Friday, July 13, 2012

Winging it for Slaw

Missy, here. I thought I'd share a recipe with you that I served on July 4th, when I planned to make coleslaw, and then realized I didn't have slaw dressing.

But first, let me back up. I often make broccoli slaw. And we like it made with a mixture of thousand island and ranch salad dressings. Since my kids don't like to eat slaw but will sometimes eat broccoli slaw, I decided to try making cabbage slaw using my thousand island/ranch mix.

But alas, I had no thousand island. So of course, I hopped on the computer and went to Foodnetwork.com. I looked at several recipes and then went to work, winging it with what I thought would taste good.

WARNING. I often cook by just throwing things in without measuring. So this recipe will be the same. :)

Yes, the Fritos are open! They gave me energy for cooking. :)

Thousand Island Dressing
Mix:
3/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup ketchup
about a tablespoon of sweet pickle relish
a dash of Worcestershire sauce



Put prepackaged cabbage and julienned carrots into a bowl.


Stir in about half of the Thousand Island dressing (add more to taste).
Stir in about the same amount of Ranch dressing.


Here's my finished product. If you think it looks a little bit pink...well, it is. I thought it was too sour and added a little raspberry-walnut vinaigrette since it's sweet. BIG MISTAKE. It was weird. Don't do it. Just add a little sugar to your thousand island dressing if you like sweeter slaw.


Enjoy!!

15 comments:

  1. Okay, I don't eat any kind of coleslaw... But this looked really good! I think I'll try it! Not the weird vinaigrette part, though. :D

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    1. Yeah, Virginia, learn from my mistakes! :)

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    2. I think I would have washed it off and started fresh.. ;)

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  2. So I don't do avocados and you don't do slaw... and yet we LOVE one another!

    I love slaw of any kind. I add it to my broccoli slaw mix and eat cabbage/broccoli slaw all the time. Oh, yum. NO CARBS. Smiling like a goofball, saying that!!!

    Hey, Missy, did you know that cole slaw dressing is simply mayo with a splash of vinegar, a little salt and about a tablespoon of sugar mixed in? That's it, whisk together, add more salt or sugar or vinegar as needed. If you like celery seed, you add that in, too.

    I bought Marie's Asiago Ranch dressing. I love their blue cheese dressing but I like my Ranch dressings a little thinner so that was a learning experience. I use the Hidden Valley Ranch mix with mayo and milk, but I add a little extra milk. Then I re-thicken with Parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper... And it tastes really good on slaw mixes.

    I love slaw.

    I do believe I've mentioned that, LOL!

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    1. LOL, Ruthy! Would you believe as I lay in bed last night, I thought, "Now why didn't I just look up a slaw dressing recipe????"

      LOLOL! Of course, I had hopes that my kids would eat it. And of course, they didn't eat it well at all. My son forced one bite down. Daughter actually at a little bit but said she wouldn't be eating any of the leftovers. :)

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  3. Missy, I'm glad to see you kept up your energy with the Fritos!

    I've never thought of using thousand island on slaw - am I just stuck in a rut? Or maybe I like my own slaw recipe too much...

    I'll have to try it.

    I'm with Virginia, though. I'll leave out the pink part :)

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    1. Hey Jan, can you share your recipe?

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    2. Well, the thousand island/ranch is better on broccoli slaw, Jan! I'm with Mary. You should share your recipe with us. :)

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    3. Here's my coleslaw recipe - it's from a hotel near Abilene, Kansas, the Brookville Hotel -

      Combine 2/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt and 1/3 cup white vinegar. Stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

      Pour in 1 c. heavy cream. Stir and then let sit for about 5 minutes.

      Pour over 1 head of cabbage, shredded, and stir well - - or, if you're like me, you use one of those pre-bagged coleslaw mixes from the store :)

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  4. I love slaw but have never been able to make it. Same with potato salad. Don't ask me why -- both just turn out awful every single time. That's why I think you're awfully brave to wing it!

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    1. Kav, my potato salad has never turned out well either. Never as good as my mom's. I think maybe I need to try to start perfecting it. Maybe we need a potato salad cook off! :)

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    2. Do you guys think salads are like Christmas trees? What one person loves, another one shrugs off?

      I think a potato salad cook-off sounds great, and not to see what's best... but the ideas.

      I stay away from yellow potato salads because I don't like mustard in mine. But I love making potato salad with red and yellow potatoes! So pretty! And I undercook them just a little and mix it while they're still warm to blend flavors.

      Is that weird?

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    3. Hmmm....mixing everything while the potatoes are warm...I hadn't thought of that. And maybe I've been using the wrong potatoes for my salad attempts. And I've definitely been overcooking them. There's nothing worse than mushy, runny potato salad. Blech.

      As a frequent visitor to the cafe I'd love to see what y'all did with a potato salad cook off. would it be an exchange of recipes? Or would you hand out recipes to novice potato salad makers and have them try them and post the results? Either way I'd love for you to share. It's rather shameful for an Irish woman to consistently flop at a potato dish. Very unpatriotic!

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  5. Slaw is one of those things I always think I should make but never get around to.

    I love big messy sandwiches so my favorite way to eat slaw is piled on ham or turkey or pulled pork.

    Man, I'm making myself hungry.

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  6. LOL, Mary. I think part of my problem with slaw is that I love the slaw from Long John Silver's where I worked in high school and college. I've never been able to make it nearly as good as theirs. :)

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