Shrimp and Cabbage Salad

A busy weekend in and out of the kitchen…

We went to a block party and I made a broccoli salad and some fruit for the kids. My daughter has a cookbook she loves and has been dying to make a fruit dip recipe from it; smashed mango, plain yogurt, and honey.
I pickled more radishes and summer squash since I got plenty of both in the this week’s CSA bag. No broken bottles and I had a fun surprise when I cut in a pepper to spice up the squash pickles.

My daughter had a few pals sleep over, she requested cheesecake. Plain, no toppings. The recipe turned out perfect despite the oven not actually being on the first hour of cooking. The leftovers need to get out of this house, and soon!

Before we headed out for the day on Sunday I made some shrimp and cabbage salad for dinner. Perfect for a hot evening.

Shrimp and Cabbage Salad
6 servings

Salad:
1 pound frozen edamame
2 oranges (or can of mandarin oranges)
1 pound frozen fully cooked medium-size shrimp, thawed
1 medium-size head napa cabbage, trimmed and shredded (about 6 cups)
3 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced

Dressing:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon mandarin-style hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions
1. Salad: Heat a medium-size pot of water to boiling. Add edamame and cook as per package directions, about 5 minutes. Drain, cool and shell beans from pods (you will have about 1-1/4 cups).

2. With a sharp knife, cut peel and white pith from oranges. Following membranes, cut out orange sections and place in a small bowl. Squeeze any extra juice from membranes into bowl, then discard membranes.

3. In a large bowl, combine edamame, orange sections, shrimp, cabbage and scallions. Prepare Dressing: In small bowl, whisk together vinegar, hoisin, sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. While whisking, add oil in a thin stream. Add dressing to bowl; toss to combine. Season with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; serve.

Last but not least, I made a meal for friends with new born twins. On the menu chicken, bacon, cheddar, sandwiches, chickpea salad, fruit and fruit dip. Hope they like it all!

In between all that we went out for some delicious sushi, hit the Farmer’s Market, had a ploughman’s lunch on the front porch, enjoyed a block party, had a fun-filled day experiencing The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Melrose Park for the first time. Oh yea and hosted a few 9 year-old girls for a party and sleep over. They had fun making jewelry, boy did that bring back memories of beading for hours. back in high school my wrist was full of about 4″ of beaded bracelets.

The block party was fun, more adult oriented since there are few kids on the block. I won a bottle of Bushmill in the booze walk. Think cake walk, with booze. Though won nothing but wet feet in the balloon toss. Always fun to attend other people’s block parties that require minimal work on your part. A fun time was had by all.

The Feast was such an interesting experience. The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish has been celebrating this tradition since 1894. Being our first time we hardly understood or fully appreciate all the nuisances and traditions. We tried to keep up best we could! In a nutshell, it is a daylong procession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the final destination being the church. They collect donations along the way. As she passes certain intersections mass amount of fireworks are blown off. The fireworks are really indescribable.

Though this video of the intersection we were near gives you a good idea of what it was like. It is load and I could not believe the flames that could be seen over the rooftops. Look forward to checking this out in future years.

A great summer weekend, but at his pace July will be a blur too.

Submitted to Life as Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap