Coleslaw and all good patriotic things

Happy 4th of July!

Last night I was overcome by the need to celebrate in a big way today. I think its because the 4th of July is essentially like the Thanksgiving of the summer (at least for me) I love being able to have a day to sleep in, cook amazing food, hang out with family and friends, a bottle of chilled wine, BBQs, and relaxing. Ever since I was a little girl I loved getting all decked out in my festive red, white, and blue outfits, going to the local parade (sometimes being in the local parade) heading to the rodeo, eating watermelon. Things haven't changed much. I'm not going to a parade or a rodeo today, but I am in the process of giving myself a somewhat patriotic pedicure, and I will be heading to two different BBQs this afternoon and this evening.  Sadly, McMinnville no longer does fireworks, but I'm not entirely sure how my troll of a dog would handle them anyway.

Since I'm going to two different gatherings with two sets of friends, I might have gone a little overboard in my festive cooking. I can't help it, the 4th of July rolls around and I'm suddenly unable to stop myself from whipping up salads and BBQ items.

Today I am making:
Coleslaw
a crunchy cucumber salad
Watermelon salad with mint & pineapple sage (and there may or may not be two trays of red & blue jello in the fridge).

Coleslaw Dressing - Courtesty of my Grandmothers Church cookbook.

3/4 C Mayonnaise
1/2 C. oil  (I used olive oil)
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp grated onion.

Mix all together with a beater.

I opted to shake the dressing in a jar instead, and I also added poppy seeds.

After making the dressing I had the following conversation with my mother.

Mom"what is wrong with the dressing?"
me "what do you mean?"
Mom "what did you do to it?"
me "what do you mean?"
Mom "Why does it look like that?"
me "what do you mean? how is it supposed to look?"


If you would like to avoid that conversation, I would suggest blending the coleslaw dressing. If you don't care about having that conversation/ plan on using the dressing regardless of what it looks like I think it is fine just to shake it in a jar add it to the cabbage, shot gun a beer, and have a great day.   (shot gunning a beer is optional).