slaw – Kate's Garden Kitchen

Easy Spring Stir-Fry Recipes for Healthy Meals

April 22, 2025katejerome2020gmail.comLeave a comment

Happy Earth Day, everyone! At this time of year, the soothing green of plants and the soft spring days override the memories of a cold winter. It’s a time to be contemplative and appreciative of our earth and gardens. It’s the perfect time to recalibrate. clean out those closets, and clean up our food priorities.

It’s so much easier to pull off a healthy meal when the stress of planning and cooking is eased. So let’s put our energy into clean, simple meals that let us focus on our health. Put the heavier soups and stews away for next fall.

Let’s Stir-Fry!

One of the freshest and easiest meals to make quickly is a stir-fry. Serve a chopped salad alongside, and you have a power-packed meal. Varying the vegetables and sauce flavors i the stir-fry can make it different each time.

Do you use all of the head of broccoli? My family isn’t fond of the stems, so I roast the florets for a meal and then peel the stems (quick and easy with a carrot peeler) and grate them. Add to shredded carrot and cabbage for a delicious slaw. I like to make my dressing, but I keep commercial slaw dressing on hand to make things easier.

Best of all, the slaw mix makes a great salad and but can also make quick stir-fry if you use it before adding dressing. Simply add a bit of spinach or whatever greens you have on hand. Even a handful of frozen vegetables will add extra nutrition. Scramble an egg right in the pan for added protein, or add roasted tofu or leftover roasted chicken. Use a bottled stir-fry sauce of your choice, and serve over leftover rice or noodles.

You can certainly make stir-fry sauces yourself, but don’t be hesitant to buy bottled sauces as long as you check the ingredients carefully. Having peanut sauce, barbecue, or any flavor of Asian sauces will make pulling off a quick meal even quicker.

Classic Stir-Fry sauce

2 T. brown sugar
3 T. soy sauce
1 t. grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
¾ water or broth
4 T. cornstarch

Mix and let sit for half an hour. Add to vegetables when almost done.

Spicy slaw dressing

1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. fresh cilantro leaves packed
1-2 green onions
1 garlic clove
1 lime zested and juiced
1 jalapeño or serrano chile, stem removed
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Blend

Or try one of these on your chopped salad:

Creamy Avocado Dressing

1 ripe avocado, halved, seeded, and peeled
4 ounces plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil

Blend

Tahini Dressing

1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 lemon juiced, to taste
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp garlic salt
pepper to taste
water as needed

Blend

Slaw (this one’s for my sister)

May 10, 2021katejerome2020gmail.comLeave a comment

I tend to wax philosophically about slaw, only because it’s such an easy salad and there are so many ways to make it. There’s the classic coleslaw which is made of shredded cabbage and carrots with a creamy mayonnaise-based dressing. But there are so many possibilities to change it around.

This time of year we have abundant greens like kale, bok choi, young beets, radishes and swiss chard. I simply shred whatever is fresh, dress it with my favorite dressing (usually a vinaigrette), and it’s good to go.

Grill your vegetables!

One way to spunk things up is to roast your vegetables. Cabbage actually holds up well to roasting or grilling, and the smoky flavor turns ordinary slaw into something otherworldly. You can also grill radishes, turnips and beets.

Here are a few vegetables to add to your slaw that you might not have considered:

Kohlrabi
Radish
Turnip
Rutabaga
Beet
Carrot
Broccoli
Sweet bell pepper
Cauliflower
Bok choi
Celery
Apple
Napa or heading cabbage
Sugar snap peas

Use your imagination when combining ingredients for dressing.

Dressings

Dressings can run the gamut – bottled or homemade, creamy or vinegary, spicy or tame. Lime or lemon juice in place of vinegar in a vinaigrette gives a fresh, spring-like taste, especially to more tender greens like baby bok choi.

Combine lime with sesame oil and a dash of honey for an asian inspired vinaigrette

Add cilantro, cumin and ground chile for a decidedly south-of-the border flair

Garnish with toasted flax seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or even chopped pistachios.

Slaw salads

August 27, 2020katejerome2020gmail.com2 Comments

Summertime is my time for slaw. It is cool, crisp and can be creamy or citrusy-tart, depending on the recipe. The best part is that is easy to make and keeps well for several days in the refrigerator.

Use just about any vegetable

It’s easy to change up the slaw to pair with different kinds of food, not to mention making use of whatever is being harvested from the garden. You can use any combination of crisp, firm vegetables such as kohlrabi, radish, turnip, rutabaga, carrot, cabbage, broccoli, peppers, cauliflower. Add some cucumber for juiciness at the last minute.

Dressings can be creamy or tart

Dressings are also only limited by your imagination. For a creamy dressing, use Greek yogurt or mayonnaise as a base and add lemon juice, salt and pepper and a hint of honey or sugar. For a dressing to cool the palate to accompany spicy Asian food, use lime juice, sesame oil and honey. For a Mexican riff, add cilantro, chili powder and cumin.

And feel free to add onions, sesame seeds or roasted flax seeds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries or raisins.

Bok choi or pac choi slaw

2-3 heads baby pac choi, sliced thinly
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 scallions, sliced thinly on an angle
½ cucumber halved, seeded and thinly sliced

Dressing:

2 limes, juiced
¼ c. honey
3 T. vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Toss with dressing and serve immediately.

Broccoli stem slaw

About 2 cups of broccoli stems, peeled and grated (save the florets for another meal)
1 large carrot grated
½ c. red onion sliced thinly

Dressing:

¼ c. mayonnaise or Greek yogurt
1 T. fresh lemon or lime juice
1 t. sugar
½ t. Salt

Toss with dressing and refrigerate for an hour or so before serving.

Bok choi (pac choi) in the kitchen and garden

May 6, 2020katejerome2020gmail.comLeave a comment

Bok choi or pac choi is my favorite of all the chinese cabbages. It’s tender and sweet and is sturdy enough to last for a couple of weeks in the fridge after harvesting. I love it fresh and sauteed or grilled, and it is full of the wonderful sulfur compounds that are so healthful. Just like the rest of the cabbage family.

Grow transplants

It is so easy to grow as long as you start early enough indoors. I haven’t seen many transplants available in stores so I always start my own around February first. These babies do not like to be transplanted into larger pots like tomatoes, so they should be grown in small pots that they will stay in until going out in the garden. I’ve had great luck growing pac choi in containers, and in fact prefer that since I can control cabbage worms easily.

Full sun, good soil

They grow best in full sun in rich organic soil that is well-drained. They should be planted out early – they have the capacity to withstand frost. They are moderate feeders so benefit from a top-dressing of compost or composted manure when planting. Mulch with organic mulch such as straw once they are growing.

And harvest young. I’ve had the best luck growing some of the “baby” varieties that are harvested when about six inches tall. They stay tender, and are early enough that they often avoid the cabbage worms.

Cabbage moths are much more a problem on broccoli and regular cabbage, but occasionally they will be out early enough to attack pac choi. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), an organic bacterial pesticide that goes after pesky cabbage moth larvae, is easy to apply and safe to use.

Grilled pac choi

Harvest small heads whole and carefully cut off the root end, taking care not to cut into the heart which will cause the leaves to separate (which is also okay because they can be used in a salad).

Sprinkle with a fruity olive oil and lay gently on a grill rack or in a grill basket. Turn with tongs after about five minutes, grill 5 minutes more and remove to a platter.

Splash with balsamic vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and serve as a delicious side to whatever you are having as a main course.

You can change up the flavor a bit by using sesame oil instead of olive oil, and splashing with soy or ponzu sauce after they come off the grill.