Can you believe it’s January 2025 already? I’m planning to post about seed oils, food dyes, microplastics, and the whole MAHA thing—which I feel was really my idea back in 2009, but whatever—but for now, I’ll stick to less controversial subjects like punting bagged salads from your life.

I was very late to the party on bagged salads. Sure, I’d seen them and even occasionally bought them. But they’re not quite enough for a family of four, and honestly, they never enticed me that much.

Until empty-nesterhood (which in our case was short-lived, but that’s another store for another post).

Once the kids were gone and the two of us started having simple veggie-and-protein dinners most nights, I discovered that a bagged “sweet kale” or “Mediterranean crunch” salad could easily jazz up an otherwise ho-hum supper while saving me salad-spinning time. For a while, I was content to dump the contents into a bowl and serve it with my roasted salmon or grilled chicken.

But, aside from the obvious packaging issues (all those bags within the bag!) and the fact that I always threw away the dressing (bag) and made my own anyway (yes, I’m still a dressing snob), I pretty quickly got tired of bagged salads. The slightly weird smell and brownish tinge on the shredded lettuce bummed me out almost as much as the waste I was creating.

Then I reminded myself of one of my original Real Life Delicious taglines: “Good food is worth the trouble. And it’s really not that much trouble.” Aha moment. I can make the friggin’ slaw stuff myself. And it will be fresh and crunchy and delicious (and no spinning needed with a head of cabbage). And by the way, I think cabbage is one of the world’s best and most underrated foods—it’s so satisfying to eat, whether shredded in a slaw-type salad, sauteed in olive oil, or roasted until charred (insanely good). And speaking of crunchy, if you’re like me and are addicted to chili crisp, consider this another vehicle for it. (My favorite is Fly By Jing’s Sichuan Chili Crisp, which seems to be slightly lower in sodium than most, but I’m pretty sure I would love any of these.) You can add it to the dressing recipe below if eating it straight on top of a salad isn’t your thing (it’s definitely my thing.).

This is more of a reminder than a recipe. But if you’re reading this, you probably want a recipe, so you go.

Ingredients
1/2 head red cabbage, shredded with a knife
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 small cucumber, sliced
10–15 sprigs of cilantro, roughly chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Any other veggie(s) you have in the fridge, such as red bell peppers, sliced bok choy, scallions, and celery — the more, the better

Dressing
2 tbs. natural creamy peanut butter
1 tbs. honey (Eureka! I just tried Hot Honey, and it’s as perfect as it sounds.)
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 lime (juiced, around 2 tbs. lime juice)
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbs. sesame oil
1/3 cup olive oil

Make the dressing: Put the peanut butter and honey in a microwave-safe jar and heat for 30 seconds to melt. Add rice vinegar, lime juice, garlic, and sesame oil to the jar and stir. Taste and add more honey or maybe a little salt to taste. Add 1/4–1/3 cup olive oil and shake until mixed.

Put all the ingredients for the salad in a bowl and toss with the dressing. Liberally garnish with chili crisp.