napa mustard slaw with apple & walnuts

Winter is a busy time when you've got a craft business. There's craft fairs, holiday orders and a lot of extra work. Double it when you add in your own web business. Add in a blog or two, and things start to slide. But I'm not going to beat myself up. Instead, I'm going to celebrate because I've created a very tasty little salad in between coding, designing, folding, packaging and selling. In fact, I've made for than a few meals out of it and within the past 2 weeks, have probably made it more times than I'd care to admit. It's delicious and great and it's a perfect reminder to why salads are to be eaten year round.

And this slaw is perfectly seasonal. Cabbage? Totally available. Apples? Oh boy! And the vinaigrette? It's a delicate, powerful and sophisticated mouthful. I think it helps that the magic ingredient is a homemade vanilla meyer lemon marmalade gifted to me by a wonderful food blogger, but I'm sure any other marmalade will provide just the perfect touch. So hunker down this winter with a slaw and forgo the soup once in awhile.

Please take a peek over at Poppytalk where I've also gone slaw crazy! Over there I've posted a delicious Asian-inspired and super colourful vegetable slaw with pineapple, diakon and a ginger dressing. So let's just take some time in the coming month to remember vegetables alongside candy canes, chocolate and the like.

napa mustard slaw with apple & walnuts
1/2 head of napa cabbage, shredded
1 tart apple, julienned
1/2 c walnuts, toasted & roughly chopped

vinaigrette
1/4 c olive oil
1-2 T grainy mustard
1 T marmalade
2 T cider vinegar
1 t honey
salt & pepper

In a large bowl, add in the cabbage and apples and toss well. Whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients, taste & adjust, if necessary and pour over salad. Scatter walnuts over top and serve.

now that's a mouthful: smokey bbq chicken sandwich topped with north carolina coleslaw

First off, I'm not from the South (obviously) and I don't know a helluva lot about the art of barbecue. My first real taste of a Southern barbecued meal was at a BBQ joint smack dab in the middle of my old hippy/Italian neighbourhood, Commercial Drive. The food may not have been the most authentic as the pacific northwest is a bit off-course from Kansas City, the Carolinas, or any other territory that prides themselves on some sweet ol' BBQ...but that 'cue was tasty.

I may not have the history or even a smoker, but I've got gumption. I've tried (to great success, I might add) my hand at making pulled pork sandwiches and this weekend I wanted to recreate some of that taste in a new way. And it all started with an article in Bon Appetit and a recipe for North Carolina coleslaw. I made the slaw the night before, intending to serve it with some pan-fried cod. While it was okay as a side dish, the slaw really needed to be a part of something meaty and spicy to get things singing. So out from the fridge I pulled some chicken thighs, seasoned them and cooked them up in the remainder of the vinegary, spicy coleslaw dressing. After the chicken was cooked and well-sauced, I deboned them, shredded the meat and put them into hamburger buns. Of course, I topped them with the North Carolina slaw. Hot-diggity, this was a tasty sandwich!


smokey bbq chicken sandwich topped with north carolina coleslaw
I small green cabbage, shredded
1 c shredded carrot
1 small onion, grated on a box grater

2 c cider vinegar
1 T kosher salt
1 T ground white pepper
1 T red pepper flakes
2 T white sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c ketchup

6 chicken thighs, skin removed
salt & pepper
1 T cumin
1 t chipotle powder
1 t dried thyme
1 T olive oil

1. Combine the cabbage, carrot and the onion in a large bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients in a medium sized bowl and pour about 1/3 of it over the slaw. Refrigerate the slaw and keep the remainder of the dressing aside.

2. Turn on oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Season the chicken thighs and on the stove, heat up the oil a large oven proof dish. Add chicken thighs to dish and brown on both sides. Pour in remaining dressing and cover the pot with a lid. Place in oven and cook for about 40 minutes or until the meat is cooked and is falls easily from the bones.

3. Remove the bones, shred the chicken and place on white hamburger buns. Top with coleslaw.

salad days: creamy cabbage slaw & a tuna sandwich

Okay, Another salad recipe since summer is creeping up quick. Last weekend was hot...this past week, not so much, but I have hope. This weekend promises sunshine and warmth and I'm eager for endless months of good weather. Of course, I live in the Pacific Northwest where hold-steady weather is just a pipe dream. Oh well. At least I have a cool summery slaw by my side.

This is pretty simple to whip up. Just chop up the vegetables thinly and you've got a nice treat. If my garden would start production, I would have thrown in some fresh dill but I made do without and this slaw still kicked butt.

creamy cabbage slaw
1/2 green cabbage, shredded
3 radishes, sliced paper thin
1/4 red onion, sliced paper thin
1 green onion, sliced thin
3 T cottage cheese
2 T sour cream
juice & zest of 1 lemon
salt & pepper

Mix everything in one large bowl. Toss well. Easy!

The photo above was Sunday's outdoor dinner. See my beet salad makes an appearance, so does the creamy slaw...but I also made another salad of sorts, a tuna fish salad sandwich. 3 salads for dinner! I had some cottage cheese to use up so instead of sticking with my standard tuna recipe, I played with this version from Simply Recipes and came up with an extra creamy sandwich. I used a green tarragon mustard so that added another dimension of flavour. It was pretty delish. Recipe below.

Notice the beer? This was just a local bottled pale ale but it does make a nice little segway into my latest post for the Food Network blog on cask ales. What's a cask ale? Why is it flat and warm? Is it delicious? Why not learn all about it over on the Food Network Canada site.

creamy tuna salad sandwich
1 can of tuna packed in water, drained
2 small green onions, chopped
1 T mayo
2 T cottage cheese
1 t tarragon dijon mustard
1 t lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1 t capers
salt & pepper to taste
your favorite toasted bread

Combine all ingredients and spread over your favorite toasted bread.

2 kinds of summer salads? Yes please!

Summer long weekends are the definition of perfection. With all the barbeques, picnics and friendly get-togethers, it's a perfect time for sharing food. We had our own little Canada Day celebration over the weekend and food (and beer) definitely played a large part of the fun. I whipped up this super quick and tasty potato salad for our bbq and it was pretty much gone by the end of the night.

creamy red, white and green potato salad
8 baby new potatoes
1 bunch radishes, sliced
1/2 english cucumber, quartered into chunks
1 bunch parsley, snipped
1 bunch dill, snipped
zest of 1 lemon
2 large dollops* mayo
1 large dollop* sour cream
salt & pepper

1. Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender. Cool and cut in half or quarters.

2. In a large bowl, gently mix together the potatoes, radishes, cucumbers, parsley, dill and lemon zest. In a seperate bowl, whip together the mayo and sour cream and pour over vegetables. Toss and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and serve.

- - -


This afternoon I felt like eating salad for lunch and then I spied this tasty looking gem of a recipe over at Simply Recipes. I made a few additions/substitutions and came up with my own version of a tasty asian slaw. I usually don't like going with a mayo dressing, but I did like combining the creaminess the mayo with the rest of the dressing ingredients. It was super delicious and Cornelius and I ate it all up until there was nothing left in the bowl. It was seriously that good.

creamy asian slaw
1/2 head of purple cabbage, shredded
4 green onions, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 bunch radishes, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 T toasted sunflower seeds
2 T toasted almond slices
2 T dried cranberries
Dressing:
2 dollops* mayo
2 T cider vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1 t sugar
1 t freshly grated ginger
a few shakes of toasted sesame oil
a few shakes of sirracha or the hot sauce of your choice

Toss together the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside. Whisk together the dressing and pour over salad. Add almonds, cranberries and sunflower seeds and toss to combine. Serve.

Looking for more summer salads? Look no further than some of my favorite archived recipes:
Colourful Chopped Vegetable Salad
Incredible Lemony Potato Salad
Light n' Creamy Potato Salad
Mexican Black Bean & Tortilla Salad
Peanutty Coleslaw
Potato & Sausage Salad
Roasted Tomato Pasta Salad
Red, White & Green Barley Salad

* hmmmm, dollop...a heaping teaspoon or tablespoon. you can be the judge...more dressing or less. it's up to you!