Expert: Teri Davis Newman - 2/11/2009

Question
I am helping with a simple Chili Supper held as a fundraiser for a missionary in Ecuador. Someone else is handling the chili, but I am in charge of the "other food." Because the point is to keep things simple, I was thinking of cole slaw as a side dish. Is this as good (and simple) as anything? I know from reading your other answers that 3oz of greens is generally the rule. Would this hold true here? Do you have a recipe you could scale to 300 for me? I am planning on using the packaged cabbage mix.

Answer
DO NOT USE THE PACKAGED MIX!!  It is 10 times as expensive to use the mix when you can chop cabbage in a food processor with minimal effort. The packaged stuff is wicked expensive!!  You buy about 22 heads of cabbage, shred them in 20 minutes and save $100-$150 on ingredients--all you have to do is quarter it, cut the core out and grind it in the Cuisinart. Mix it with Costco store brand mayo, pineapple juice, celery seed, salt, pepper and sugar to taste. If you add some crushed pineapple, it's really very good and thins the mayo for a great dressing.  You can grind up some carrots and a couple of heads of purple cabbage to grind up for some color and you have a killer pineapple slaw that will outshine the chilli! Here's the original recipe, make a batch and see if you like it--you can use packaged slaw for this if you like LOL but try it and see if you like it, you will need about 4 oz per serving.

2 lbs shredded cabbage
1/4 head purple cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 15 oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 qt mayo
2 TBS celery seed
1/4 to 1/2  c. sugar
1-2 tsp salt
Mix and use pineapple juice to thin the dressing to desired
consistency if needed.