Thai noodle salad with peanut sauce

This is good way to use up one of those large bunches of cilantro hanging out in the frig. I started making this salad last summer and I just use whatever vegetables I have on hand. This last time I made it (in the winter), I steamed the vegetables b/c it just seemed right. I still ate it cold but you could try it warm too. You can't go wrong when peanut sauce is involved!

1 t minced ginger

1 t minced garlic

1/2 c cilantro

1/2 c peanut butter

2 T lime juice

1/4 c coconut oil

1/2 c soy sauce

2 T hot water

2 T sugar

Combine in a food processor. 

Slice and dice 4 cups of vegetables (cabbage, carrots, celery, peppers, kohlrabi, etc.)

1 small onion, diced

1-2 cups diced cooked chicken (optional)

Cook noodles; can use bean thread (2 pkgs) or wide rice noodles (about 1/2 pkg). Cool and rinse.

Mix sauce with vegetables and noodles. Garnish with 2-3 T fresh cilantro and 1/4 cup peanuts if desired.

Beloved Cobb Salad

My CSA offers a fruit share and it is so wonderful- especially come mid-January in the frozen tundra. The fruit comes from organic farms in places that can grow more than melons, apples, and berries- mostly Florida, California, and Oregon. Pears, oranges, dates, figs, persimmons, pomegranates, grapefruit, mandarins, avocados. Lucky for me my csa partner doesn't like avocados (which I just can't understand. She spent a semester in Guatemala and had avocado everyday- her nightmare, my dream). I've been enjoying guacamole, and fried egg sandwiches with bacon, cheese, onion, and avocados and now...

Beloved Cobb Salad- as A- calls it

lettuce

tomatoes, diced

bacon, crumbled

1 chicken breast, cut in strips 

2 hard cooked eggs, diced

1 avocado, sliced

blue cheese, crumbled

chopped chives or onions

the dressing (makes about a cup):

1/8 cup water

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/4 lemon, freshly squeezed

3/4 t tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp. dry English mustard

1 small clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 cup full-flavored olive oil