My New Friend Ginger

I never really knew if I liked ginger...the spice that is! If I was eating out and the meal came with it, I wouldn't think twice about it, but I never cooked with it.  Today I bought, grated and ate fresh ginger for the first time...and I like it!

Photo credit: suzyhomemaker.net

My friend makes great homemade salad dressings so I wanted to try her Asian 4-1-1 dressing.  In order to make it I had to figure out how to cook with fresh ginger.  When I put the ginger root on the counter it seemed to be staring back at me saying, "Hahaha, you don't know how to peel me!"  It was right...I had no idea!  Thank goodness for Suzyhomemaker!  She has a simple video showing how to use a spoon to peel the ginger.  Check it out here.  Once I watched that I knew this little root had nothing on me!  I peeled and grated it with no problems, what had I been so worried about?


The next issue was going to be if I actually liked the taste of ginger once I added it to the salad dressing.  I put the Asain 4-1-1 dressing on an Asian slaw salad that I shared here.  It's official, I like ginger, it has such a nice spice to it!  And now for the part where you get to have a good laugh at me...as I was eating my delicious lunch my brain clicked.  Or maybe my taste-buds and stomach talked to my brain and said, "Duh, you like ginger ale!  What do you think is in that?"

So now I have some fresh ginger ready to be added to another recipe...wonder if my other half will like it...hmm, he does like ginger ale!

An Asian Twist on Slaw

This is a great time of year to get cabbage!  At my local farmer's market I got 2 heads for $1.00.  Initially I thought I'd make coleslaw, but then decided that was too obvious!  I gathered some inspiration from Suzyhomemaker's Asian Salad and Once Upon A Chef's Asian Slaw.  I wanted to mix it up a bit based on what I already had in my veggie drawer.

Since this slaw was just going to be for me I went crazy mixing lots of textures together.  I grated the carrots but shredded the cabbage.  I diced the green pepper but left the water chestnuts sliced right from the can. I browned some ground beef to add a little protein. (I think I will use chicken next time but the ground beef was the only meat defrosted.) A sprinkle of some green onions on top and I was ready to dig in!

It was great and kinda fun to eat with the long "noodles" of cabbage!  Next time I will add some chow mein noodles for an extra crunch.