Stolen Recipe

Everyone keeps asking me if I make these recipes up myself or if I just take them from Food Network and put them on here. The answer to the question is everything I write on here is original. Except today. I adapted this recipe from my friend Mary Hart (pictured in the middle with her husband Don, and the always lovely Elaine) who is an amazing cook. In fact, she is pretty amazing at everything-cooking, teaching, being a mom, wife, beekeeper, gardener, and feeding us awesome meals every time we invade her kitchen. The only reason it's different than the printed ones she gave me is because, one, I keep losing the recipe and after about the 7th copy she gave me I figured I would wing it, and two, I couldn't find Oriental flavored Ramen noodles at the store. This recipe is always a hit at squad/fire barbecues, and she gets lots of repeat requests for it. The dressing is a recipe I wrote, which is one of the ones I wanted to figure out how to bottle and sell on Etsy. The general consensus on that process is I have no idea how to can or jar and I would probably burn myself. Past that, it tastes great on any salad and it has no preservatives. Once you start making your own salad dressing you'll never want to go back to buying anything in a bottle.

Stolen Recipe of the Day: Broccoli Slaw

For the salad:
1 (12 oz) bag broccoli slaw mix
1/2 cup honey roasted almonds
1/2 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1 large can mandarin oranges, drained well
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 package unseasoned Ramen noodles, broken into tiny bits

For the dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Frank's hot sauce
S&P

In a bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients. If you are not going to be serving this right away (say, you're bringing it to a party) then leave the salad undressed, don't mix it (as shown below) and cover it with Saran wrap to transport it.

For the dressing, mix all of those ingredients in a resealable container and shake well. Don't try to pour the ingredients directly onto the salad, the dressing won't emulsify properly and everything will taste mushy.

When you're ready to eat, shake the dressing well and pour it over the salad. Mix everything together well, trying to not let the ingredients go flying all over the kitchen. I probably should have used a bigger bowl.

Surprisingly, this tastes great as leftovers the next day because the flavors have had time to meld. Once you eat this, you will never want cole slaw again.