Southwest Cabbage Salad

Do you ever get in a food rut on purpose because you found a food that you love so much that you just want to eat it all the time?  Well I'm sharing my food rut that I have had for the past 3 months.  Yes you heard correctly.  I have had some version of this salad every week or maybe multiple times a week for the past 3 months.  I will share in full disclosure that originally I started this recipe as a street taco for some fun appetizers for a class I was teaching and then it turned into a fun dinner for the kids.  Then because I was working out and not trying to be so carb focused for every meal it evolved into a salad that I loved so much that I eat it multiple times a week and am now sharing it with you.  A couple times over the summer I omitted the meat, mixed in the dressing to the salad to take to a couple potlucks for a new "southwest coleslaw".  Yep, obsessed I am!  But for good reason, it's fast, easy, full of veggies and totally customizable!  

I know not everyone likes cilantro and I used to be that person too, but tastebuds change and mine evolved into the cabbage loving, cilantro digging, black bean eating person that I am today!  If you are not that person, omit what you don't like, add in what you do like and make it your own.  

By the way if you are the person that likes to meal prep this is a great recipe to use as you just keep the meat, salad, and dressings separate until meal time, heat up the meat, mix salad with dressing and warmed up meat and you have your meal that tastes crunchy and fresh in less than 1 minute! 

See look how colorful it is!

First thing you need to do is get out a medium skillet and cook the meat over medium to high heat. Cook the ground beef for 4-5 minutes, season with salt, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder, and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes or until browned and no pink throughout.  Drain the grease and set the ground beef aside.

You can use chicken breast, ground chicken or even ground turkey in this recipe depending on your tastes.  I have done chicken breast sliced thin with the recipe, just make sure you use a 1 Tbsp. of olive oil when cooking it.   All the meats are delicious it's just that I had the ground beef this time.



After the meat is cooked or even while the meat is cooking, cut up the peppers.  You can use yellow, red, green or orange.  I personally like the sweet peppers better lately and had some delicious peppers from my sisters garden.  I first cut the top and bottom off the peppers, take out the seeds and slice the peppers very thin. 

Next I take the peppers and add them to the already pre chopped coleslaw mix, that is store bought, in a large bowl or tupperware container if you are making this for later use.  Yes you can chop your own cabbage and more power to you.  I personally like the fact that the package has purple cabbage, and shredded carrots in it that is less than $2 a bag.  My philosophy in cooking is that if there is a product that will make your life easier and make you cook more than use it, hence my love of bagged "coleslaw mix".  I don't use ALL convenience items but when I find a good one I roll with it!    

After I mix the peppers with the coleslaw/ cabbage mix, I add in my rinsed black beans and cilantro leaves.  

Again if you are meal prepping, just keep the coleslaw veggie bean mixture separated without the dressing the salad.  This will leave everything fresh and crunchy for you to eat at a later use.

If you are making this recipe and eating it right away then once you have the salad put together, divide it onto 4 plates, top with ground beef or meat of choice and drizzle 2 tbsp. of Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle dressing.  Mix it all together and devour at once!

Hope you all enjoy this salad as much as I do and it you decide to get crazy and switch it up, this is a delicious as a taco as well!

Southwest Cabbage Salad

serves 4

1 lb. Ground Beef

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder 

1 (16oz.) bag Hy-Vee Coleslaw Mix or 8 c. Shredded Cabbage

1 c. thinly sliced red peppers

1 c. thinly sliced yellow peppers

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 c. Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle Ranch Dressing

1/4 c. fresh cilantro leaves (garnish)

Directions

In a medium skillet over medium to high heat cook the ground beef for 4-5 minutes, season with salt, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder, and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes or until browned and no pink throughout.  Drain the grease and set the ground beef aside.  In a large bowl or tupperware container add the coleslaw mix, peppers, and black beans and mix until all incorporated.  

To assemble the salads,  divide the salad mixture onto 4 plates equally, top each salad with 1/4 of the meat mixture, drizzle 2 Tbsp. of Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle Ranch Dressing on top and garnish with cilantro leaves.