Saturday, February 13, 2010

Cabbage Salad


I love this salad because it make A LOT and I can eat it for lunch and dinner alone every day and never get sick of it. It is very easy to make, very filling, and really good for you too. You can add Ramen noodles and nuts to give it a different crunch. I like to top mine with chicken. (I ended up cooking about 10 pounds of chicken in the crock pot over night because I bought a ton of chicken earlier in the week and thought I was going to be ambitious and can the chicken during the snow storm. Didn't happen. So, we will be having LOTS of chicken over the next few weeks.) If you wrap the unused halves of cabbage in press n' seal or put them in a zip lock they will keep for awhile. I made this salad on Monday, and then made it again with the other half of everything on Friday night, and it was still good. I looked up several versions of this recipe and then kind of made up my own. I found the purple cabbage (which I always used to pick out of salads, it is really pretty good and is very pretty) to add in at "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" in her "Asian Noodle Salad" I changed it to fit what I had and used a different dressing because I didn't have all of the ingredients for her dressing. Hope you enjoy it!!

Ingredients:
1/2 small green cabbage, chopped (short cut would be to use coleslaw mix)
1/2 small purple cabbage, chopped
1/2 to whole head of romaine, green leaf, or red leaf lettuce, chopped (Just however much you want). You could also use baby spinach if you want here too. It is good in this as well.
1/2 to whole bag of carrot shreds, or 1/2 pound of chopped carrots (I like to shave the carrots the "Rachel Ray" way by running a veggie peeler back and forth on a large carrot peeling it until there is nothing left and then chopping the shavings up. they are kind of like confetti and really good. But, chopped up carrot works well too, that is what I did for this one)
1/2 pound of sugar snap or snow peas

Optional mix ins:
Chopped cucumbers
Chopped red, yellow, orange peppers
Green onions
Sliced almonds
Ramen noodles (not cooked)
Regular noodles (cooked)
Caramelized nuts (very good on this too)
Fresh cilantro

Dressing:
5 Tbsp. cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
5 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 to 2 tsp. sesame oil
1 to 2 Tbsp. of thawed frozen OJ concentrate (optional, if using this I use less sugar)
1 tsp. soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh chopped cilantro to taste (I am having trouble finding fresh cilantro here, bummer)
Small splash of lime juice

Rinse and chop up ingredients that get chopped. Dump veggies and salad stuff in a bowl. Mix dressing in a blender or the magic bullet, or whisk in a bowl. If you are serving to a crowd then dump dressing on top of salad and mix until salad is well coated. If eating over a period of time do not dump dressing on salad. It won't last as long. Top with chicken and crunchy toppings if desired. Enjoy!!

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