed your potatoes, get all the other ingredients ready. Start boiling a big pot of water. Then dice the red apple and mince the red onion. At first I thought we should peel the skin off the apple since a lot of kids don’t like apple skin. But then my Mom and I talked about how with the skin off, the apple would just look white like the potatoes! That would be boring so we decided to keep the skin on. We diced the apple so each piece had some red skin on it. The apples and the red onion give this potato salad some bright and pretty colors! Next, prepare the herbs. My Mom bought fresh thyme and dill at the grocery store but first she asked me to smell the difference between the dried herbs and the fresh ones. The fresh ones definitely smelled better! And they had a nicer, brighter color too. See what I mean?

Dried or fresh? My tip is to always cook with fresh herbs when possible!

Seriously? Fresh herbs win!

It was fun preparing the herbs. For the thyme, my Mom showed me how you hold the sprig upside-down and then just slide your finger down the stem so the leaves just slide off.

Sliding the fresh thyme leaves off the stem!

For the dill, you remove the leaves from the stem by hand and then chop them a little so they don’t look like big clumps. I liked the smell of the thyme but I liked the dill a lot more which is why I put more dill than thyme in this recipe.

Pretty ingredients!

Have an adult help you put the cubed potatoes in the boiling water. Cook them until they’re tender. That means a knife should slide into them easily. Once they’re cooked, drain the water. Add the mayonnaise and stir gently so the potatoes don’t become mashed potatoes! But it’s okay if they get a little mushy. They taste good that way. Keep adding the mayo until you like the taste. Then add the other ingredients and stir it all gently. Serve it warm (my favorite!) or put it in the refrigerator and serve it cold.

I loved it warm right out of the pot!

Mmmm…

And that’s my Applelicious Potato Salad! I hope you love it!

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