Enjoy the First Days of Spring with Colorful Potato'zanella Salad

DENVER, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As the weather warms, fresh and colorful ingredients become more and more abundant on our plates. This spring, allow the many types of potatoes to be star ingredients in your recipes, and add nutritional value and a variety of colors, flavors and textures to your favorite dishes. Need inspiration? Take a lesson from Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien who is known for creating healthful recipes that never lack in flavor, just like her latest potato dish, Potato'zanella.

A traditional panzanella salad calls for cubes of bread. This reinvented Potato'zanella uses potatoes instead of bread, a great substitution for those on gluten-free diets, and also keeps the dish light, fresh and full of vegetables. It's easy—just toss together cherry tomatoes, cucumber chunks, spinach, red onion, basil, and a flavorful dressing with the halved fingerling potatoes to complete the dish. This twist on the traditional adds a punch of nutritional value to this tasty dish.

No matter what you serve this spring, don't forget the nutritional power of potatoes: one medium-size (5.3 ounce) skin-on potato contains just 110 calories per serving, boasts more potassium (620g) than a banana (450g), provides almost half the daily value of vitamin C (45 percent), and contains no fat, sodium or cholesterol. With seven unique potato types and many ways to prepare them, you can enjoy potatoes every day of the week and substitute them into any dish.

Inspired by Hungry Girl's creative and guilt-free potato recipe? Hungry Girl and the USPB invite you to enter the Guilt-Free Potato Goodness recipe contest on the Potatoes, Taters & Spuds Facebook page. Simply submit your original, mouth-watering and guilt-free potato recipe for the chance to win a trip for two to Los Angeles, CA, and a meet-and-greet with Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien at her brand-new Hungryland headquarters and test kitchen! Enter the contest by March 28, 2014. Click here for official contest rules.

Visit www.potatogoodness.com to learn more about Hungry Girl's love for potatoes and to find hundreds of healthy and creative potato recipes. You can also sign-up to receive the US Potato Board's weekly recipe email to receive a new recipe in your email in-box each week.

Potato'zanella

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Salad
1 lb. fingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise
1 tsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup cucumber cut into chunks
1 cup chopped spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 tbsp. chopped basil

Dressing
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
1/8 tsp. each salt and black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Place halved potatoes in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt, and toss to coat.

Place potatoes cut sides down on the baking sheet. Bake until tender and browned, 25 - 30 minutes.

Let cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, and add remaining salad ingredients. Mix well.

In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients. Drizzle over salad, and toss to coat. Dig in!

Nutritionals per serving (about 1 1/3 cups): 150 calories, 5g fat, 175mg sodium, 25g carbs, 3.5g fiber, 3g protein

About the United States Potato Board

The United States Potato Board (USPB) is the nation's potato marketing and research organization.  Based in Denver, Colorado, the USPB represents more than 2,500 potato growers and handlers across the country. The USPB was established in 1971 by a group of potato growers to promote the benefits of eating potatoes. Today, as the largest vegetable commodity board, the USPB is proud to be recognized as an innovator in the produce industry and dedicated to positioning potatoes as a nutrition powerhouse—truly, goodness unearthed.   

About Hungry Girl

Lisa Lillien (a.k.a. Hungry Girl) has turned her appetite for better-for-you food finds, recipes, and swaps into a multimedia phenomenon -- from a free daily email service with more than 1.2 million subscribers (hungry-girl.com) to a super-successful book series and a hit cooking show that airs on both Food Network and Cooking Channel. Her realistic approach to eating has shown hungry people everywhere that they can eat the foods they crave and still fit into their favorite jeans. Lisa is not a nutritionist, a dietitian, or a doctor. She's just hungry...

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140320/CG86029

SOURCE United States Potato Board