Mojito Slaw on Fish Tacos

Mint, lime, sugar, and cucumbers nod to mojitos…minus the rum. Our mint grows with abandon and this was a fresh and beautiful way to use it over some crispy fish tacos!

Mojito Slaw
Ingredients:

1, 14 oz cabbage slaw mix
1/4 cup mayo
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or champagne vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
1/2 cucumber
~10 mint leaves
(optional: tortillas & fish as tacos)

Directions:
Dice the cucumber, chiffonade the mint, and zest the lime. Add to the cabbage.

Stir in the mayo, sugar, vinegar, and lime juice.

Refrigerate 20 minutes – an hour, but not overnight.
Taste and adjust as needed.

Optional – air fry breaded fish and serve on tortillas with slaw.

It’s fresh and bright with perfect creaminess. This goes well as a side with anything on the grill too. The mint gets wilty so it doesn’t keep as well!

Corn Relish Dog

This screams SUMMER! It’s perfect before the corn is even all that ready. It is sweet and just a bit tangy. We ate a bit on dogs and also just as a side.

Corn Relish Dog
Ingredients: (for ~4 dogs and some side servings)

2 ears of corn
1/4 cup pickles
1/4 cup tomatoes
2 tablespoons pickle juice
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:
Cut the corn off the cob, chop the pickles, chop the tomatoes all to the same size.

Add in the pickle juice, oil, salt, and pepper.
Stir and refrigerate until serving – at least 30 minutes or overnight.
Add on top of a hot dog or as a side. Enjoy!

This was crisp and sweet and crunchy and full of flavor. I liked the shake up of a hot dog but also think it would go quickly at a BBQ with so few ingredients.

Caprese Pasta Salad

This is such a winner and has great options as a side or meal! Pasta salad is tough to get beyond one that just tastes like oily noodles. It needs a strong flavor – i.e. a dressing that is vinegary, it has to have plenty of salt & pepper – more than seems right, and will need to be tasted a few times & adjusted as it refrigerates for 1 hour – overnight.  

Caprese Pasta Salad
Ingredients: serves ~8 as side dishes

1 pound pasta
2 large tomatoes
8 oz mini mozzarella ‘pearls’ or any larger size, chopped
1/4 cup Italian dressing (or equal oil/vinegar ratio)
salt/pepper/garlic salt
2 tablespoons pesto OR chopped fresh basil

Directions:
Cook the pasta in salty water until al dente – not too soft. Drain and stir a bit to cool it down with a drizzle of olive oil so it doesn’t stick together. 
Chop the tomatoes.
When the pasta is cool, add in the tomatoes, mozzarella, dressing and salt/pepper/garlic powder. 

Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour or over night.
Stir and taste. Add more dressing and salt if needed – if it doesn’t seem strong and bright, add a splash of vinegar (apple cider, red wine, or champagne are all great).

Before serving, add a few dollops of pesto (or torn basil if using).
Enjoy!

This was good – and nice as leftovers. I brought some to work for lunch with leftover grilled chicken and a pile of arugula on top. I liked the sudden pops of pesto versus mixed in. Also, the mini bow ties are too cute.