Please include proper ways to dispose of it, as coleslaw is poisonous and gross.

i made slaw for the first time a few weeks ago. It was okay, but not worth passing on.
i like the KFC slaw. i like putting the biscuits in it. There's a recipe for that online.
You could try varied vinegars, different sweenters and adding a little beet for color and taste.

Ooh, meeting the family, that's exciting. I hope it goes well, pup.

(The only thing I know about cole slaw is that I'm not a fan.)

I think you should make potato salad instead. Mmm.

You people are no help.

I was debating between cole slaw and potatoes, decided to go with the slaw because it's lighter.

I was all set to suggest Napa slaw, and then I saw the "no asian slaw" thing. I too am of the not-a-fan-of-slaw persuasion. And yay for meeting the family.

Also: slaw slaw slaw slaw slaw slaw.

i could google up ideas for you but you have Top Chef and i have no energy.

1. Buy a bag of slaw.
2. Buy a bottle of Kraft coleslaw dressing.
3. Put contents of slaw bag in large bowl. Sprinkle with celery seeds for that faux homemade touch.
4. Liberally douse slaw with dressing. Stir.
5. Eat one small bowl of slaw.
6. Two weeks later, throw the rest away.

That's how we do it at my house!

Add cilantro. Ooh, or poppy seeds. And it should definitely have red cabbage bits.

Coleslaw's good if you put it on a BBQ sandwich or a fish sandwich. That's all I got.

Ummm, don't have a real recipe, but make it from available resources... so, here goes, YMMV:

cabbage

mayo and a couple of tablespoons of sour cream (you can add buttermilk to thin at end if it's too thick) but, if made in advance, it does tend to get more liquidy as the cabbage weeps moisture...

instead of vinegar, I use dill pickle juice and dice up some pickle too

mustard (not too much)

celery seed (essential hidden ingredient)

pepper

a touch of sugar if you like it sweet

add some diced up onion if you like it (if the onion is strong, dice it then nuke it till soft before adding)

you can add a dash of hot sauce if it needs "something"

sometimes I throw in some greek seasoning blend (don't remember the brand, sorry.)

Me, I love adding very thinly sliced red bell pepper (in lieu of shredde carrots) to coleslaw.

Also, if you like the slightly spicy (and I do), a few dashes of Lousiana's or a similar hot sauce.

Or you could make a North Carolina-style BBQ slaw, where you use a vinegar-based BBQ sauce instead of mayo and vinegar.

My MIL makes a delicious homemade coleslaw with poppy seeds.

Here is one with cilantro. I think this is a must-make!

this month's Cooking Light had a recipe for chipotle coleslaw. It looked great. Can't remember the ingredients.

Second using the cilantro. . .adding lemon to that recipe.

OOh, I like it mixed with mashed potatoes! Who's with me!

just me then? ok

There's an idea, thinly grated potato, little kewpie, little vinagrette, very light fresh herb...

i make a carrot pepper salad that you should slice instead of cube, it's very light and slightly spiced.
Use a single minced banana pepper flesh, red, yellow and or orange bell peppers and carrot in equal parts. Add vinegar and tarragon. Let marinate.
Could you add cabbage? i dunno.

I love coleslaw. a lot. But I never mastered the making of it. Best coleslaw ever was very freshly made, and had some sourcream in it, and they didn't overdose it with the dressing.

Buy a cabbage. Slice it into thin strips.

Pour this on top of it.

Yummers.

Yes, that's really all there is to it.

Want to make a really good, interesting slaw? Put chopped tomatoes and diced boiled egg in it. And a bit of crushed cashews on the top. Really. It's FANTASTIC.

I have no coleslaw recipies, alas. I have had a great cole slaw that had apples. I think cabbage, cilantro, olive oil and lime juice and a wee bit of garlic sounds promising.

Thanks for all the ideas. Unfortunately, the helpful ones [*glares*] came after my trip to the grocery store.

So, here's how it's going down.

On a whim a couple months ago, I threw a purloined wedge of red cabbage on the grill. (Someone in the community garden had uprooted the plant and tossed it on the compost pile. It was, like, a 5-pound head of cabbage, so we brought it home.) It was really good.

So what I'm going to do is grill up some red cabbage and some carrots, let them cool, shred/grate, and then toss them with some red wine vinegar, sugar, and granny smith apple. So it's going to be a grilled red cabbage slaw.

I'll report back. I think it'll go well with the grilled sausages.

That sounds great, mudpuppie.

The rest of the menu:

Grilled sausages (chicken brats, chicken w/garlic and pepper, and regular brats, all freshly made by my favorite grocery store)

Grilled artichokes

Grilled mammoth onions from the farmers' market (they're about the size of my head!)

Aforementioned cabbage slaw

Peach/blueberry cobbler (fruit fresh from the farmers' market as well)

Beer

*****

If I can't win them over with my sparkly personality, at least there will be food.

OMG I had grilled artichokes for the first time a few weeks ago and they made me INSANELY HAPPY.

The rest of the menu sounds lovely, and welcoming, as well. I'm sure they will be blown away by the food, your hospitality, and you in general.

I've just been getting very excited lately about grilled artichokes.

Grilled artichokes are a pretty incredible invention.

I will need to grill artichokes soon to see what this excitement is all about!

Have fun, mudpuppie. The menu sounds delicious.

I was at the grocery store deli the other day getting some sliced roast beef and swiss for reuben sammiches, and a woman handed the girl behind the counter a glass dish. She had the girl weigh the dish and then spoon as much coleslaw into it as possible.

She looked at my quizzical face, and said that her daughter had called her fifteen minutes ago asking for her World Famous coleslaw at the BBQ, scheduled to start any minute. "Fifteen minutes!" she exclaimed. "And I've never even made coleslaw! So here's my World Famous stuff, straight from the deli."

We could not stop laughing.

Coleslaw? Love it! But I've noticed the 'easy' forms are slowly disappearing from the supers where I am. No more Kraft Coleslaw Dressing. No more Hidden Valley Coleslaw Dressing (yes, the Ranch people). No prepped Deli Slaw in cartons next to the Potato Salad at Albertsons. Ralphs just replaced its deli slaw with Orval Kent Southern Style (diced, not shredded, like at KFC). (And no Shredded Carrot & Raisin anywhere!) And the Angel Hair shredded cabbage in bags is getting harder to find (making room for more lettuce variations).

I'm sorry, but I like cabbage better than lettuce. Slaw, sure! Sauerkraut? Ya vol! Fish tacos with cabbage instead of lettuce? Ole'! St. Patrick's Day? Corned Beef with Extra Cabbage, please...

I recently tried Marie's Coleslaw Dressing with a coupon (because it's overpriced) and even underpriced, it's a big NO.

I was going to suggest red cabbage for a nicer look, but you were way ahead of me, mudpuppie. And grilled? Oh, that's gonna be nice. (But won't it be harder to grate?)

The Johns Famous Dressing link reminded me that I have had success using Kraft Catalina Dressing (best on red cabbage, of course). And one time I mixed Miracle Whip (sweeter than plain mayo) and Balsamic Vinegar (Trader Joe's, cheap, not quite authentic but pretty good and sweet) to avoid adding sugar. It tasted pretty good, but made the green cabbage look brown. Ate it with eyes closed. Maybe it'd look better with red cabbage, maybe not. But I haven't done my own shredding for a while.

The menu sounds great ... I love everything on it and I wish I could come and help you eat it all. I just think you need some sort of starch in there. Maybe if you can find some nice sourdough rolls from a good bakery, it would round it out. Otherwise you've got sausages and then 3 veggies (awesome ones!). Of course if you're serving rolls with the brats, then forget having some rolls on the side. I have a great recipe for an orzo salad with feta cheese, grape tomatoes and basil that might go well with this.

Not to derail, but since you mentioned artichokes: I've been eating them lately, just steamed with a little lemon butter on the side, and it's always a disaster when I go to remove the choke. When do you do it? How do you do it, getting rid of all the yukky bristly stuff and keeping the yummy heart?

I hope the Meeting of the Family is fun for all.

With artichokes, it's easiest to remove the choke after they're cooked. I scrape it out with a spoon.

You can also use a melon baller when they're raw, but I end up losing a lot of a heart that way.

And yes, we're having buns with the brats!

Cobbler's out of the oven and smells yummy. Everyone else is out doing stuff and I have a little bit of time to myself.

Ahhhhhh.....

Well, you're probably eating already, but I like mine Mexistyles, with some finely sliced red bells, shredded jicama, corn and cilantro tossed in, dressed with a fish taco sauce: mayo, lime juice and tapatio.