Nothing says summer like barbecue and coleslaw. I love the crisp, crunchy freshness of coleslaw in many forms but I am always disappointed by the bland, flavorless coleslaw you get at a lot of places-as though it was a postscript after all their creative juices were used up by perfecting the barbecue. Coleslaw should be creamy and tangy and just barely sweet. Every year, we bring summer to a close by having a big fried chicken dinner to celebrate my mother’s birthday and she always requests this coleslaw alongside.

Coleslaw

• 8 cups cabbage, diced or shredded
• 1/4 cup carrot, shredded
• 2 tbsp onion, minced
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4-1/3 cup sugar, depends on how sweet you like it
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

1. Prepare the cabbage, carrots, and onion. I do this as follows: tear open two plastic bags of shredded cabbage and carrot mix. Stir in minced onion. By all means, run a head of cabbage through your food processor if it makes you feel good.
2. Combine dressing ingredients, milk through black pepper. Whisk until combined and pour over cabbage mixture.
3. Refrigerate until chilled. This is a good one to make a day or so ahead and will last about a week in the fridge.

Coleslaw has endless potential. Use it to top burgers, barbecue sandwiches, or fish tacos. Take it to a party or have it on the side with sloppy joes, hot dogs, or fried chicken. Put it in a turkey wrap.

How do you like your coleslaw?

Sometimes you want something a little different than your typical table wine, but you still want something special. You want something with some flavor, something interesting and different. When we have one of those moments we have a Blue Moon Beer.

While the typical beer in the Chaos household is Mexican and gets a lime wedge and salt for garnish, a Blue Moon Belgium White Ale gets a hefty orange slice. The citrus flavors in this beer really pop when offset by the fresh orange. Unlike many beers, this one is actually unfiltered. The body is cloudy and there is sediment in the bottle. The flavorfulness of this beer though is much like a fine wine and unlike many typical beers. You can taste the complexity of wheat and citrus flavors, feel the thickness of the beer’s body, and smell the hoppy aroma. The fresh orange slices make “having a beer” much more of a sensory experience-like pairing a good wine.

It has been said that pairing beers can be even more complex and satisfying than wine pairings. Never big beer drinkers, we are only beginners in pairing beers but we may start trying more of these special brews in the future. We have had Blue Moon’s Summer Ale: Honey Moon-which is equally delicious. You can bet we’ll be trying their other seasonal flavors as they become available.

Do you have a favorite beer? Have you tried something a little different lately?

What’s for Dinner this week?

Tart, tangy, sweet and sour. This salad has so much going on: from the salty, creamy feta to the crunchy nuttiness of the pecans to the sweet/sour notes of the chewy dried cranberries, crisp green apples and poppy seed dressing. Thanks to Jacqui for suggesting this combination and the dressing to match with it. I tried and tried to find a poppy seed dressing recipe I felt comfortable making from scratch until, finally, I figured I would never get around to making the dang salad if I had to make the dressing as well. So I caved and bought the brand Jacqui recommended. It is light and tangy with a tart sweet and sour match to the rest of the flavors in the salad. The bottle says it’s delicious on peaches and I am so thrown by even the suggestion of eating peaches with salad dressing that I might just have to try it.

Anyway, about that salad… I am not a huge fan of sweet and sour combos, however the earthiness of the nuts and creaminess of the feta cut through the sour notes and balance it just enough to keep it interesting.

Green Apple Salad

• salad greens, Jacqui recommends romaine or spinach
• dried cranberries
• crumbled feta cheese
• pecans, chopped
• green apple, cut into matchsticks
• poppy seed dressing

Toss your salad ingredients as desired with a little of the poppy seed dressing. Unlike many dressings, I have found 1 tbsp to be perfect for a 1 person salad. This is a great, interesting lunch or side salad. It travels pretty well also, just be sure to add your apple slices just before tossing the salad in the dressing so they don’t turn brown.

Any more salads you recommend before the end of summer?

Photo Update: Homemade Rice-a-Roni

So you know the drill: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. How ironic then that it also appears to be the meal people have the hardest time finding time for. Between trying to get a few more minutes of shut-eye and rushing out the door to beat traffic, breakfast often falls through the cracks. A bowl of cold cereal just doesn’t satisfy and is much too time consuming. Frankly, anything requiring dishes and cooking and sitting down and using a fork or spoon is out of the question.

So what satisfies? Uses few dishes? Is portable? Well, lots of things actually. Today, it’s a poached egg on toast. Poached eggs you say? That requires a pot and heating up the stove-that takes time.

It doesn’t have to. Actually it can be ready in about 2 minutes, dirtying only one small dish. They aren’t pretty and you might not want to serve them at brunch with the Queen, but for breakfast in under 5 minutes-eaten with one hand on the way out the door-they are filling, satisfying and will get your day off to a great start.

Microwave Poached Eggs

• 1 large egg
• a few tbsps of water
• splash of vinegar

1. Put a few tablespoons of water into a small custard cup or coffee mug. Add a splash of vinegar.
2. Break an egg into the water and use a tooth pick to pierce the yolk, this just keeps it from exploding-it won’t leak.
3. Cover loosely with a square of plastic wrap. Put your toast in the toaster.
4. Microwave for 45 seconds for runny, 50 seconds for set but deep yellow, 1 min for well done.
5. While the egg is cooking, butter your toast. If the microwave beeps before your toast is ready you can leave the egg in the hot water for some additional time while you finish your toast prep, it will continue cooking slightly.
6. Peel off the plastic and scoop the egg out of the water, and place it on your toast. Salt and pepper it then mash it up or just wrap it in a napkin and go.