Potluck Cabbage Salad

This is an excellent salad to bring to a potluck.  No weird ingredients for skeptics to sneer at and nothing fussy.  Just toss all the ingredients together when it's gathering time.  This salad is best when it is freshly made.

Crunchy cabbage and almonds with a sweet/salty dressing and just a hint of smokiness from the bacon oil.

1 pound green and red cabbage, shredded
2 large or a couple of handfuls of baby carrots, shredded
    (or go the easy route and throw in a hand full of pre-shredded)
6 green onions and tops, diced
1/4 cup toasted, slivered almonds

To make ahead (because that's always more convenient!) shred the cabbage and carrots and toss with the green onions.  Keep the almonds separate until you are ready to serve so they don't absorb moisture.

Bacon dressing:
2 Tablespoons melted bacon oil
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Pour ingredients into a small jar with a lid and shake vigorously to combine.
Drizzle over mixed cabbage, carrots and onions and toss.  Then top with almonds.









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Classic Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

Next time you cook bacon, use the drippings to make this dressing.

1/2 cup bacon fat oil, melted
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 or 2 tablespoons honey
sea salt & black pepper

This dressing is meant to be hot to help lightly wilt the spinach.
Place all the ingredients in a glass jar with a lid and stir with a spoon.  Then drizzle the mixed dressing over:
Chopped baby spinach
Red Pepper
Red onion

Refrigerate unused dressing and use within two months.  Remove the jar lid to reheat in the microwave.

Wilted Mixed Greens with Bacon

Greens!  Greens!  Greens! 
Greens are packed with vitamins and minerals and when I cook up a big batch, they become convenience food.  I always get a bundle of mixed types of greens in my CSA pack, and usually never enough to make a meal of just one type.  All greens do NOT taste the same, and I prefer the taste of some over others.  If it weren't for my CSA, I would proabably not eat Rainbow Chard by choice.  It is lovely to look at, but I just simply don't enjoy the taste of the darn things.  Mixed with a variety of other greens, a bit of vinegar, some honey and hot pepper, and of course bacon, unappealing greens become a healthy and tasty balanced meal, or quick snack when I'm starving before dinner.


1 yellow onion, diced
6 strips thick-sliced bacon (nitrate & nitrite free)
1 pound mixed delicate greens -- choose Swiss Chard, Rainbow Chard, beet greens
1 or 2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup honey
Sea salt & black pepper

Slice raw bacon into matchsticks, or get yourself a kitchen shears and snip it!  This is the fastest way I know to cut bacon.  It also saves having to wash another cutting board.

Over medium-high heat, begin to cook bacon until some of the fat melts a bit, then add onion and 1/2 tablespoon salt and reduce heat to medium.  Saute until bacon is browned and onions are golden.

Remove stems from greens.  Dice stems and add to onions.  Increase heat to medium-high.  Coursely chop leaves and set aside.  Saute stem/onion mix until stems lose a bit of their crunch, about 3 minutes.

Add chicken broth, garlic, red pepper, black pepper, vinegar, and honey.  Taste the broth to see if it needs more salt.

When broth liquid is boiling, add chopped greens.  Gently turn leaves to wilt those near the top.  This should only take a few seconds.


This recipe also works for Mustard greens, Turnip greens, and Dandelion greens however, you may want to increase the amount of vinegar and honey in this recipe to help balance the bitter flavor.






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What is Paleo?

FastPaleo.com
http://fastpaleo.com/free-paleo-cheatsheet/







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