Dukan Diet

(Today's pick for A Month of Daily Phase One Recipes is this delicious Napa Cabbage Asian Slaw.  I've made this for several Denny family parties, and it's always been a hit!)

When I spotted this crunchy Napa Cabbage Asian Slaw recipe in The Sunset Cookbook, I knew I had Napa cabbage in the fridge, so I immediately started checking to see if I had the other ingredients.  I found sugar snap peas, radishes, green onions, sliced almonds, and all the dressing ingredients, but no cilantro.  It was cold outside and I didn't want to go to the store, so I thought I'd try making it without cilantro (gasp!) and all you cilantro-adverse people out there will be happy to hear that the salad was fantastic even without it.  Of course, cilantro lover that I am, I'd definitely add the cilantro if I had some on hand!

Re-discovering a recipe is always fun, and while I was unpacking from the move I found this old favorite rice salad recipe in a set of binders with recipes I clipped from cooking magazines back in the days before the internet.  The salad was called Roman Rice Salad, but unfortunately I didn't write down where I found it, and I couldn't find anything with that name online.  I made this salad many, many times through the years with white rice, dried basil, and chopped bell pepper, but I loved this updated version with brown rice, fresh chopped basil, and rings of pepper from sweet mini-peppers.