Dill, Bacon, & Green Bean Potato Salad

I guess you could say that this post is Dill Weed - Part 3: YUM! I honestly wasn't planning on doing a Part 3, I promise. However, after I used the dill sour cream from Part 2 for this, I decided I had to share!

Like I mentioned in Part2, I was planning on throwing the dill sour cream over potatoes for a quick potato salad. I went to the grocery store to get dinner (pork tenderloin), potatoes and green beans for a side. From there I decided to mix the green beans in, for connivence, then it grew from there. This is the result. Simple, not so healthy, but super yummy!

Dill, Bacon, & Green Bean Potato Salad

4-5 Slices Thick Cut Smoked Bacon

12 Ounces Fresh Green Beans (chopped into 1" pieces)

1 lb 12 oz Potatoes (sliced into small pieces)

Dill Sour Cream (from Part 2)

Directions:

Cut bacon into 1/2" pieces and fry until crispy. Remove bacon and set aside to drain. Fry potatoes in bacon grease (See health note below!) until tender. Blanch green beans. Mix green beans, cooled potatoes, bacon pieces and dill together. Refrigerate.

Health Note:

This is obviously not the healthiest recipe as is... but I love bacon. I figure moderation is the key. I wouldn't serve this with every meal. However, you can also easily make this recipe healthier. Here's how:

1. Throw out the bacon grease and boil your potatoes.

2. To make it even healthier, in addition to boiling your potatoes, use turkey bacon instead of regular bacon.

I'm Hungry

Tom was gone tonight and I had a lot of studying to do so I decided to whip up a quick meal for myself. This is what I call a pantry meal. It arrives without any sort of recipe and is derived from items I have on hand. After rummaging through the fridge I decided on pasta with homemade pesto. Pesto is one of the easiest things to make! I promise.

Basil & Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

Ingredients: Basil (from my patio garden!), sun dried tomatoes

(from Trader Joe's garden), toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and a little salt.

Directions: Place ingredients in a small food processor

(LOVE this thing... you can get one for around $15 at Target.) and process...

Add a little olive oil until you get the texture you want.

I used about a 1/4 cup. (I would use less if your

sun dried tomatoes came packaged in oil. Mine where dried.)

... and presto - it's pesto!

It really couldn't be easier. I made it in less time than it took to boil the water for the pasta. Once the pasta was done I tossed it with some spinach, the pesto, and a little goat cheese... yummy!

This is a great vegetarian meal or side dish. However, you could easily throw some chicken on the grill and pile it on top for a more carnivorous main course. In fact, I might just do that with the left overs for tomorrow night's dinner.