You say potato...

Just in time for summer - a plethora of potato salads! Oh wait, it's not summer anymore? I know friends, I was just as skeptical as you when I saw that AVM had all these potato salad recipes in their October chapter. But, I made them anyway. Because I'm crazy like that. And I found that "potato salad" is a misnomer for half these recipes. Roasted potatoes and veggies are the perfect side for autumn. And they go so well with the mountains of chutney we have!

Unlike most of the recipes in AVM, I can tell you these are fantastic. Thatboy and I enjoyed each one.

"Fall" - roasted red potatoes with roasted veggies. (recipe available at animalvegetablemiracle.com) Served with satay skewers and chutney. Thatboy loved the satay skewers, loved the potato "salad" and loved that I served the chutney on the side so he could ignore it.

"Summer" (recipe available at animalvegetablemiracle.com) - fairly traditional German-style egg salad...which could be why Thatboy and I loved it so much. It was the egg. The combo egg/potato salad would be PERFECT for summer barbecues and picnics. This will probably be my go-to potato salad recipe from here out. Served with pork chops covered in chutney.



"Winter" - roasted fingerling potatoes with roasted veggies. (recipe available at animalvegetablemiracle.com) I have to say, this was pretty similar to the fall recipe. Which was fine, we liked that just fine. The difference would obviously be the vegetables that are seasonal. Served with turkey tenderloin cooked in chutney....can you see why Thatboy might be tiring a bit of the chutney?



"Spring" - boiled new potatoes with peas and mint. (recipe available at animalvegetablemiracle.com) This was similar to the summer recipe, but we preferred the summer one. Although I like the fresh peas in this, and liked that I could boil them together. Made it very easy.



Pumpkin Soup (recipe available at animalvegetablemiracle.com)

While the potatoes might not have screamed "October" the pumpkin soup definitely did! Thatboy was so impressed by the presentation. Which is really the only reason to serve it in a pumpkin shell. Because it sure as hell doesn't cook better in there. Even though I followed the precautions, I still managed to scoop out the bottom of the shell - leaving me with a giant hole...just like the author got when she made it. Luckily the roasting pan kept everything inside the shell. I do love my roasting pan. I wasn't expecting much from this since the pumpkin inside kept scraping off really stringy. Even after pureeing it. But both Thatboy and I were pleasantly surprised by the flavor of this soup. It'd be a great, impressive starter to your Thanksgiving.