Picnic Time Salads

It's that time of year when we all hit the great outdoors and if you are spending the day at the park or the beach or where ever sooner or later you will need some nourishment. Here are a couple quick salads that are sure to please and go well with most anything. Lets start with a summertime favorite, coleslaw. Coleslaw always goes well with burgers, brats, dogs and anything BBQ. It's also very economical to make so here are the ingredients you will need:

Green cabbage, shredded                          1 medium head (about 3 pounds)
Carrot, shredded or matchsticks               1 cup
Mayo                                                          2 cup
Celery seed                                                1 tsp
Black Pepper, fresh or coarse ground      1 Tbs
Salt (optional )                                           1 tsp
White wine vinegar                                    1/3 cup
Sugar, granulated                                          3/4 cup
Parsley, fresh chopped                                1/4 cup

First shred the cabbage. You can buy cabbage already shredded if you like but I find it to be too fine for my taste. I like mine a little more coarse. I think it has better texture and holds up to dressing much better. Turn the cabbage so the core is facing up, take your knife placing the blade in the center of the core and push it down cutting the cabbage in half. Cut those in half so you have quarters and turn the quarters so the core side is down and trim the core out. Cut the quarters in half so you have eight wedges of cabbage. Lay each wedge on its side and start cutting thin slices so you have a coarse shredded appearance.
Now you can leave these alone or you can chop them a little more so they are shorter. I prefer to buy the little packages of matchstick carrots as again I find the shredded to be too fine. Ok, so the veggies are ready now lets mix in all the ingredients, add a little chopped fresh parsley if you like and chill this stuff up until it's time to eat. This recipe will yield about 1-1/2 quarts and doubles easily if you need more than that.

The other salad I want to share with you today is a pasta salad. Ingredients for pasta salad are endless, this is one variation I enjoy. I used bow-tie pasta but any pasta you like will work. For this we will need the following.

Bow-tie pasta, cooked                                 1 pound
Broccoli fresh, cut in florets                       1 bunch
Red bell pepper, cut in strips                       1 each
Yellow bell pepper, cut in strips                 1 each
Green  bell pepper, cut in strips                  1 each
Red or yellow onion, cut in strips,             1/2 medium onion
Grape tomatoes, cut in 1/2                         1 pint
Carrot, shredded or matchsticks                 1/2 cup
Parsley fresh, chopped                                 1/2 cup
Italian dressing, your favorite                      8-12ounces

Put your water on to cook the pasta and while it is getting hot chop your vegetables. When the pasta is done rinse it with cold water and let it drain well. Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl and chill. Today I am using a balsamic salad dressing.  Even though the salad dressing has plenty of seasoning I always add a little extra black pepper and garlic powder and maybe a touch of sea salt. Just makes it all a little better. This recipe will yield about 4 quarts. Try one or both of these at your next picnic or pot luck. Enjoy!!!