Cookin’ in the Kitchen: Easy Classic Coleslaw

While we are “cookin’ in the kitchen” and staying home rather than eating out in restaurants, let’s make coleslaw. This vegetable salad is very nutritious and we all need to try to boost the Vitamin A and C content of our meals to keep up immune resistance. Plus, my husband declares that this is the best coleslaw that he has eaten. We decided that this is due to a “secret ingredient.” The recipe has a couple of twists and is easy to make in one bowl without any fuss.

Let’s Make Coleslaw – Health Benefits

This homemade coleslaw is much, much better than anything you will find in restaurants, in my opinion. There is something about the taste of homemade coleslaw that is different from those prepared varieties found in grocery stores and many restaurants. The flavors of the ingredients blend together just right in this dish.

Plus, cabbage has many, many health benefits. It is a s a cruciferous vegetable and contains many different types of flavonoids and phenols compounds. These compounds have important anti-inflammatory effects in prevention of chronic and acute diseases including some types of cancer as well as protection against cardiovascular diseases. Cabbage is rich in vitamins C, B6, and vitamin K as well as fiber. Keeping up resistance to infection is important including eating a health diet. So, let’s eat coleslaw!

Making coleslaw the easy way

Typically, I purchase a whole, fresh cabbage, cut it into wedges and chop or shred this up using a food processor. However, on my trip to the grocery store, I noticed pre-shredded angel hair cabbage and purchased several bags. This skips the all the work of chopping up the cabbage and makes it easy to prepare the recipe using one bowl.

Recipe ingredients

In addition to shredded cabbage, I added a small amount of onion as well as a diced tomato and finely shredded cheese. These three ingredients add to the flavor of the dish plus the give more nutritional value. If you don’t care for tomatoes, these can be omitted, but my husband and I both agreed that a juicy, flavorful tomato helped make this recipe special.

Chop a small amount of onion to small dice and add along with the finely shredded mild cheddar cheese. (I stirred the tomato in at the end of the preparation.) The secret ingredient — “Blue Plate” Mayonnaise

The secret ingredient in the recipe is using “Blue Plate” mayonnaise in the dressing. This mayonnaise is an original New Orleans product and was first made in Gretna, Louisiana, in 1927 (a suburb of New Orleans). The company, Wesson-Snowdrift Oil, Company, was looking for a way to use their soybean oil and began manufacturing the mayonnaise. Over the years, this legendary mayonnaise and its distribution spread throughout the southeastern states. The ownership of the company has changed hands several times, but now is back in the control of the Louisiana William B Riley, III, family. Many New Orleans restaurants will only use this brand of mayonnaise.

The flavor of this mayonnaise is unique and adds a distinctive flavor to whatever food recipe it includes. We tried several brands of mayonnaise in the coleslaw, but decided the ones made with Blue Plate mayonnaise had the best taste.

To finish the coleslaw using one bowl, add the dressing ingredients — Blue Plate mayonnaise, cider vinegar, sugar (yes, sugar), salt and pepper to the cabbage mixture. Gently stir to combine the ingredients and then carefully stir in the tomatoes.

Tomatoes are really an optional ingredient. They may be omitted or placed around the edge of the serving bowl. However, my husband and I both agreed that having the diced tomato stirred into the coleslaw added another flavor element and make this recipe an outstanding one. So, if you like tomatoes, mix them into the coleslaw.

Refrigerate the coleslaw until ready to serve. It does taste much better once chilled and after the flavors have melded together.

I love this recipe. My husband and I can eat almost the entire dish in one meal. Serve the coleslaw as a side dish with just about any entree. Goes great with fish and seafood dishes. Or add as a dressing to a po-boy.

Let’s eat healthy while staying at home. And this one-bowl recipe makes it easy to cook at home.

Serve “Classic Coleslaw” with about any dish you can imagine.