Apple Fennel Cabbage Slaw {Recipe}

What's colorful, nutritious, and full of autumnal ingredients? Apple fennel cabbage slaw! My mother originated this slaw in my family, probably as a spin off from a magazine. We now make the salad regularly as a side to grilled meats or bite of freshness among a rich oven roasted chicken.

With a very light dressing, the recipe is vegan, low fat, and full of vitamins and crunch. Fennel haters have been known to change their mind over this salad.

Apple fennel slaw keeps for up to seven days in the fridge. When we tire of eating it fresh, we toss it in a cast iron skillet and braise the mix over medium heat until the vegetables are sweet and tender.

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Fennel Apple Slaw Makes: 12-20 servings Time: 20 minutes preparation, 30 minutes resting

1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup white wine or champagne vinegar 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar or honey 2 teaspoon soy sauce 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon ground dried ginger 1 fennel bulb, core removed and thinly sliced 1 small head red cabbage, core removed sliced thinly in 3 inch lengths 2 granny smith or other tart apples, peeled, cored, and cut into matchsticks

1. Whisk together or shake in a jar the oil, vinegar, sugar/honey, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and ginger. 2. Pour dressing over fennel, cabbage, and apples. Let macerate for 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.[/print_this]

Added to Hearth and Soul and Traditional Tuesdays.

Lil's Colorful Chop Salad

It is afternoon, a time when summer boredom hits hardest.  Lil is whiny and wants nothing to do with any of the ideas I suggest.  That is, until I start working on dinner and ask if she would like to make a salad.

She runs to her garden and picks what is ripe and fresh.  She brings them inside, washes, and begins to chop.  Lil dices carrots finely with an adult paring knife.  I teach her how to chiffonade large leaves.  She mixes a vinaigrette, pours it over the salads, and serves them.

These chop salads genuinely taste delicious and make good use of our in season vegetables.  More than that, Lil's salads represent the growth of a healthy eater and contributing member of our food loving family.

Recipe for a Chop Salad, verbatim from Lil

First, we need to do carrots, then chard, then some dressing.  Put herbs and done.

Tips for a Successful Salad Making Experience with a Child

1. Say 'yes' as often as you can.  You want both the making and the eating of a child-led salad to be positive.

2. Set yourself up for success by offering to do tasks that might be frustrating for a young child, such as cutting thick parts of a carrot.

3. Be flexible about letting the child try everything they want to try.  Model techniques, moving their hands under yours if need be.

4. Give them the proper tools, especially knife ware.  A child will be easily frustrated with a knife that doesn't cut well.  Lil has been using an adult pairing knife since she was three, for these reasons.

5. Double check the washing.  Garden vegetables, especially greens, can be dirty and grit makes for a poor salad.  Kids love using the salad spinner, so employ yours if you have one.

6. Go with the child's taste ideas.  You may never have thought to pair certain herbs and vegetables, but the child's tastes may surprise you. More than that, by allowing her creativity in the kitchen you are giving her confidence in other areas.

7. Specifically and honestly affirm the act of making and eating a healthy salad.  "You worked really hard at this." "I especially like how carefully you cut the carrots."  "Thanks for making part of our dinner! I love eating this nutritious and delicious salad."

Overnight Marinated Kale Salad

I could call this recipe the 'convert kale salad' for all the people who hate kale but love this dish.  It could be named 'Basi Italia Rip-Off' because I first tasted the salad at the elegant Basi Italia restaurant in Columbus and have been recreating it in my kitchen ever since.  Another good title would be 'best salad ever' as someone always declares as much when I serve it.  It is refreshing in summer and useful to make with bountiful local kale in cooler months too.

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Marinated Kale Salad Servings: 10 Time: 15 minutes prep, overnight marination

5-6 cups kale, washed and cut into thin strips.  Any type works; the lacinato or dinosaur kale tastes best.

1/2 cup dried fruit.  Basi uses dried currants; my version has dried cherries

1/2 cup nuts or seeds.  Basi uses pine nuts but since my episode of pine mouth I substitute sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon honey

zest and juice of one lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler (omit and add 1/4 teaspoon salt for a vegan dish)

Mix kale, fruit, lemon zest and seeds in a glass bowl.  In a separate dish, mix lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and honey to make a dressing.  Pour dressing over kale and toss to coat evenly.  Refrigerate overnight or for six hours minimum.  Before serving, toss in Parmesan shavings.

[/print_this] Recipe added to Fight Back Friday.

Build a Salad Container Garden

Yesterday I lead a edible container building workshop for members of Food Matters Columbus. We claimed a few picnic tables at Whetstone Park and planted away. Today, Lil wanted to make a garden just like the workshop. So we did!

Lil was happy to get her hands dirty filling the container.

She planted a tomato seedling, radishes, endive, and basil for me and mint for her.

Could her hands be any dirtier?  I say that one good measure of a child's happiness is the variety of grime on their body. ;)

Lil decorated each label with her interpretation of what the vegetable looks like.

Just before going in for bed, Lil used the rain barrel hose to water her new garden.

I will repeat the container building workshop with families this Saturday, April 17, from 2 - 3 pm at Sprout Soup. Each container that participants will fill with soil, seedlings, and seeds costs $20. Spaces are limited! Reserve your experience by emailing me.  Or, make your own salad garden by following the steps below:

Supplies:

Container, preferably at least 20 inches wide by 7 inches deep

Potting soil or topsoil mixed with peat moss

Seedlings (herbs, tomatoes, radishes)

Seeds (lettuces, spinach, radishes)

Row markers, tongue depressors, or popsicle sticks

Trowel

Procedure:

1.Label row markers with the plants you choose.  At a maximum, choose one variety of tomato, two herbs, and two seeds.

2. Fill container with soil to within one inch of the top, mixing in two scoops of peat moss if you have it.

3. Place row markers.  Tomatoes should be planted at an end so they will not shade everything.  Herbs and lettuce need 4 or 5 inch spacing.

4. Plant seedlings by hollowing out a small hole in the soil.  Plant deep enough that the dirt covers a quarter inch of the stem.  Cover with removed soil.

5. Scatter seeds (five to eight seeds per variety).

Care of the Container:

1. Place in a sunny location.  If necessary, move throughout the day to chase the best sunlight.  Orient the container such that the tomato will not shade the rest of the plants (generally towards the north east).

2. Water immediately upon placement.  Continue watering whenever soil is dry a half inch deep.

3. Watch the weather for hard frosts.  If one is forecast, bring your container inside for the night or cover with a sheet or tarp for the evening.

4. When plants develop, harvest tomatos by plucking them off the vine.  Lettuces and herbs can be snipped with scissors or gently torn from the plant.  They will continue to produce new leaves.

5. If herbs or lettuces develop flowers, snip or pinch those off.  When plants go into flower production, the leaves become bitter.  If you remove the buds you can enjoy the leaves longer.

6. When it gets very hot, lettuce will become bitter.  Remove the plant.  In late August or early September you can replant lettuce and it will grow outdoors until the first fall hard frost.