Two Top Health Foods are Southwest Favorites. Try My Mexican Slaw

The New York Times ran a piece titled, "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating" by Tara Parker-Pope. The author details nutrition lists from noted nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden who wrote The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.

Cabbage and pumpkin seeds are 2 of the foods making the list of the "11 Best. . . " If your thoughts of cabbage stop at coleslaw, I have a recipe you'll love if Mexican food is a favorite. Not only is my Southwest Slaw nutritious, it tastes wonderful and it's beautiful! Serve it as a side dish or salad, or put it on tacos and tostadas (my favorite!) or even hamburgers. Be sure to stop by my website and try some of my other recipes.

Southwest Slaw

Time: About 15 minutes
Tools: knives & whisk or fork, salad bowl, (optional) Food Processor or blender such as Vitamix
Yield: 1/2 Cup per serving. Approx. 6 servings Yield depends on how much you put in the bowl.

Dressing Ingredients & Instructions:

• 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 crushed fresh garlic clove
• fresh squeezed juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  

Mix ingredients in the Blender or Vitamix on medium, increasing to high for apx. 20 - 30 seconds. Or, mix by hand with a whisk or fork. Pour into salad bowl.

Salad Ingredients & Instructions: (Salad amounts are very approximate)

• 1/2 head (or more) of red cabbage (or mix red and green cabbage), chopped for slaw.
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup or so of chopped green onion or finely chopped white or yellow onion.
• 1 to 4 fresh serrano or jalepeno peppers finely chopped. Use fresh mild anaheim chilis if you don't want much heat.
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup roasted and salted pumpkin seeds
• Optional: 1 ripe avocado (another food on the list), peeled and chopped

With a knife or using your food processor or Vitamix, chop the cabbage, cilantro, onion and peppers until they are the size you want for your salad (smaller pieces, like a chop-salad are best).

If you use a Vitamix, put the variable speed on 4 and after twice quartering the cabbage, drop it in chunks of 2 into the machine. Scrape out the chopped vegetables before adding more. Chop the cilantro into 1 or 2 inch pieces before adding to the Vitamix so that the stems won't wrap up.

Put the chopped vegetables into the salad bowl and toss with the dressing. Add avocados (optional) and sprinkle with Pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately. ¡Que rica!


For more of my recipes see my website.