This refreshing salad is packed with extra crunch from 4 crunchy veggies that are tossed with a sweet, tangy, and very slightly spicy dressing.

It is the perfect kind salad to put together for a picnic. It stays crunchy and the dressing remains lightly coating everything because it doesn’t get watered down by all the crispy veggies. It pairs as well with Thai curry as it does with taco. Add some raw pepitas on top for extra crunch and to make this salad a satisfying lunch entrée all on its own.

All that, and this salad is loaded in Vitamins A & C with a good amount of Vitamin K!

The Stuff: Dressing

• 1 mango, peeled and sliced into large pieces
• juice of 1 lime
• juice of 1 blood orange
• 1/4 sweet red bell pepper, de-seeded
• 1/4 Anaheim chili, de-seeded
• 1/4 Poblano chili, de-seeded

Combine all ingredients into a food processor, fitted with an S-blade*. Process on high until you have a thick sauce, scraping down sides as needed until smooth. Set aside.

*If you have a powerful blender (e.g., VitaMix) you can just throw everything into the blending vessel and blend until smooth.

The Stuff: Salad

• 1 small jicama, peeled and sliced into 2″ matchsticks
• 3 medium carrots, sliced thin (slicing blade on food processor works great!)
• 1/4 sweet red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 purple cabbage, chopped small
• 5-6 sprigs of fresh coriander (cilantro), leaves removed and shredded by hand

Toss all ingredients with dressing in a large bowl and serve.

Makes 6 vitamin & fiber packed servings!

Nutritional Info

Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 71
Total Fat: 0 g
Sodium: 27 mg
Carbohydrates: 17 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 10 g
Protein: 1 g

This is one of those recipes that when I finally made what I had in mind, the dish came out exactly what I was hoping for. Crunchy and tangy with a creamy, cilantro dressing. It is great as a side salad as well as making a great topping for tostados, your favorite vegan burger, or tacos.

Not only is it very quick to make, even if you’re also making the Creamy Cilantro Lime Ranch dressing first, but it is also packed with Vitamins C & K!

The Stuff

• 1/2 small head white cabbage
• 1/4 small head purple cabbage
• 1 small orange bell pepper
• 1 cup Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing

The Making

Quarter the half head of white cabbage. For each cabbage quarter cut at an angle along the bottom to remove most of the core and remove outer leaves. Slice cabbage very thinly and add to a large bowl.

Core pepper and cut in very thin, 1″ julienne slices. Add to bowl with cabbage.

Give all the veggies a toss together to mix. Add in the salad dressing and toss to coat evenly.

Makes 8 servings.

Nutritional Info

Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 83
Total Fat: 6 g
Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
Cholesterol: 0 g
Sodium: 133 mg (6%)
Carbohydrates: 6 g
Dietary Fiber: 2 g
Sugars: 3 g
Protein: 2 g

This dish can be served hot or at room temperature as a kind of warm salad. The combination of the sweetness of the cabbage, the green chili, mustard and the earthiness of the turmeric is so satisfying. It makes a great side dish along with some rice and dal.

The Stuff

• 1 small head of green cabbage
• 1 small shallot
• 1 small green chili (jalapeno)
• 1/2 t brown mustard seeds
• 1/4 t ground turmeric
• salt, to taste

The Making

Quarter the head of cabbage and cut out the core. Shred into thin ribbons.

Slice shallot in half and cut into very thin ribbons.

Cut off top and end of green chili, split in half. Remove all seeds and white core. Slice chili halves into very small ribbons.

Heat a skillet to medium-high heat and spray with high-heat canola oil. Add shallot and saute for 3 minutes, add in green chili and continue to saute another 3-4 minutes, until shallot is caramelized. Add mustard seeds to pan, saute another minute or until the seeds begin to pop.

Add the cabbage to the saute pan and turn  well to mix in shallots and chili slices. Continue to saute 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is fully wilted. Sprinkle turmeric over the top and keep tossing cabbage to distribute the turmeric.

Once the cabbage is fully wilted and evenly coated with the turmeric, remove from heat. Either serve immediately or let cool to room temperature before serving.

Serves 4

Hotpot stews, like gomamiso-yosenabe, are a type of winter dish popular in Japan. I’d had one of Napa cabbage, glass noodles and dumplings when I ate at Cha Ya in San Francisco in 2008 and loved it. With the bounty of this year’s winter squash harvest (thanks to Christie’s insistence on growing it) I wanted to go a different direction with the squash stews I’d been making and thought it would be fun & tasty to use red miso and sesame to make a rich, Japanese inspired hearty dish.

The Stuff

• 2 Tablespoons canola or olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 4 carrots, cut into thick rounds
• 2 large stalks celery, diced
• 4 cups winter squash cut into 1-2″ cubes
• 1 28oz can Muir Glen fire-roasted, diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup red miso
• 1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds (white is fine, black is more dramatic)
• 4 cups cooked Aduki beans
• 1 medium head Savoy-style cabbage chopped into large pieces
• 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 Tablespoons brown rice vinegar
• 8 cups water or broth

The Making

Saute onions on medium-high heat in a large metal pot with canola oil until the onions begin to go translucent (about 5 minutes), then add garlic. Continue to saute the garlic and onions until they begin to brown (about 5 more minutes) then add in carrots, celery and winter squash. Saute all veggies together for 5 minutes, add sesame seeds, and 8 cups of water or broth. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer together until squash is tender (20 – 40 minutes depending upon type of squash used).

Once the winter squash is tender add into the pot, remove a cup or two of the broth and mix with miso, then pour in and stir. Add the cooked Aduki beans, chopped cabbage, the Muir Glen diced tomatoes, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Cover pot and simmer for 15 additional minutes to allow beans to absorb flavor and for cabbage to cook completely.

Serve stew with a steamed grain (brown rice or barley) or some crusty, whole-grain bread.

**I make this with great success in the pressure cooker. Instead of reducing heat to simmer, put lid on and bring up to pressure, then reduce heat & set timer. Using Delicata squash it takes 7 minutes. Hubbard squash take more like 9 minutes on full pressure. After that step I add the pressure cooked veggies into another pot containing the cabbage, beans and sesame oil. The intense heat of the pressure cooked veggies pretty much cooks the cabbage immediately.

The Stuff

• 3 leeks, sliced in 1/2 inch rounds & rinsed well
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large golden beets, diced
• 4 medium carrots, diced
• 4-5 large stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 small white cabbage sliced into big shreds (about 2 cups)
• 3 cups cooked Great Northern beans
• 2 T olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

This is last week’s cabbage. Gloriously purple, gorgeous shape, and as big as my head. Really. It was the Cabbage as Big as My Head (insert your own dramatic reverb here) This week a smaller head of white cabbage was delivered so it was high time to address the giant head already in the fridge. I’m cold and didn’t want salad. We also had a whole lotta carrots and it seemed the sweetness of those would add nicely to the cabbage.

The Stuff

• Half a large head of purple
• 4 large carrots
• 1/4 medium red onion, sliced thin
• 2 cloves garlic, diced small
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 2 T white wine vinegar
• 1 8 oz block of tempeh