Swedish Pizza Salad

Have you heard of this?

Apparently in Sweden, this is served along with every pizza ordered in restaurants there. It makes total sense to me since it would balance out the starch and grease in the pizza quite nicely. I Googled it and there are a few variations. This is mine. . .I added carrot, and really struggled with NOT adding onion, since I love that in everything! (except maybe strawberry ice cream. . .or chocolate cake 😁)

Combine in a large glass bowl:

1/2 of a sm.-med. heavy head of white cabbage - finely sliced

1 lg. carrot - shredded

Dressing:

3T single source EVOO

3T white vinegar

2T fresh lemon juice

1T dry oregano

1T sugar

1-1/2t salt, garlic, pepper blend

I whisked these ingredients together but the oregano was stubborn, so I blended it on high for about 30 seconds. Pour it over the vegetables, mix gently then refrigerate at least an hour or overnight before serving.

I made a chicken, tomato, zucchini, mushroom, pesto alfredo sauce, cheese, pasta casserole just before this, that turned out great, according to the tiny little test bowl I tried. I'll serve both of these to some special people visiting me tomorrow. . .Lin

Simple Cabbage Salad

This sounded SO good to me, any variation of coleslaw always does! It went together in no time, since other than dressing there are only 3 ingredients. Thinly slice the following into a medium glass bowl:

1 lightweight head of green cabbage
~ tight heavy heads aren't as flavorful
1 med. Vidalia onion
1 med. carrot

Toss with my Lemon Olive Oil type vinaigrette and a little poppy seed dressing. Toss a couple times while it marinates, an hour or longer.

This is so good -just as is- or use it as a base for other ingredients. I did that just now, adding: chopped grape tomatoes, radishes, Italian flat leaf parsley and some rotisserie chicken. Just perfect for lunch on a summer day. . .Lin

Quick and Delicious Coleslaw

~ Grate 2 medium carrots into a medium glass bowl along with the following

~ 4 chopped inner stalks of celery - save those big darker ones for soup or stew

~ 1 finely chopped small yellow onion, or 4 or 5 green onions

~ 6-8 Brussels sprouts - slice these very thin

~ 1c or more raisins - golden or regular

Mix together then add dressing. Chill an hour or so before serving. My favorite dressings for coleslaw are either a good poppyseed dressing (sweet) or my favorite that I created ages ago, this Lemon EVOO Salad Dressing (zingy - savory)

This coleslaw goes together fast and tastes wonderful. Alone, as a quick salad or especially with grilled chicken, fish, steak or a burger. I love having a bowl of this in my fridge. It will stay fresh many days, but usually doesn't last that long. The dressing you use really makes a difference. Both have very different flavors. Maybe each one and see what you think! . .Lin

Colorful Coleslaw w/ Honey-Mustard-Lemon-EVOO Vinaigrette

1/3 lg. head of cabbage

several leaves of kale

3 red mini peppers

3 sm.-med. carrots

1/3 med. purple onion

Wash the kale well, remove the rib. Thin slice the cabbage and all the ingredients shown into a big glass bowl.

Poppy seed dressing is usually my go-to for coleslaw, but this time I made a honey-mustard type variation of my Lemon-EVOO Salad Dressing adding some Maple syrup, stone-ground mustard and substituting Italian seasoning for the rosemary.

This is always a good choice for a salad. It can be made a day or two in advance and keeps well for 4-5 days in a covered container in the refrigerator. . .Lin

Another Kimchi Adventure. . .

Today I realized I had lots of vegetables that would be great chopped up and naturally ferment into Kimchi.

when using cabbage and the right vegetables, combined with Kosher or Himalayan pink salt, no vinegar is needed and this natural method is more gut healthy

Ever since finding a milder version of Kimchi, at Northern Waters Smokehouse, a multi-faceted Duluth deli-sandwich specialty shop, I've been so intrigued and just love their  milder spin on this.

I've recreated something similar several times, but after this batch is gone, I think it'll be time for a trip over there to buy more of the Northern Waters version get myself back on track by reminding myself again what my original inspiration actually tastes like.
 
For the first part of the process, I chop-sliced the following into a big glass or non-metal bowl:

1 sm.-med. heavy green cabbage

1/2 sm. heavy purple cabbage
1 sm.-med. yellow onion
part of a purple onion
5-6 green onions
1/2 lg. green pepper
2 ribs of celery
2 carrots

Sprinkle 1/3c Himalayan pink salt over all of this and massage it into the vegetables for several minutes. It'll start pulling the water out and shrink the volume.

Let this just do its thing on the counter for a couple hours. Next add 10c of cold water and again massage the vegetables. Cover with a heavy platter to make sure everything is submerged and leave on the counter, if your kitchen is below 65°, or put in the 'fridge for 24 hours.

~ ~ Next Day ~ ~

Drain the vegetable and rinse well with fresh cold water, then let drain again. While this is happening, whisk the following ingredients in a small bowl:

2t finely ground black pepper
2t finely ground red pepper
1T granulated garlic
1T ground turmeric

1T ground ginger

1/3c soy sauce
2t sugar

Put the vegetables back in the big -washed and dried- bowl. Pour the sauce over everything and mix it all well, again with your hands, or a heavy wooden spoon. Fill quart jars. Be sure to push the vegetables down to release more brine. Use thick glass weights if necessary, to keep everything submerged.

Cover each jar with cheese cloth, using a rubber band to hold it tight on the jar. Or a circle of paper towel, secured with a canning ring or sprouting jar top. Not airtight - so gas can escape. Leave on the countertop 24-72 hours.

Check it each day and refrigerate when it until has the tang you like.

This will be best if chilled a week or so. It's fermented, so it will keep a while in the refrigerator. Great as a vegetable side dish, on a hearty sandwich . . . Lin

Coconut Tomato-Vegetable Bisque (with compound butter parmesan biscuits)

SO many vegetables!

This is what I started with. If you substitute English cucumber for the squash, it's very similar to the ingredients for my Gazpacho!

I only roasted those shown on the cookie sheet: squash, purple onion, carrots, cabbage, small tomatoes and garlic. The others have more delicate or fresh flavors, and are best with minimal cooking. 

Drizzle with single source EVOO, season with your favorite vegetable seasonings then roast until golden at 350° for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut up the other vegetables and saute on low heat, starting with the green pepper and celery.

Saute in 2T each:
Better Than Bouillon-vegetable, EVOO, water. After about 10 minutes, stir in the cut up grape tomatoes and green onions. When it begins to bubble again, cover and move off the burner.

Stir in the rough chopped roasted vegetables, the can of stewed tomatoes, 1-2t coconut or brown sugar.

Simmer everything an additional 10 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender until it reaches the smoothness you want. At the end, blend in some fresh basil, then stir in 1 or 2 cans of coconut milk. I used 2 cans this time.

I made some biscuits, in a muffin tin, to go with this. Crack open a can of 8 jumbos, cut each biscuit in 4 pieces putting 3 in each paper-lined muffin cup in a 12 tin. 8 will be bigger ones with 4 being smaller, having only 2 biscuit pieces.

Top each with about 1T grated parmesan-romano cheese. Drizzle with melted butter seasoned with garlic salt, pepper, Italian seasonings. Bake until the tops are nicely browned. If there is extra butter, butter the tops when they are cooled a bit. . .Lin

Whole 30 - Coleslaw with Snow Pea Pods, Raisins and Almonds

Since being on Whole 30 I've been more careful about reading labels. I'm shocked at how much sugar, dairy and grains sneak into our cooking under various names. These ingredients are all approved for the plan.

Finely slice about 1/3 of a large head of green cabbage and 1/4 medium head of purple cabbage into a large bowl. Add 1 large shredded carrot, 5 or 6 chopped green onions, some sliced crispy snow pea pods, 3/4c golden raisins, 2±oz. toasted slivered almonds.

In a little bowl, whisk together: 1/2-3/4c mayonnaise, 3T red wine vinegar, 3T dijon mustard, a sprinkle of Himalayan pink salt and some black and cayenne pepper.

Pour over the vegetables, toss, refrigerate an hour or so to blend the flavors before serving. This is good by itself or as a compliment to just about anything that needs a little freshness, protein and crunch. . .Lin

Clean Out The 'Fridge Coleslaw

2/3c apple cider vinegar

1/2c EVOO

2T turbinado sugar

1/2t fresh ground black pepper

1/2t garlic salt

1/2t dry dill

Whisk all this together in a 2 quart pot. Bring to a boil, whisking until the sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat.

1/4 head of cabbage

3 floppy carrots

1/4 sweet onion

2 red mini peppers

2 tired stalks celery

Scrub the carrots then soak a while in ice water. Lay them on the counter to peel. Slice or chop all the vegetables then stir into the dressing. Cover and let stand 5-10 minutes.

Stir, strain, discard the dressing - or save it for a salad.

Put the coleslaw in a covered container, chill in the 'fridge. This goes well with a hot, heavier dish to balance the richness. . .Lin

My Version of KFC Coleslaw

 

In a big glass bowl whisk together then set aside:

3T sugar

2T lemon juice

1/2c mayonnaise

2T white Balsamic vinegar

1/2c cold fresh water

3-4T buttermilk powder

salt and pepper

To the dressing, add the chopped vegetables, mix well then cover and chill several hours.

8c chopped green cabbage

1½c chopped purple cabbage

1 lg. chopped carrot

3-4 sliced green onions

Serve with burgers, grilled chicken, meatloaf. . .Just about anything! . .Lin

Peanut-Craisin Vegetable Curry

3 stalks celery (save tops for later)

2 big carrots

1 medium 'winter' onion

2T coconut oil

Chop the 'mirepoix' and sauté over medium heat, in a 5 quart pan for a few minutes.

Chop and add the rest of the vegetables shown in the second photo except the tomatoes. Note that I opted for fresh Campari tomatoes instead of the canned shown in the first photo →

Colorful mini bell peppers, 4 med. red potatoes, 5 lg. cloves garlic, 2 big purple shallots, 1½# green cabbage, 1 lg. brown radish

Seasonings: 3±T mild curry paste, ¼t cayenne pepper, 1t fresh ground black pepper, 1t salt, 1t sugar, 1-2T ground cumin.

Add 2c cold fresh water and simmer on low heat until the carrots are tender. Meanwhile, put a covered steamer basket over the pot once it begins to simmer.

Add tomatoes and steam for 3 minutes. Plunge them immediately in a big bowl of ice water. The skins will now peel off easily. Core and peel them, then dice and add to the pot along with the celery greens. 

You can also add 1c roasted-salted peanuts and 1c chopped dried fruit: craisins, apricots, prunes, or golden raisins, or even chopped apple if you'd like. Today it was craisins.

Continue simmering for a total of an hour or so. Stir in 1 can of coconut milk, or coconut cream. Stir, then bring back to a low simmer for just a few minutes before serving. Perfect for a crisp fall day. . .Lin

Spiced-Pickled Vegetables

To start, I used 3/4 of that monster cabbage. The leftover piece was 1-1/2#, so I'm thinking there's about 2 pounds of green cabbage in this recipe! I also added carrots, celery, radishes, garlic, onion, poblano pepper. Use whatever you have, that you'd like to pickle. My pickled vegetables are always heavy on cabbage, because I love it! You can go with any proportions you want, they're your vegetables, do what you like, in cooking, recipes should only be a guideline!

When the vegetables are sliced, cubed or chopped, put them in a big stainless or glass bowl and salt them with a heaping tablespoon of salt. Gently stir, mix this around every so often for at least an hour. Notice how great they smell! While the vegetables are salting, mix up the brine in a 6-8 quart pot.

BRINE:

3c white vinegar

3c fresh cold water

1/2c white balsamic vinegar

1c light brown sugar

make a bouquet garni with 2t of each spice/herb in a coffee filter or a piece of paper towel. Staple to close:

black peppercorns

whole cloves

dry dill

2 cut-up bay leaves

After an hour, you'll notice the salt has pulled lots of excess liquid out of the vegetables. This will make them crisper. Rinse and drain them well. Bring the brine to a simmer, add the spices, simmer a few minutes then turn off the heat for 15 minutes. Bring back to a simmer, remove the spices and add the vegetables.  Stir to mix and give each piece a good bath. After this comes to a simmer again, ladle everything into clean jars and seal with hot lids. If the seals hold, they will keep for many months in the pantry. If not, refrigerate and use within a month or so.

Once the jars were filled, I still had lots of brine left which I could use or throw out.  I sliced the rest of the cabbage, salted it for an hour, drained, rinsed then simmered it in the brine for a minute before filling a quart jar with just the sliced pickled cabbage and brine. All my jars sealed. .😁. .Happy Pickling. . .Lin

Peanut-Craisin Coleslaw

• ½c mayonnaise
• ½c white balsamic vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic - mashed and minced
• ¾c honey roasted peanuts
• ½c craisins
• salt and pepper

• 1 sm. green cabbage
• ⅓ med. purple cabbage
• 1 celery heart w/greens
• 2-3 green onions
• 2 mini peppers
• ½ med. onion 
• 1 carrot

In a medium glass bowl, whisk the mayonnaise and vinegar together. Add the garlic, craisins, peanuts, salt and pepper. Slice-chop all the vegetables and add them to the bowl. Toss everything together and chill an hour or so to blend the flavors before serving.

This goes great with grilled chicken, fish, sandwiches, or just a big bowl of it, all by itself. . .Lin

My Favorite Coleslaw

⅔ lg. head of green cabbage

½ med. head of purple cabbage

4 green onions - sliced thin

1 lg. carrot - shredded

½ c sliced or slivered almonds

⅓ c craisins

⅓ c salad vinegar

½ c poppy seed dressing

½ t ground black pepper

a sprinkle of sea salt

¾-1 t dry dill weed

My sister got me started on this dressing.  She likes it on regular salads.  I ate it that way a couple times, but it was a little sweet.  Then, I realized. . .This would be a PERFECT coleslaw dressing!!  I've tied others, even those called Coleslaw Dressing that look similar, but they're not as good.  One I also like, if you can't find the Brianna's brand, is Kraft's Poppy Seed Dressing, but lately I haven't seen it in the grocery store.  Meanwhile, no more experimenting.  I won't mess with 'perfect!'

Slice the cabbage really thin, into a big glass bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients, toss, add dressing - made separately, or just added to the vegetables.  Toss well again and chill a half hour before serving.  I didn't think I had almonds or craisins but wanted to make this anyway.  I stopped for a couple minutes, did a quick search, and found them after I took the initial picture.  They add good crunch and sweetness.

This is such a nice, simple cabbage salad!  It goes well with a heavier, hot main dish.  The temperature and flavor contrast creates a nice balance.  Hope you like this one as much as I do. . .Lin

Asian Chopped Salad

This turned out well, but the dressing started out a bit mild.  I didn't have one that felt like it would be a good option alone, so I worked around the one shown, adding things I felt were needed.  I have Newman's Own Sesame Ginger, but it seemed that would be too strong.  In the end, what this taught me is, with all these cut surfaces, the vegetables are porous.  They absorb the dressing, and, as it marinates, the strong bite is neutralized.  After a couple hours, it seemed the salad needed a little kick, so I added some Newman's Sesame Ginger, which seemed to put everything in a better balance.  

So, if you have a strong Asian dressing that you like, you'd probably be safe using it.  It won't seem as strong as it would on a regular tossed salad.  A friend of mine makes a great kale salad.  She uses Ken's Steak House brand, lite 'Asian Sesame with Ginger and Soy'.   I'll try that one next.

The salad ingredients, and amounts, are pretty straight forward as shown here.  Starting at the upper left, going clockwise, I used: celery, Brussel's sprouts, radishes, 2 mini orange peppers, kale, a 1½" cross-section of a small purple cabbage, and ½ the medium sweet onion.

⅓c tahini dressing

2T toasted sesame oil - (brown, not clear)

1T rice wine vinegar

1T honey

1T toasted garlic

3T Newman's Sesame Ginger dressing

Measure these into a small glass bowl.  Microwave for 30 seconds, then whisk well before pouring over salad.  Toss to coat evenly, then cover and refrigerate 2 hours before serving.  This is good stuff! 😊 Lin

Crunchy Almond Cabbage Salad

½c white balsamic vinegar

2T toasted sesame oil

¼c avocado oil

½t black pepper

1-2t sugar

½ ramen seasoning package

⅓ finely chopped purple cabbage

½ finely sliced green cabbage

3 sliced green onions

1c matchstick carrots

⅔c sliced almonds

1 pkg. Asian ramen noodles

In a medium glass bowl, whisk together the first group of ingredients until the sugar dissolves.  Add the vegetable-ramen group, toss, cover and chill an hour to let the flavors blend and the noodles soften a bit before serving. . .Lin

Red, Green and Purple Steamed Vegetables

½ lg. head green cabbage

½ med. head purple cabbage

1 red beet - scrub-don't peel

1 scarlet turnip - scrub-don't peel

1c water

1t of each of the spices shown

1t fresh ground garlic sea salt

1 bunch beet greens-(slice) + stems-(chop)

½ med. yellow onion - chopped

⅓ lg. red bell pepper - sliced

2-3t spicy coriander (cilantro) chutney

3-4T basil pesto

⅓ bunch fresh cilantro - leaves + stems - chopped

Cube the cabbage into 1" pieces.  Slice, chop the beet and turnip.  If you use turnip of any kind, slice-chop small, mine didn't cook quite enough and were chewy.  Rinse the chopped beet in a strainer.  This will minimize the amount of discoloration of the lighter vegetables.  Add water and seasonings, cover and steam (once you hear the water boiling) for 15 minutes.  Add the next group of ingredients and a little more water if needed, when this begins to steam again, continue steaming for another 15 minutes.

Sprinkle on the cilantro, cover and remove from the heat for 10 minutes.  Stir and serve.  This is a really healthy vegetable dish.  Mmmm have I mentioned How Much I Love Vegetables!!  This would be perfect by itself, with maybe a sprinkle of panko breadcrumbs and grated hard cheese.  It would also be good with grilled steak, chicken or fish. (or, with leftover ahi tuna meatloaf 😋). . .Lin

A Simple Kimchi

1 med.-lg. green cabbage

⅓-½ med. purple cabbage
6 lg. green onions

3 med. carrots

⅓c Himalayan pink salt

Thinly slice the cabbage, onions and carrots into a large bowl.  Salt everything and massage it into the vegetables.  Let stand for 2 hours.  Add 10 cups of water and massage again to be sure all the vegetables are well coated and covered with the salted water.  Keep vegetables submerged with a heavy glass plate.  Put in a cool spot on your countertop or 'fridge for 24 hours.

1½T finely ground red pepper

1½" cube of peeled ginger

6-8 large cloves garlic

¼c bottled fish sauce

2t sugar

Drain the vegetables in a large colander and rinse well.  Let drain while mixing the sauce ingredients.  Finely chop the garlic and ginger then combine vegetables and sauce, mixing well with your hands in the large bowl that was washed and dried.  Fill vented kimchi jars with the mixture and refrigerate.  This is best after being chilled a week or so.  It's fermented, so it will keep a long time in the refrigerator. . .Lin    

Ajvar Cabbage with Spaghetti Squash

1 med. spaghetti squash

Cut in half, scoop out the seeds, place face down on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.  Pour a little water over the squash halves then bake 45 minutes at 375° - flip over, slit each half lengthwise through the squash, and set aside.

1-2T butter

3 cloves garlic minced

1 sm. - med. chopped onion

fresh ground pepper

fresh ground garlic salt

1T aged balsamic vinegar

¾ lg. or 1 med. green cabbage

1c cooking liquid

1c ajvar

1T sugar

4oz. coconut milk - optional

Saute' the next group of ingredients until the onion is a little translucent.  Add the cabbage and liquid.  You can use water, vegetable broth, adding a little white wine for part of it.  Today I made a big pot of Jasmine Green Tea and thought, maybe that would be worth a try!  Be creative!  You never know when something odd will become a favorite cooking trick!  Cover and simmer this for 20-30 minutes, then add the spaghetti squash, ajvar, sugar (and coconut milk).  Stir, reduce heat, cover and simmer another 15 minutes.

You could add chopped nuts, pine nuts, a ½c panko bread crumbs at the very end, as well as a sprinkle of grated parmesan just before serving. . .Lin