I am SO pleased to announce that I have added another writer to the team. My dear friend and mom to a blended family of ten kids has mastered the art of feeding children healthy gluten free and she does it all inexpensively. Kate Jarvis will be sharing weekly posts in the near future in a brand new column dedicated just to kids. While we work to get the site ready for her grand entrance I thought I might share one of her phenomenal recipes. Since she told me about this salad I have made it at least 20 times (in the last month). Its THAT good. And yes, even her kids happily eat it too. I never knew it was possible to get addicted to a salad until I took a bite of this one.

Pop over and say hello to Kate on her Facebook Page Little Big Outdoors. -Brittany-

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Sometimes.. I just get sick of vegetables. There. I said it, now don’t tell my kids. I never get sick of feeling healthy and full of energy. Finding new and interesting ways to keep vegetables, especially raw vegetables, enticing to my palate is a challenge. You can only eat so many green salads every day until you hope to never see a leaf of baby spinach again.

One night while cooking up some shrimp, I had the idea to use the same flavorings on a salad. The full flavors of this salad will trick even the most discerning of cabbage hating taste buds. I personally detest cooked cabbage (apparently I’m not a good Irish girl) and coleslaw has never been a favorite. Many grocers in my area, though, sell already shredded green & purple cabbage with carrots in a bag ready to go. So this salad has also become a go to quick meal and side around our house.

I generally make a full bowl of this and leave it in the fridge and munch on it for days on end. I think this is the appropriate time to insert a warning: this salad is addicting. Be advised, if you’ve been getting bored of raw veggies this will renew your enthusiasm.

Cilantro Cashew Cabbage Salad

Salad

• 4 cups of shredded cabbage
• 1 cup of shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup of sliced red onion
• 1/2 cup or more of cashews (roasted or raw)
• 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

Dressing

• 1/2 cup mild flavored oil
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 packets of Nunaturals Stevia to taste (2-3 grams)
• A dash of lime (squeeze a wedge or just add a quarter teaspoon if you use bottled lime juice)
• salt & pepper to taste

Mix your dressing in a separate bowl, then pour over the veggies and toss. It can be served immediately and the flavor only gets better the longer it’s chilled before serving.

 

A few variations we have tried:

When I ran out of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar still worked in a pinch. If you like a little more kick, use a little chile oil in the mix for your dressing. Roasted and flavored cashews, while not as healthy, tasted scrumptious as well.

Best of all, if you have picky children or a picky partner just call it cashew salad, they won’t even know they’re eating cabbage!

-Kate-

 

Kate Jarvis is the mother to a beautiful blended family of ten children. In addition to her love of writing, she loves traveling with her partner, Jim, and spending time in the outdoors. Together they enjoy hiking, camping, archery, boating, gardening, fishing, hunting, and more. Kate has a passion for feeding her family real food and teaching them good health starts with their own choices. She loves being active (as if ten children didn’t provide enough activity!), her favorite forms of exercise are running, karate, biking, snowboarding, and contests of jumping higher than the kids on the trampoline.