Shred  the head of cabbage. Combine the green onions and cabbage in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the crunchies: Melt the butter. Mix the ramen noodles, sesame seeds and almonds into the pot with the melted butter. Spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet and bake the crunchies in the preheated 350 degrees, turning often to make sure they do not burn. When they are browned remove them from the oven.  Cool completely

Make the dressing: In a small saucepan, heat vinegar, oil, sugar, and soy sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, let boil for 1 minute. Remove the pan from heat and let cool. Combine dressing, crunchies, and cabbage immediately before serving. Serve right away or the crunchies will get soggy.

Caponata
1/4 c. olive oil (or more)
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and chopped
2 – 3 medium eggplants
4 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
2 large tomatoes, diced
Salt
Pepper
Peel and slice eggplant into 1/2″ slices.  OK . . I used 4 eggplants but we also ate some of it on sandwiches for lunch.

Salt heavily on both sides. Place in colander and allow salt to drain some of the liquid from the eggplant.

Rinse and pat very dry with paper towels.

Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add more olive oil as needed.  The eggplant really drinks it up.  Add eggplant and cook until golden brown.

Almost burnt is the best way for us.  It’s so good . . another reason I cooked 4 eggplant!   See that piece on the fork . . it never made it to the salad!  Yum!

See the olive oil that’s draining out of the eggplant?  Olive oil is good for you so don’t worry too much about it but I scoop that out and use it to saute the onions, celery and garlic.

Cook for 10 minutes or until soft, as soft as you want — we like ours a bit crunchy.

Stir onions, celery, garlic into eggplant.  Add chopped tomatoes, parsley, olive oil and as much vinegar as you like.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate til ready to serve.

We serve this as a salad but we also make sandwiches with it.

These are so good and you can munch on them for weeks!

Combine the sugar, vinegar, oil, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the soup. Mix the carrots, onion, and bell pepper together in a large bowl; pour the sauce over the vegetables, stir gently to combine, and refrigerate overnight. These will keep in the fridge for several weeks.

Iceberg lettuce doesn’t rate real high on my “Favorite Lettuce” list.  (I don’t really have such a list!)  But, sometimes, iceberg is on sale for so little that I can’t pass it up and this salad is good!

Start with:

One head iceberg lettuce, cored and cut into quarters

Dressing:
1 c. plain yogurt
1/2 c. mayo
1 package Ranch dressing
2 T. spicy mustard

Mix the above ingredients and put in the fridge for a few hours.

Candy Coated Pecans (recipe follows)
1 c. crumbled bleu cheese or feta cheese
1/2 lb. bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 c. chopped tomato

Candy Coated Pecans – cut 1 c. pecan halves in half. Place in pan. Turn heat on medium. Add 1/2 c. sugar. Stir constantly til sugar melts. Dump onto a greased plate. Let cool and break apart.

To assemble salad:

Put a lettuce wedge on a salad plate. Top with crumbled bacon, chopped tomatoes, candy coated pecans and bleu cheese. Pour a generous amount of dressing over each wedge.

2 – 3 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
8 oz. fresh mozzarella, cut or torn into bite size pieces
black olives, pitted and drained (as many as you like)
red pepper flakes, as many as desired
sea salt
black pepper
1/4 c. fresh basil leaves, torn into large pieces (mainly to break the leaves so they release more flavor)
1/2 tsp. fresh oregano, chopped (or 1/4 tsp. dried)
1/2 c. olive oil
4 T. balsamic vinegar
2 – 3 cloves garlic, chopped

Mix the balsamic, olive oil and garlic. Set aside.

Place the tomatoes, black olives, mozzarella, basil leaves, red pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl with a tight fitting lid.

Pour the vinaigrette mixture the salad. Stir well. Refrigerate several hours before serving. While it’s sitting in the fridge, stir every now and then. If the bowl doesn’t leak, just turn it upside down and then after a while, turn it right side up again.

This will keep for several days in the fridge but it is better the first or second day.