How to Make Easy Coleslaw

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Trader Joe's Shreadding Cabbage for Coleslaw

Trader Joe’s Shreadding Cabbage for Coleslaw

We enjoy coleslaw almost year round in Tucson. Maybe it is the heat (yes… very likely) but it could be because we just love all the contrasts: crunchy veggies and creamy sweet-tangy dressing.  And we also like how flexible the salad is (you could eat it regular style, or experiment with stuff like apples or celery – whatever you liked).

Shopping at Trader Joe’s makes it easy to love coleslaw. They have the cabbage already sliced up in the bag, ready for what every dressing you wish.

Also when you make the dressing from scratch yourself, you will be amazed at how wonderful it tastes and you will not have another bottle in the fridge with some half-used up dressing for who- know- how- long!  (Then you have to guess if it is still fresh?? Eeks! This stuff is so simple to make you will just love it.

Here is a recipe for an easy, basic, Coleslaw Dressing (all measurements are guessed as I was just tossing them in the bowl…. Sorry….)

Goodies from Trader Joe's

Goodies from Trader Joe’s

What you need (for the dressing):

  • 1Tablespoon sugar
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup mayo
  • celery seed (optional, but AWESOME)
  • Salt and pepper

1 bag shredded cabbage.

How to:

1. Add the sugar and the vinegar into a bowl and whisk together until the sugar dissolves, 1 minute. Then add the mayo and some salt and pepper. Whisk again until smooth and creamy.

Whisking the sugar and vinegar for a minute

Whisking the sugar and vinegar for a minute

Add mayo and whisk until smooth

Add mayo and whisk until smooth

2. Toss ¾ of the dressing with the cabbage in a large bowl.  Then see if you need more dressing for your taste. (I usually add all of it). Taste some cabbage and see if you need more salt or pepper.

WOW that is it!!  We like to make our Coleslaw up a few hours before we serve it, just to allow the flavors to blend together.

Variations:

  • Add a teaspoon (or more) of Trader Joe’s Taco seasoning for a SW coleslaw
  • Add grated apples or sliced celery to the cabbage
  • Add grated carrots or sliced sweet onions to cabbage for color and sweetness

We hope you enjoyed seeing how easy it is to make coleslaw from scratch- how do you like to eat coleslaw? Do you add any wild ingredients or are you a classic coleslaw person??

Leave us a comment below and tell all!

How to make Trader Joe’s Waffles

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Now, waffles are not usually on our Sunday AM radar at the house. Although we like to eat waffles when we are at a restaurant, (all crispy and golden on the outside) we do not have a waffle iron in  our kitchen yet. Oh well, some day….

Here is the recipe for waffles from the back of the box of Trader Joe’s Buttermilk Pancake & All Purpose Baking Mix:

  • 3 ½ Cups Trader Joe’s Baking Mix
  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 Cups Water
  • ½ Cup vegetable oil

-Stir all ingredients with a whisk until smooth. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your waffle iron to cook your waffles.

-Makes 12, 4 -inch waffles

Variations suggested on the box:

Golden Pecan Waffles– Stir in ½ cup chopped pecans into the batter.

Country Bacon Waffles: Add 6-8 strips of cooked bacon (crumbled) into the batter.

Waffles with Whipped Cream and Strawberries -my favorite! Make the Waffles according to the directions. Top with whipped cream and sliced strawberries- eeks! There is nothing as good as that combination- crispy waffle, fluffy whipped cream and sweet strawberries!

Has anyone tried any “savory” waffle combos that you liked?  We tried a waffle with cream cheese and smoked salmon one time- it was OK but I like my salmon on a bagel.   I also saw a recipe that used a waffle as a base for chili sprinkled with cheese and onions (topped with sour cream). That looked interesting but we have not tried that yet

How do you like your waffles? Drop us a comment and let us know

Trader Joe’s Pancake Mix Directions

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Have you tried Trader Joe’s Buttermilk Pancake & All Purpose Baking Mix yet? We love  having all the ingredients ready to go when the mood for pancakes hits us- usually on a Sunday morning, drinking coffee…reading the paper…. You get the idea.

So here is the super easy way to get Pancakes on your table!  (here is the smallest batch directions):

To make 10+, 4 inch pancakes (who measures this stuff, right?) you will need:

  • 1 ¾ Cups of Mix (Trader Joe’s Buttermilk Pancake Mix)
  • 1Cup of Water
  • 1 Egg

What to do:

Whisk water and egg together in a bowl. Add the Mix and whisk until the batter is smooth.

Heat non-stick pan over medium heat until hot, and coat with a small amount of oil or use cooking spray so the pancakes don’t stick to the pan.

Use ¼ cup of batter for each pancake, and bake about 2 minutes per side.

Serve with Trader Joe’s pure maple syrup.

Variations:

Jam (orange marmalade is awesome!)

Trader Joe’s Lemon curd

Applesauce? – This was a suggestion from the back of the Trader Joe’s package that sounded interesting. They suggest you try a ½ cup of Applesauce and a sprinkle of cinnamon in the batter. I think we will try this the next time we make Pancakes- it sounds delish!

Enjoy!

Take a minute and let us know what you like on your Trader Joe’s pancakes…..

How to Make Pasta Salad

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Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad

One of the great things I love about summer is pasta salad. Now we could make them all year long, but there is something about the cold pasta and the different veggies that reminds me of a picnic. I guess I just don’t think about making and serving a pasta salad in November.

Anyway Pasta Salads can be easy to make and rather quick to put together too. Recently we were shopping at Trader Joe’s and we were talking about how many cool things that Trader Joe’s sells that could really make a pasta salad special.

There are a zillion ways to make pasta salad with any number of ingredients that you could add. Main ingredient is of course, the past! We like to use a smallish noodle, but we have also made yummy pasta salads with leftover spaghetti.

Next, we like to think about what veggies we would like to use (either buy or use up) like tomatoes, broccoli, diced zucchini, bell pepper stripes, peas, etc… We also like to include an “onion” item either sweet Vidalia Onions, Red Onions, or Green onions.  Next we think about a full-flavor or “special” item to pull the salad together. This might be pesto, or sundried tomatoes cut in small stripes, or some olives.

Well, all that planning for a pasta salad motivated us to make one today!

Ingredients:

  • Whole Wheat pasta (we used those little spirals called rotelle)
  • Cherry Tomatoes (in red and yellow, cut in 1/4)
  • Broccoli (cut up into small pieces)
  • Green Onions sliced thin
  • Trader Joe’s Pitted Kalamata olives (the “special” ingredient), chopped
  • Trader Joe’s Parmesan Cheese (a couple of spoonfuls)
  • Dressing: olive oil

What to do:

Cook pasta according to package directions. About ½ way through the cooking, add the broccoli pieces to the cooking water. Let the broccoli cook with the pasta until the pasta is finished cooking. Drain and rinse briefly in cool water then place in a mixing bowl.

Next add the rest of the vegetables, and toss lightly with olive oil. Season with your favorite spices – we used Trader Joe’s 21 Salute , garlic powder, salt and pepper along with the parmesan cheese.

Variations:

Here is where you can be creative. You can use up some cooked vegetables or add a can of garbanzo beans if you like. Trader Joe’s also sells a large selection of items that would really make a pasta salad special. These include artichoke hearts, tapenade (already chopped up olives)  or even brochette.

We were planning to tell you to leave the pasta salad in the refrigerator until cool but it looked so good that we had to “sample” it right away. Even warm it was just delish!

The next time you are at Trader Joe’s check out the isle with all the canned beans and olive oils and see how inspired you are. If you see anything that you are not sure about, leave us a note and we will try and help you out.