It’s All About The Slaw

Spring and summer, BBQ and fried chicken, picnics, church socials, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, a simple lunch for one, even an elegant dinner for two, family reunions, or great big parties … they all have one thing in common — SLAW! They all scream for that wonderful cool and light delight!

Sure, you could just pick some up already made from the deli (not very impressive) or even grab a bottle of ready made slaw dressing from the store and just toss it together with bag of slaw from the store (perhaps an okay way to introduce a very young child to the kitchen), but why do that when you can just as easily make it yourself. Plus, it tastes at least ten to a hundred times better and is sure to impress!

Whether you go for a standard traditional coleslaw or dress it up fancy there is nothing difficult nor time consuming about making your own slaw. (Although you do need to allow time for it to chill before serving — about 2 to 4 hours).
And while you could use kitchen appliances such as hand mixers, blenders, or food processors to speed things along even more, all you really need is a dinner fork and a bowl and perhaps some measuring spoons and cups if uncertain about estimating the quanities. And you can purchase the ingredients already shredded to save even more time.

It can be made with green cabbage slaw, red/purple cabbage slaw, broccoli slaw, carrot slaw, or a combination of any or all. Plus, already a pretty healthy dish, slaw can be made even healthier as well as dressed up fancy with the addition of things like chopped apples (with the peel left on — nutritious and pretty!), diced celery, raisins (gold or black), shredded carrots, cranberry raisins or “craisins” (dried cranberries), walnuts or pecans. You can even make it diabetic friendly and heart healthy by replacing the sugar with granulated sucralose and the seasoned salt with a low or no sodium seasoning blend purchased from the store or use homemade substitutes such as the one I have posted at:

About Seasonings and Seasoning Blends

Let’s make some slaw!

Step 1: Toss your slaw ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Step 2: Mix your dressing ingredients together until well blended and smooth. You can do this by hand with a fork or an electric mixer in a bowl, or you can use a blender or food processor.

Step 3: Add the dressing to your slaw and toss until well and evenly mixed together. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours to chill well before serving.

And that’s all there is to it! See how easy that was?!

Time get away from you and don’t have enough time for your slaw to chill in refrigerator? Don’t panic and race to the deli just yet! Here is a handy quick chill method to speed things along:

Cover the bottom of a large metal mixing bowl with ice. Put your slaw in a medium metal mixing bowl, cover with platic wrap, and set it inside the larger bowl on top of the ice. Add more ice around the sides of your of slaw bowl. Be sure to leave at least two inches at the top so if the ice sweats or melts there is less chance of it seeping into your slaw making it soggy and unappealing. Cover the top of both bowls together with foil or plastic wrap. Dip a small towel into iced water and wring it out well. Place it over the top of your bowls. Place in the freezer for no more than ten to fifteen minutes. Then place the whole thing in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Transfer your quick chilled slaw into your serving bowl and you’re ready!

Food safety is a must!

If you plan to travel with your slaw to a gathering elsewhere, put it into a non-breakable, air-tight, water-proof container and put on ice in a picnic cooler. Be sure to keep the cooler shut tight until you reach your destination and are ready to serve it. When serving foods that are normally kept cold in the great outdoors (or anytime it might be left out for longer than the normal period of time) it is recommended that you place a pan or bowl of ice on the picnic table to set your containers of cold foods on. Not only will this help keep them nice and cool but also help prevent spoilage and a serious case of food poisoning.

It can take only two hours at normal room temperature for bacteria to grow to dangerous levels but when the temperature reaches 90 degrees it only takes an hour!

SO HAVE FUN BUT STAY SAFE!