Last week I had a head of cabbage that needed to be used and some other random veggies and a summer picnic coming up with no idea what to make.  I wanted to make salad that my family could enjoy to make sure there was something at the picnic we would be able to eat.

This picnic was with my grandmother’s side of the family and they are from a hard working farm community in Maryland.  They eat lots of farm food, but also lots of processed foods and lots of boxed and pre-prepared foods.  There was plenty of coleslaw, mac n cheese and scalloped potatoes.  However… we were excited to also find a few fruit salads, deviled eggs and a broccoli salad!  The desserts were definitely off limits, but there was a surprise of ice cream which at least the boys could have even if I wasn’t completely thrilled about it! I felt bad denying them the white sugar, icing, white flour creations that looked amazing but are toxic… especially to my celiac little boy.

They had been so good seeing the desserts and not begging, that when the ice cream arrived I couldn’t help but let them have some!  They are so good about what they are allowed to eat that a treat now and then won’t hurt… too bad! 😉  As long as it’s not an allergy food!

So… since I didn’t know what types of foods were going to be there, I decided to try my hand at my own concoction and hope that it worked and was tasty.  I chopped most of the ingredients and then just added my Italian Dressing on top with some salt and pepper to the taste I wanted.  I did toss a little feta cheese on top which, in my opinion, totally made this dish… but it’s still good without!  We all devoured the left overs we brought home with in a few days!

I was also worried that since I just tossed a little of this and a little of that in the bowl not expecting it to be AMAZING.  I was quite fearful that I wasn’t going to be able to recreate it.  Have no fears!  It was accomplished.  We had a picnic the next weekend with our bible study and I still had the other ½ of the cabbage to use so I made the same salad!  It was a hit yet again with our family and also with the rest of our bible studyl.  The recipe was requested and I promised it would made a debut on the blog in the near future… so here it is!

Crunchy Summer Cabbage Salad

Ingredients:
½ cabbage chopped into small pieces
1 ½ handfuls of cherry tomatoes quartered
1 yellow pepper chopped
1 orange pepper chopped
½ red onion chopped
5 green onions chopped
¼ cup chopped cilantro chopped finely
Salt and pepper
Homemade Italian Dressing
Optional: feta cheese on top

Directions:
Mix all chopped veggies together and add homemade italian dressing on top with salt and pepper to taste.  I think I probably used about ¼ cup? or something like that.

I thought the feta cheese was a great addition, however, I wouldn’t add it into the salad.  I just sprinkled a bit on top each time I’d eat the leftovers!

Enjoy!  Let me know what you think!!!!