Pack more veggies and eat the rainbow in 2015 with this crisp, light and flavorful coleslaw dressed with apple cider vinegar!

After spending two weeks in China eating fried noodles and sweet bakery goods, this is exactly the kind of food I want to be eating. Unfortunately I had to fly straight from Hong Kong to Central PA for work, and I have to say that even the Chipotle here was disappointing (RIGHT?!) So I’m pretty much drooling over these photos right now as I aim to get back on the healthy path now that I’m stateside again. I had been wanting to make a coleslaw for a long time – I LOVE all of the crunchy vegetables and a tangy dressing. So I combined the inspiration from a couple different restaurants into this paleo, gluten free and vegan vegetable-packed slaw. This might be one of my best recipes yet, and I’m pretty sure anyone on any diet can eat it (if you’re nut-free, just omit the almonds!) If you’re not a fan of heavy mayo coleslaw, this is for you. The crisp dressing is mostly apple cider vinegar, with a little of my favorite Earth Balance Mindful Organic Mayo. Anyone else heard a lot recently about the health benefits of apple cider vinegar? I’ve heard of everyone taking shots of this in the morning to sitting in a bath full of it. I think I’ll stick to just keeping it in my slaw.

You can adjust the ratios if you’d like more kale, less broccoli slaw, etc. This broccoli slaw has been catching my eye at Trader Joe’s for some times – looked like julienned broccoli stalks and carrots – and I knew I wanted to incorporate into something. Voila, coleslaw! These pre-cut veggies added a really nice touch to the coleslaw, although if you don’t have a TJ’s nearby, they could easily be omitted for more cabbage. The cabbage was an add in at the end. I’ve been wanting to make homemade sauerkraut for about a week now, and this big cabbage head was rotting in my fridge and I knew I had to use it today or it would be donezo. Isn’t it great when a recipe comes together with a lot of ingredients that you have already, and you never thought to put them together in this combo before?

So I sat down to photograph this coleslaw, with the idea in mind that I would eat it a half hour for lunch. Mom came in before heading out to grab lunch with our family (little brother is back from college for the holidays!) and she just started eating it out of the mixing bowl. So I served myself a plate too…and we completely inhaled almost the whole thing. It’s crunchy, light, and the almonds and raisins studded throughout add really nice texture and flavor.

Mom decided she didn’t need to go out to each lunch anymore (homemade slaw for the win!) so we just sat there and ate more slaw. And now I have like a half cup left for lunch tomorrow. Little brother and dad felt left out of the lunch festivities so they left us and had a man lunch at a local taco spot. Probably not a place Mom or I would go anyways!

This is a great dish for winter, and you can always sub in some summer veggies to make it later in the year. I hope all of you enjoy. I can’t wait to remake and brown bag it for lunch, or whip up a large batch for a BBQ, or even serve with some protein on the side for dinner.