Ark Valley News - In the kitchen

In the kitchen
By Lisa Strunk
Last Updated: May 28, 2015

Red potato salad complements cookout

Hopefully everyone had a peaceful, quiet and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. We kept things quiet around here, which was fine with me.

Chris' brother Bernie, his wife Jennifer and their two youngest daughters came down for the weekend. They haven't been here for a year and a half so the visit was overdue.

Of course, with all the rain, their trip from Missouri ended up taking far longer Saturday than they expected. We bought a cake and card for Bernie's birthday. It's not until June, but we were looking for an excuse for cake. Because of the rain delays they got into town late and we had to forego the cake.

We made up for it Sunday after church. We went to the River Walk area and ate at the food trucks. Apparently, they park there every fourth Sunday afternoon. This month they had to make it the third Sunday because next week River Festival starts.

We obviously weren't the only Valley Centerians with the idea. We invited Dan and Lisa Schmidt to bring the kids and come along. We ran into Mike and Jana Hogan and their kids there. I also saw Brad and Stacy Barbour a few food trucks away with Alex.

I got Asian pulled pork tacos from The Funky Monkey. They were really good. Jer and I also got cupcakes from the cupcake truck. I don't know the name of the truck, but the cupcakes were so good.

I got strawberry margarita. It was a strawberry cupcake with margarita flavored filling and cream cheese frosting. Jer got a carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting and cream cheese filling. You can't go wrong there.

Jer and Ray got sandwiches, Chris got a burger and Marci got a waffle. Yes, there is a waffle food truck in Wichita. We will definitely be back next month.

Chris made breakfast for the family for Memorial Day. Later for dinner, we had jalapeno and cheddar bacon homemade brats from Leeker's with potato salad, baked beans, and fresh corn on the cob. We finally ate the belated birthday cake for dessert along with the sundae bar.

I wanted to make homemade red potato salad, but I ended up not having enough time. The great thing about red potato salad, no peeling. Too bad my family prefers regular potato salad. Of course, since I'm the cook, the only thing that matters is what kind of potato salad is my favorite.

Red Potato Salad

6 large red potatoes

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup fresh chives, finely chopped

1 tsp. salt

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Scrub potatoes, leave peel on. Halve or quarter potatoes. Boil potatoes until fork tender, drain, dry and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Combine all ingredients and gently toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lisa Strunk is co-owner of The Ark Valley News. Reach her at lisa@arkvalleynews.com.