Mexican-Style Slaw and Other Raw Selections

Another long absence, but these things do happen. I have a new recipe to share in a few, but I want to start by showing a raw items I made during a food prep spree I went on last week.

First was a recipe straight off my friend Amber's website, Almost Vegan. I originally was going to make plain coconut butter from her book, but given the sheer number of strawberries this time of year, I instead opted for Strawberry Coconut Butter. I had been saving an empty coconut oil jar for just the occasion, but the pink stuff inside is all sweet, delicious spread that goes with damn near everything. Also in the photo to the left is my own Banana Carrot Bread.

Also from the mind of Amber (and from her fantastic raw cook book, Practically Raw, that came out earlier this year) are the Naked Kale Chips. I substituted coconut oil for the olive oil in the recipe, and also added a couple cloves of garlic. The result was a crispy treat that tastes great on its own or dipped in hummus. Amber has several hummus variations in her book, but I opted to make my own. Here is the massaged kale laid out on a dehydrator tray, ready to get to work:

And here is is all shiny and crisp, post dehydration:

A few select kale chips:

 I also dehydrated some zucchini into chips:

Now onto the recipe. We had tacos for dinner last week, and I wanted a light side dish that didn't involve heating up the stove, as the summer heat makes cooking a little less fun. I came up with this simple Mexican-style slaw using pre-packaged shredded broccoli. For even more Mexican flavor, use cilantro instead of the parsley (which I used to accommodate the aversion to cilantro the oldest spawn has). After dinner, we had about half the slaw leftover, so the next day I added a can of black beans (drained and rinsed) to make it a meal of it's own.

Mexican-Style Slaw

Ingredients:

1/4 small red onion, minced

2 green onions, minced

1 tbs spicy mustard

zest and juice from 1 lime

1/4 c olive oil

hot sauce, to taste

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1/2 bag broccoli slaw (about 2 cups)

1/4 red bell pepper, diced

kernels from 1 ear of corn

1/4 c parsley, chopped

Directions:

Whisk together onions, mustard, lime juice and zest, oil, hot sauce, cumin, salt, and pepper.

Toss the dressing with the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate for at least half an hour before serving to allow the flavors to meld. 

To the right, you can see the slaw alongside our tacos of Morning Star Chick'n, homemade salsa, and avocado.

Below is the slaw with black beans added.

BBQ Pork, Apple-Cabbage Slaw, and Fried Pickle Wontons

Ah, summer....sun, baseball, swimming pools, and--at least here in the Midwest--barbeque. This meal started out with me realizing that I forgot to thaw the pork loin that I had intended to prepare and asking the kids for input. As it turned out, my offspring had no strong feelings on what to have for dinner. So we headed to the store without a list or any idea what we were looking for. Pork roasts were on sale, and so a plan started to develop.

I am not allowed the luxury of a grill at my apartment, so this is strictly stove-top fare. The pork is essentially braised in the homemade BBQ sauce. The slaw is pretty and cools the palate nicely. The real star of this meal, however, is the fried pickle wontons.

'Round these parts, you can't have barbeque without pickles. Fried pickles are even better, but I have an aversion to the mess that batter creates. The last time I battered and fried something, I ended up covered in the cornmeal and egg combination. While I do believe that a person hasn't lived until she has had to wash an egg-based batter out of her hair, I am quite content with never experiencing it again.

Anyway, I had wonton wrappers, so I figured what the hell? It worked, and the kids absolutely flipped out over my version of fried pickles. Even better, it is nearly impossible to accidentally splash wonton wrappers into your hair.

Shredded BBQ Pork

Ingredients:

2 slices thick-cut bacon

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

1 tsp fresh lime zest

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 c tomato paste

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 c brown sugar

1 tbs salt

1 tbs cumin

1 tbs paprika

1 tbs freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp cayenne

1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tbs stone ground mustard

1/2 c beer

2 lb pork roast

8 whole wheat rolls

Directions:

Heat stock pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon, and cook until crispy. Remove bacon and set aside for fried pickle wontons. Reduce heat to medium and saute onions in the bacon fat for 3 minutes. Add lime zest and garlic and saute another minute.

Stir in remaining ingredients except for pork until well-combined. Place pork roast in pot and cover. Allow to cook about 30 minutes, spooning sauce over the roast every ten minutes or so. With 2 forks, shred pork in the pot. Stir to combine with the sauce, turn heat to low, and allow to simmer another 10 minutes. Serve on whole wheat rolls. Makes 8 sandwiches.

Apple and Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:

juice of 1 lime (about 2 tbs)

splash rice vinegar

1 tbs stone ground mustard

3 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp sugar

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and julienned

1/2 head purple cabbage, cored and shredded

1/4 c parsley, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Wisk together juice, vinegar, mustard, oil, cumin, and sugar until combined. Toss apples, cabbage, and parsley with the dressing and season to taste. Serves 8.

Fried Pickle Wontons

Ingredients:

1 c dill pickles, chopped

2 tbs onion, diced

2 slices bacon, cooked crispy and crumbled

3 tbs provolone cheese, shredded

20 wonton wrappers

oil for frying

Directions:

Combine pickle, onion, bacon, and cheese. Place about a teaspoon of the pickle filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Moisten the edge of the wrapper with water and fold over the filling corner to corner to make a triangle, then bring the small corners together and moisten to seal. Repeat until each wrapper has been filled and folded.

Heat oil in a medium sauce pan over med-high heat to 350F. Fry wontons until golden (1-2 minutes), turning halfway though. Remove from oil with slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain. Makes 20 wontons.