Energy Saving Challlenge

I have been participating in the weekly challenges that have a focus on the environment and saving energy over at the blog Reduce Footprints. The challenges are posted every Wednesday and last week’s challenge was to have one day where everything you ate did not require cooking with the stove or oven. I decided to take the challenge a little further by making dishes ahead that required no heating at all that we could have around to eat on for more than one day.

As I was doing this challenge, I came to realize that I do this more than I realized and what I thought was just a time saver as well as more of guarantee that I would have available fast yet healthy meals on hand, was that I was also saving energy in the process. I have decided to make a commitment to be conscious of doing this on a more regular basis.

I made some favorite recipes and also did some updating on some favorites all in one day, salads and a spread for bread, bagels, or crackers, and then my husband and I ended up eating on these for three days. We actually ended up not needing to use any appliances at all, so it really was an energy saver. I'm posting one of my recipes below and will post more throughout the week at my blog, The Evolving Spirit, if you are interested in checking them out.

Aine

Blue Slaw makes 4 servings:


1 bag cabbage slaw (I used the pre-bagged slaw that also has purple cabbage and carrots)
3 Tablespoons coleslaw dressing (I had some leftover commercial slaw dressing that I wanted to use up)
2 ½ Tablespoons mayonnaise
3-4 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese (to taste, we love blue cheese)

Combine all ingredients, the slaw will look like it needs more dressing at first but it will wilt and reduce in the acids in the dressings very quickly and blend nicely with the dressing.