Lisa's Potato Salad

7 lbs potatoes (appx. 20 medium-sized potatoes...although i love red potatoes the best, i usually don't have those and use whatever potato i have.  adjust quantity according to potato size)

24 eggs

3 cups miracle whip

2 cups mayonnaise

salt & pepper

In large pot, place eggs in pot of cold water in a single layer and make sure there is 1-2 inches of water above the eggs.  Bring to boil.  Boil for one minute.  Turn off heat, but keep covered for about 12 minutes.  (At this point I usually forget about the eggs, and they end up boiling for about 10 minutes...and it works too!)  Take pot off, and let cold water run into pot OR remove eggs with slotted spoon into ice water.    Gently tap the eggs on a hard surface to crack the shell.  Gently remove the membrane and shell.  Sometimes a batch will end up slipping off easily and other times they are tough for me.  (If anyone has any tips about shell removal, please comment!)  As I remove the shells, I am barely running some cool water to rinse off any shell bits.  Obviously the egg will be a little wet.  To minimize sliminess I then place them in a bowl with some folded paper towels in the bottom to soak up the water.  Meanwhile, the potatoes are boiling on the stove...

Peel potatoes.  Slice them up into nice, bite-size squarish pieces.  Make sure you don't cut them too small or during the boiling process they will just disintegrate.  When I have all of the potatoes sliced up, I give them one more good rinse to rinse off some of the emerging starch (just because it bugs me).  Bring them to a boil.  Boil until fork-tender.  Immediately remove from heat and drain.  (Occasionally I will accidentally overcook the pieces and they are headed towards mashed-potato-hood.  If you do this and have a few hours or even overnight, simply put them in a bowl in the refrigerator and they will re-solidify a bit.) 

Cut up eggs by hand into a large bowl.  I like to try to keep them similar in size to the potatoes.  Add Salt & Pepper.  Pour in potato pieces.  Add some more salt & pepper along with the mayonnaise and miracle whip.  Stir it all together (during this stirring process, some of the soft potato will flake off into the mixture and make it all the more creamy and perfect.  Salt & pepper again to taste.  Serve!