by: Beverly Johnson

Just like the Colonel made it! Well almost!

If you love the taste of KFC potato salad, and want to impress your family and friends at your next get-together, try this recipe. It's tried and true, and always gets me rave reviews. I tinkered with the recipe for a while, and added a few special ingredients...but, I think your clan will agree that it's the best tasting side dish, they've ever had.

The creamy (and surprisingly, cheesy) dressing, makes this one a crowd pleaser, especially at family bbq's, football games, and Thanksgiving dinners. The taste is is sophisticated and savvy and surprisingly healthy (versus traditional potato salad), when you substitue low fat or non-fat sour cream and mayo.

Dressing Ingredients:

2/3 cup mayo

2/3 cup Sour cream, any quality variety, i.e. Breakstones low fat

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar

1/8 tsp. garlic salt

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard (i.e. French's or your favorite)

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tsp. Ranch salad dressing

2 tbsp. parmesan cheese (dried variety, like the kind you use on spagetti, ok)

1/8 cup fancy shredded pepper-jack cheese

5 slices crisply cooked (and drained) bacon, crumbled

Salad Ingredients:

2 pounds (3 to 5 medium) russet potatoes, cooked, peeled, sliced

1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup finely diced or minced onions

Instructions:

Stir together all dressing ingredients in medium bowl.

Combine potatoes, onions, and red bell pepper in large bowl. Add dressing; stir to coat well. Cover; refrigerate at least 3 hours.

You'll want to let this potato salad marinade in the dressing at least 24 hours before serving, so that the potatos can start to release their starches. Tastes much better this way. However, you can serve it chilled in as little as 3 hours.

Serve it up with country style fried chicken and bbq baked beans and your favorite sides...and don't forget the apple pie!

Yield: 6 (1-cup) servings