A Simple Salad

Here is a very simple salad is is a perfect side dish or light lunch.   The ingredients are variable and you add what you have or like and in whatever amounts you like.   Feel free to experiment.   Very simple, equal amounts of any or all of these, diced in the roughly the same sized pieces.

cucumber, peeled or not as you wish
radishes
sweet peppers
carrots
tomatoes
green onions

I then dress it with a good olive oil and a couple grindings of salt and black pepper.   Allow to sit for a few minutes before serving. 

Blue Cheese Salad Dressing

For most of my childhood my mom worked as a waitress in various places.   My earliest memories of this is when I was a small child and she worked at the Frontier Motel and Restaurant in Poplar Bluff, MO.   It was always a treat to go there to eat and we would do it for special occasions.   It seemed that for years, we would especially go there to eat on Christmas Eve, before coming home and opening presents.   But every time I ate there, the main thing I looked forward to was a salad with their housemade blue cheese dressing.   It was cheesy and rich and very different from other blue cheese dressings and totally different from any bottled stuff.   I loved it so much, that Mama finally brought the recipe home and would make it for me.   It is very easy to make and so good  you'll have a hard time not just eating it by the spoonful.   If not thinned down as much as called for in the recipe, it will also make a killer blue cheese dip for your hot wings or raw vegetables.   There are two differences between my recipe and the one Mama brought home.   The original recipe made close to a quart and a half of dressing and I like more and bigger chunks of blue cheese.  The Frontier and Mama are both long gone, but this recipe brings back memories of both.   Enjoy!

1 cup good quality mayonaise, NOT MIRACLE WHIP!!!
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. crushed sage
1 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2-1 cup cubed or crumbled blue cheese
white grapefruit juice to thin (lemon juice only if you have no grapefruit and fresh squeezed only)

Beat together the mayonaise, sour cream, garlic powder, sage, celery seed and black pepper.   Stir in enough grapefruit juice to make it pourable, adding more or less according to your preference.   Gently stir in the blue cheese.   Allow to mellow in the refrigerator a couple of hours before using.   If you are going to use it for a dip, then use only a couple of tablespoons of the grapefruit juice, just enough so the acid cuts the richness a bit.   Enjoy and think of my Mama!

Cole Slaw

This cole slaw is a big favorite at the carry-in dinners at work.   Since it has no mayonaise in it, you don't have to worry about food poisoning if it sits out for a couple of hours.   Also, it is still good after being in the refrigerator 4-5 days.   My favorite way to eat it, is piled on top of a pulled pork sandwich.  MMM  My friend Sharon from Warrensburg, MO eats it with grilled hot dogs.   Anyway, here's the recipe!    Enjoy!!!

1/2 head cabbage, finely shredded or 2 bags ready made slaw mix
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 cup white sugar or Splenda or half sugar and half Splenda (other artificial sweeteners don't work)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. dry mustard (may substitute prepared yellow mustard if you must)
1 tsp. salt (may omit if you are watching you salt intake)
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Place the cabbage and onion in a large bowl.   Bring the remaining ingredients to a full boil, then pour boiling mixture over the cabbage and onion.   Stir well to mix, then allow to sit for about 15 minutes.   At that point either place in a covered dish in the refrigerator or is there is too much liquid, drain before placing in a tightly covered dish.   Store in the refrigerator at least an hour before serving and it will keep up to 4-5 days.   Fix  yourself a mess of pulled pork and pig out!