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Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing

You can serve this salad as a light lunch or pair it with grilled chicken for a more substantial meal.  If you use cucumbers, be sure to remove the seeds, as they can make the salad watery.

Salad serves 4 and comes from onceuponachef 
Ingredients
For the Thai Peanut Dressing

• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 TB. unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 TB. fresh lime juice, from one lime
• 3 TB. vegetable oil
• 1 TB. soy sauce
• 2 TB. honey
• 2-1/2 TB. sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1-TB. fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 TB. fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped

For the Salad

• 4 cups chopped Napa cabbage or shredded coleslaw mix (I like to toss in a little shredded red cabbage for color)
• 1 cup prepared shredded carrots
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 1 small English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 cup cooked and shelled edamame or coarsley chopped radishes
• 2 medium scallions, thinly sliced

Directions:

• For the dressing, combine all of the ingredients except for the cilantro in a blender and process until completely smooth. Add the cilantro and blend for a few seconds until the cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
• For the salad, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine. If serving right away, drizzle the peanut dressing over top and toss; otherwise, serve the dressing on the side so the salad doesn't get soggy.

Garden Slaw with Asian Dressing

This side-dish salad tastes great with burgers or pulled pork sandwiches. Or you can toss the slaw with shredded chicken or chopped cooked ham for a main-dish salad.

Recipe from Midwest Living
Ingredients:

Dressing:

• 3 TB. rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 3 TB. canola oil or vegetable oil
• 2- 1/2 TB. sugar
• 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil 
• 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

Salad

• 4 cups shredded green and/or red cabbage
• 1 cup julienned or coarsely shredded carrot
• 3/4 cup bite-size strips green, red, yellow and/or orange sweet pepper
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped radish or endamame
• 1/4 cup snipped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion

Directions
For dressing: In a screw-top jar, combine vinegar, canola oil, sugar, toasted sesame oil (if using), ginger, dry mustard, salt and crushed red pepper. Cover and shake well.
For Salad:In a large bowl, combine cabbage, carrot, sweet pepper, radish, cilantro and green onion. Pour dressing over vegetables. Toss to coat. Chill, covered, for 2 to 24 hours, then toss before serving.
Variation:Easy Garden Slaw: Prepare the slaw as directed above, except substitute 5 cups packaged shredded cabbage with carrots (coleslaw mix) for the cabbage and carrot.

Helpful Hint if you forgot to plan ahead for eggs and butter to be at room temperature
Cover eggs in a bowl with warm tap water. Add in a wrapped stick of butter. The waxed paper wrapping keeps the butter dry in the water. Warm for 5 minutes and you should have room-temperature eggs and butter.