~A New Recipe~

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Despite my lack of posting recipes, I swear I have still been in the kitchen! Our garden was not awesome this year, boo! Cold spring, mixed with a dry, hot summer made for a sorry looking garden. That and the deer found it this year, almost 4 years we have been at this house and the deer left my garden alone. This year, not so much. Even though it was not the best growing year for most of my vegetables, we are having a really good year with our tomatoes. I managed to can 5 pints of salsa this week and hope to do another 5 by the end of the week. I also did good with my basil, it was slow and then took off.

Today for lunch I had a fresh tomato from the garden, with basil from the garden, and fresh locally made mozzarella cheese. Sliced up the tomatoes and cheese, tossed on the basil leaves, drizzled with some EVOO, a little fresh ground salt and pepper, and yummo! It's hard to beat such a simple, fresh, summery treat. For super tonight we grilled some steak, ran out of gas, had to go get more, then grilled some steak. In the meantime, I put together a really great salad. Did I mention my red cabbage also did excellent this year? And that our apples are just starting to get really yummy (and we have a plethora, if you are in the area please come pick some!). I have been craving this great slaw salad, and was excited to be able to use our own cabbage and apples, and then I picked up some locally grown arugula for it as well. If you love red cabbage, like I do, you will love this recipe!

Nutty Apple-Cherry Slaw
4 cups shredded red cabbage
2 cups loosely packed fresh arugula (or watercress, baby spinach, mesclun, etc)
1 medium apple (tart, firm apple), sliced thin or chopped
1/2 cup dried cherries (dried cranberries, currants or raisins work also)
2 TB thin sliced green onion (I left this out, didn't feel like having onion breath)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (also good with pecans or walnuts, or a mixture of nuts)
Vinaigrette:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 Tb cider or white wine vinegar
3 Tb orange juice
1 Tb honey
1 1/2 tsp dijon or coarse ground mustard
1/4 tsp salt
dash of cinnamon or nutmeg
Mix well (I have an awesome dressing maker by pampered chef), or use a jar with a lid and shake until well combined.

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, toss with the vinaigrette. You can serve this immediately or put it in the fridge for later.