Spicy Thai Crunch Salad

So Ryan and I had this great salad the other night at California Pizza Kitchen and we decided to replicate it at home, while spicy-ing it up some. The main ingredient is cabbage and yeah I know, doesn't seem that interesting and it smells a little, but did you know that cabbage is included in the top 100 foods? It falls under the category of Cancer & Long-term Illness Prevention. So eat up!

Here are the ingredients:

Cabbage- green and red, shredded
Cucumber (cubed)
Carrots (shredded)
Edamame
Green Onions (chopped white and green pieces)
Avocado
Wontons and/or Crispy Rice Noodles
Peanuts

Dressing:
Cilantro, about 1/2 cup
Olive Oil (use your eye)
1 Lime
1/2 clove of garlic
Green Pepper (we get ours from our garden)
1 teaspoon of rice vinegar
black pepper

Thai Spicy Peanut Sauce (bought from the store) with a little smidge of sesame oil.

Ryan made the dressing in our mini food processor so that pepper and cilantro were finely minced. Basically we just combined all the ingredients, tossed with the dressing, then to add some spice we added the Thai Spicy Peanut Sauce. I think it would also be good to top with some Salmon, or other fish. Basically it's a very simply and easy salad with a lot of flavor.

Warm Thai Coleslaw

So I found this recipe in a book called "new vegeterian." The recipe calls for it to be cold with tge green beans being the only thing cooked. I like my dinners warm (except when it's scorching outside), so I decided to change things up a bit and cook all of the veggies. Not only was it quite delicious, but it's also packed with vitamins.

ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 oz. green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1-2 inch pieces
• 2 cups of finely shredded red cabbage
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 tomatoes seeded and chopped
• 1-2 green onions chopped (white and some of the green part)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1 green chile (I'll leave the kind and amount up to you depending on how spicy you like your food).
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts coarsely ground

for the dressing:

• a handful of fresh cilantro chopped
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar (I used a little less than what is called for)

directions: Mix all the ingredients together for the dressing and put aside. Cook the green beans in boiling water for 3 minutes, then drain and set aside. In a wok (or large frying pan) heat the olive oil and add the garlic, onions, and chiles. Saute for 1-2 minutes then add the bell pepper and continue to saute for another 2 minutes or so. Next add the cabbage and continue to saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the cooked greenbeans and tomatoes and peanuts and continue to saute for another 1-2 minutes. During the last minute pour the dressing over everything. Make sure everything is heated throughly, but don't cook for too long as it will get mushy. Salt and pepper as needed.
If you prefer to have it cold, cook only the green beans then rinse them throughly with cold water. Next combine all the salad ingredients (skip the olive oil) and pour the dressing over everything.