Healthy coleslaw

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I love fall food. It’s the Canadian in me, I think. I just don’t respond to strawberries and asparagus in the spring the way I do to squashes and apples. Cabbage is another one of those delightful fall foods so when I saw a big bin in the grocery store last week, I picked one up. This week, I turned part of it into coleslaw. Stay tuned as I work my way through this giant cabbage, recipe by recipe. Experience has taught me that one cabbage can sometimes last upwards of weeks.

This recipe came from Anne Lindsay’s Lighthearted Everyday Cooking, as so many of my staples do. Unlike restaurant coleslaws, this salad is crunchy, fresh and healthy. It’s low-calorie and high in Vitamins A and C. If you have a food processor (thank you, Mum!), it comes together in just a few minutes.

Ingredients

2 cups shredded cabbage

1/2 cup shredded carrot

1/4 cup chopped red or green onion (I left this out because I didn’t have either type of onion)

1/2 cup chopped sweet red or yellow or green pepper (optional according to Anne Lindsay but I always put this in)

Dressing:

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Directions

In salad bowl, combine cabbage, carrot and onion; add sweet peppers (if using). Dressing: Combine garlic, water, lemon juice, sugar, oil and mustard; mix until sugar dissolves. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over salad and toss to mix.

For lunch on Tuesday, I decided to mix some coleslaw with some pre-cooked chicken and fill a whole-wheat pita. It was awesome.