Had to share this recipe, just because of the summery weather outside today!

Well, it officially feels like summer outside today! It is a bit blustery with high winds, but SUPER sunny, plus nice and warm. This is how I like my spring!

On account of how beautiful it is outside today, I decided that dinner should be summery as well, with loads of summer veggies and bursting with flavour. Naturally, my thoughts were either homemade burgers or else fully-loaded grilled cheese sandwiches. Well, the fact that I have a downright delicious loaf of sourdough bread, the grilled cheese won out... but I knew that it wasn't enough! My man tends to come home from a long day at work (usually 10 to 12 hours), and all he wants is to sit down, put his feet up, and relax with some delicious food and for me to just be there to hear about his day. Being able to have excellent dinner like the sourdough grilled cheese is fabulous, but it gets even BETTER when you add in something like this sweet potato salad as a side dish.

I love this recipe because it is LOADED with more than just potatoes and sweet potatoes... it has veggies galore! And so much flavour. This makes a fantastic summer side. The Southern flare just makes it that much better.

Well, I have to go get started making this so that the flavours have a chance to mush together by dinner time... whatever you end up doing for dinner tonight, I hope that it is amazing.

Southern Sweet Potato Salad (vegan soul food):

· 2 sweet potatoes, boiled and cubed

· 4 Yukon gold potatoes, boiled and cubed

· 1 cup cooked black beans, cooked to soften, drained and rinsed

· ½ red sweet pepper, diced

· ½ yellow sweet pepper, diced

· 2 stalks celery, diced

· 1 roma tomato, chopped into small chunks

· ¼ cup white onion, diced

· ½ cup mayonnaise

· 3 tablespoons dill relish

· 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

· 1 teaspoon celery seed

· ½ to 1 teaspoon salt

1) Scrub the potatoes really well under running water, then cut into cubes. Put in a pot of boiling water and cook until soft (about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of your cubes). When done to your desired tenderness, drain and rinse the potatoes. Shake the water off and place in a mixing bowl

2) Drain and rinse the black beans. Put them in a small saucepan, cover with water, and cook until soft (typically 8 to 12 minutes). When cooked to your desired doneness, drain and rinse. Add them to the mixing bowl with the potatoes

3) Chop all of the vegetables into small pieces and add to the mixing bowl

4) In a bowl, combine the mayo, celery seed, sea salt, mustard, dill relish and onions. Stir well to combine and pour this mixture over the potatoes and vegetables

5) Stir well to completely coat the potatoes in the dressing. Give it a taste test and add more salt, in necessary

6) You can serve this immediately, but it’s even better if you set it in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavours combine (overnight is even better!)

7) Leftovers (if you have any) will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days