But damnit, I will try.

The worst part about having a blog like this is that I'm under constant pressure to make things not only taste good, but also make them look good-or at the very least, edible. And having both occur at once happens less frequently than I would like.

As if I'm not hard enough on myself, the idea of other people judging me is not exactly fun. I understand that coming from Mrs. McJudgerson, this is highly hypocritical. Yes, I'm hard to impress. It's not my most endearing quality, but we're all stuck with it. Moving on.

Last night was one of those disappointing nights. I'd never made oven fried chicken before, but this photo on Cooking Light looked so good I was inspired to try. I don't know exactly what I did wrong-it could have been a number of things-not enough butter, discovering my oven wasn't hot enough halfway through, too much buttermilk, gluten-free substitutions-but it came out looking a hot mess. (Daddy, if you're reading this and this is one of those examples of you having no clue what I'm talking about...here)

The hubby was incredibly sweet and kept telling me it tasted good (and he was correct), but...sigh. Luckily, the potato salad was colorful enough to keep me from being a pouty-pants all evening. I always forget about this salad (Yes, Ag, it IS a salad even though it has no lettuce in it), but it's quite good, and a lot lighter than regular fat kid potato salad. Plus there's no mayo, which makes it a good picnic alternative. If, you know, you're into that sort of thing.

Light and Fresh Potato Salad

1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
About 1 tbsp olive oil
large pinch each salt and pepper

About 2 lbs red potatoes, cubed into bite sized pieces
Salt and pepper
Half a cucumber, peeled and chopped
About a cup (one basket) cherry tomatoes, sliced
One orange bell pepper (or any color), seeded and chopped
Large handful of chopped green onions
Small or medium can of sliced black olives, drained

In large bowl, mix together vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Place potato and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until tender; drain.

Add potato to dressing in bowl, tossing gently to coat; let stand 15 minutes. Stir in cucumber and remaining ingredients; toss well. Cover and chill.

(Recipe tweaked from one of the winning Cooking Light side dish entries, so I am using their nutritional info-mine has more olives but less oil, so I figure they even out)

About 6 servings. 180 cals, 6g fat, 4g fiber, 4g protein, 30g carbs