Sweet Potato Salad

It's nearly time to plant my early spring garden. I am looking forward to peas, green onions, radishes, kale, and lettuces. But until garden produce from my garden or from Farmer's Market become available, I'm stuck using seasonal "winter" produce. That's alright; seasonal foods are tasty too. Here's a recipe that is a unique take on traditional potato salad.

 

Sweet Potato Salad

 

4 small sweet potatoes

1/4 cup Veganaise (or mayonnaise)

1 Tbsp. mustard

4 stalks celery, chopped into 1/4" pieces

1 small red pepper, 1/4" dice

1 cup fresh pineapple, diced

2 green onions, chopped

sea salt to taste

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Wrap each sweet potato in foil and bake for 1 hour.  Remove from heat, unwrap, and allow to cool.  Then peel and cut into 3/4" pieces.

Using a large bowl, mix together Veganaise and mustard.  Add cooled sweet potatoes, celery, red pepper, pineapple, and green onions.  Season to taste with sea salt.  

Cover and refrigerate for one hour.  Then fold in pecans, sprinkle with chives, and serve.

*There are options to this recipe.  Today I microwaved the sweet potatoes instead of baking them.  It was fast and easy.  I didn't have fresh red pepper or pineapple, so I used canned paprika quarters that I chopped, and 1 can of diced pineapple.  Instead of green onions, I used finely chopped yellow onion.  And I substituted walnuts for pecans.  It turned out delicious!  For garnish, I added sprinkles of vegan Baco-Bits and chives.