Southwestern Slaw

We consume an unnatural amount of Mexican food in this house.  Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, salsa... you name it, and we eat it.  Anytime we go out for Mexican, there is not a scrap of food left on the table.  No chips, no queso, nothing.  I often won't finish my entire entree (because I ate too much chips and salsa) but somehow it always gets eaten.  No wonder CA always gets overstuffed every time we eat Mexican.

I realize this isn't traditional Mexican food at all, it's really Tex-Mex, but that's what we call it around here.

About a year ago, I stopped serving rice and beans with our Mexican dinners.  We were trying to eat more healthfully and that stuff was just getting in the way of our main dishes.  So, in an effort to find a side dish that was more veggie centric I started making cabbage slaw of the Southwestern variety.

missing the vinegar... oops!

I've made this a dozen different ways depending on what ingredients I have in the house, but this is the combination I'm most fond of.

The base of the slaw is cabbage.  I use 1/2 a head and shred it finely.  You can absolutely use those bags of prepared slaw, but I don't find it too difficult to cut up cabbage.  To that I add green pepper, jalapeno and cilantro.  The green pepper is just for an added crunch, the jalapeno and cilantro are for flavor, for sure.

The dressing is vinegar, olive oil, agave, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and my secret ingredient... TEQUILA!  Booze makes everything better and I find that putting tequila in anything makes it more Southwesterny.  It's amazing in fajita marinade, that's for sure!

Stir all that business together and you've got yourself a healthy side dish to go with your less healthy main dish.  It's all about moderation people.


Southwestern Slaw

Ingredients

1/2 Head of Cabbage, shredded
1 Green Pepper, thinly sliced
1 Jalapeno, finely diced
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro
1 T Olive Oil
3 T Apple Cider Vinegar
1 T Tequila
1 T + 1 tsp Agave
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
3/4 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Chili Powder

Instructions

In a large bowl toss together the cabbage, green pepper, jalapeno and cilantro.  In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, vinegar, tequila, agave, salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder.  Pour the dressing over the slaw mixture and mix to combine.  Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.


Now you can go and eat too many tacos and not worry so much about it.  Seriously, go!
Julie