Mustard-Chives Smashed Potatoes and Apricot-Pluot Salad

This amazing summer menu comes together extremely quickly and provides a burst of fresh, exciting flavors. Mashed potatoes are a typical favorite, but at restaurants they come piled with butter, salt, and cream. Here, I keep on the skin for added nutrients, cut out all butter and salt, and use fat free half and half for a creamy texture without the guilt. Use a food mill if you can to make the potatoes truly perfect in texture. The mustard, meanwhile, adds a wonderful pop that is tantalizing without being spicy (suiting me perfectly!) so you won’t even know they’re healthy until you read the nutrition.

Along with the potatoes, I made use of some in-season local stone fruits for a delicious salad. I chose to use apricots and pluots, but you could substitute other stone fruits if you prefer. If you’re not familiar with pluots, they are part apricot and part plum and 100% juicy and delicious. The recipe is simple but lets the produce truly shine.

Difficulty: easy
Time: 25 min



Mustard-Chives Smashed Potatoes
Time: 25 min

Ingredients:
4 medium Yukon gold potatoes
3 tbsp chives, chopped
¾ c fat free half and half
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp yellow mustard seeds

Wash the potatoes and cut them into roughly 1” cubes. Put the potatoes in a medium pot and fill with water until it just covers the potatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. At this point, the potatoes should be tender. Drain the potatoes and put them through a food mill – or just mash if you don’t have one.

Add the chives, fat free half and half, mustard, black pepper, and mustard seeds. Stir until everything is well combined and enjoy this delicious treat!

Servings: 4
Serving size: about 1 cup
Nutrition: calories 147; carbs 31g; fat 0g; protein 5g; sodium 165mg; iron 7mg

Apricot-Pluot Salad
Time: 10 min

Ingredients:
2 pluots
2 apricots
¼ c fresh basil, thinly sliced
½ c cucumber, sliced
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp champagne vinegar

Slice the pluots and apricots into thin wedges. Put in a bowl and add the basil, cucumber, and black pepper. Drizzle on the champagne vinegar and toss well. Enjoy!

Servings: 4
Serving size: about ¾ c
Nutrition: calories 31; carbs 7g; fat 0g; protein 0g; sodium 1mg; iron 1mg