"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"to talk of many things.  Of shoes...and ships...and sealing wax; of cabbages....and kings."
                                                                                              - Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland


Let's talk cabbage, first.
In the last few years, I've been putting my ESSENTIAL recipes on the Chronicles because I finally figured out (and this was after some serious cogitating) that I can access them pretty much anywhere and any time; I don't need to haul around 3 Bon Appetit issues and my Best of Pillsbury Baking cookbook (which is falling apart, it's so loved).  I can just log on to the Chronicles, find "Recipes" and voila! the "secret sugar cookie recipe for Marisa"!

All that to share this:

Thai Cabbage Salad

It's a recipe from the Goodness Gracious cookbook that my unreasonably talented friend Shelly illustrated.  Most of the time, when I look at Shelly and Roxie's cookbooks, I just look at the pictures...they're stunning and they're dear to me because Shelly is dear to me.  Occasionally, though, I accidentally end up trying one of the recipes and they're almost ALWAYS wonderful.  (Reference: Shelly's Brownies in my Recipe label...and swoon.)

I made this Thai Cabbage Salad for a Dutton occasion last summer, I think, and we nearly licked the bowl when it was gone!  And today when I finished throwing it together, I had a big bowl of it for Second Breakfast.  I'd eat it here, I'd eat it there, I would eat it anywhere!  (Gotta love Dr. Suess, hm?)

With that build up, I give you.....

*drum roll*

Thai Cabbage Salad!

*cymbal crash, here*

(Slight modification from the original recipe to simplify the recipe.)

1 small head green cabbage, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and shredded

(OR you can just buy a bag of that ready-chopped cabbage and carrots and shave about 15 minutes off the time it takes to prep this...)

1 cup dry roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

5 green onions, chopped (The actual recipe called for only two, but I like onions!)

2 jalapeno peppers (or Anaheim...whatever you can get) chopped

Toss in a salad bowl, then top with a dressing made of

1/3 c. vegetable oil

1/3 c. white vinegar

3 T. sugar

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (You MUST have the cilantro for the recipe to turn out...I promise you!)

2 T. salsa

3 cloves minced garlic

1/2 small sweet red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

Combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk until well mixed.

Pour over the cabbage mixture, toss to spread the love throughout the salad, grab a bowl and dive in.

I tried to get a picture of Shelly's illustration, but I didn't do a very good job of it.

Here's the best I could do: