Tasty & Thrifty Thursday - Totally Related

Last week I was hit with the idea to marry Tasty Thursday from Southern Fried Mama and Thrifty Thursday from Bloggerittaville. How fun! So what is usually tasty and thrifty? You got it leftovers or as Sandra Lee calls them, 2nd rounds. Plus I have a bonus thrift story that I only realized while making my 2nd rounds. So here ya go - enjoy - we did!

2nd Round Potato Salad

I started out with leftovers from the night before. I snagged a Roasted Red Potato recipe over at One Perfect Bite (one of THE BEST food blogs ever) and everyone loved this dish. How I had leftovers is something I am still amazed at, but I am so glad I did so I would have something to post about. I had BLT's and potato salad on the menu for the week so I went looking for a recipe that would compliment the seasonings already on the potatoes. Good ol' Paula Dean came through, here's the recipe:

Ingredients
12 cups cubed red potatoes
1 cup chopped green bell pepper (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup minced red onion
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions
Cook potatoes, covered in boiling water, 10 minutes, or until tender; drain well and cool.
In a large bowl, combine potatoes, bell pepper and onion.
In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour over potato mixture, tossing gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate.

I tweaked it a bit, as you can see, I clearly did not have 12 cups of potatoes left. And there was already enough Dijon mustard present from the original recipe.

As I was chopping the vegetables I started cooking my bacon, and thought I would share a little trick I use: cut the bacon package in half before you start frying. The bacon cooks more evenly and is sandwich ready.

I just added all the seasonings, the vegetables and mixed. It was so easy! Let me tell ya, green and purple, don't just look good together, they taste great together!

As I was mixing and mashing, it dawned on me that my potato masher (or ricer) was also a Thrifty Thursday find.

Why, you ask? Because this little handy dandy tool is a Cutco brand masher and I bought it about 8 or 9 years ago for $1.00 at the thrift store. OMG!! These things coast upwards of $35.00 dollars and it didn't look like anyone had used it ever. Needless to say I LOVE my masher. If you find any Cutco while thrifting - buy it - it will last longer than you. I can't afford to buy it brand new so I am always looking for it when I am thrifting. Okay - back to the recipe.

Mix, refrigerate, plate, ENJOY!

That was fun! Okay -remember to join me tomorrow for Flashback Friday -leave me a comment here that you will be joining me or on tomorrow's post. The theme is Made in the Shade. TaTa for now!