A Traditional Farm Life - Juanita's Coleslaw

A Traditional Farm Life

By Shasta Hamilton

Image from MDH Kitchen

Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends!   It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.  Sadly, this week’s “Great Bean Revolt” threatened to overcome the joy of a newly remodeled front room . . .

Well, not really. 

We took the week of Thanksgiving off from our regular restaurant duties.  The time away allowed us to finish a home remodeling task long anticipated:  putting trim in our front room.

As you may recall, our front room was completely gutted when we bought our ramshackle old farmhouse just over a year ago.  The previous owners removed the old lath and plaster before moving on. 

While we were very blessed to not have to go through the dirty job of removing all that debris, but we still had to go to the trouble of transforming the dark shell of cave-like room into a livable space.

Last winter the boys insulated, and put up and painted the wall board, but at the time putting on the trim was not accomplished.  We’ve been so busy with the never-ending cycle of restaurant duties that we just happily lived with things as they were, until the day finally came the boys had the time for a construction project here on the farm.

By Saturday night we were sitting pretty in a trimmed and finished front room, but, read on--there’s more to the story.

A week off from the restaurant also meant a welcome week off from restaurant leftovers for the family.  My latest Test Kitchen obsession has been creating dried bean-based soup mixes in a pint jar.  In theory, these edible works of art—picture sand-art-style spices and brightly colored beans layered in a pint-sized mason jar—will be a perfect gift and an natural accompaniment to my cornbread and biscuit mixes.

In theory, it shouldn’t be that hard to whip up an impressive array of edible art, should it?  After all, my husband absolutely loves all manner of bean soups—we’ve been eating them for our entire married life with our favorite cornbread. 

There’s just one problem.  Who wants to buy a jar of pinto or great northern beans?  A variety of different colored beans and lentils makes a beautiful presentation in the jar, but more importantly, how will the combo taste?

In reality, the recipes I’ve been trying on our family were OK, but even with repeated tweaking have not measured up to my expectations.   I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that those different beans also had different flavor profiles.  It just didn’t taste like good ol’ ham and beans anymore.

The grim reality was that my poor family of guinea pigs were eating at least one “bean meal” per day for a week (with the refreshing exception of Thanksgiving day.  Boy, were they thankful for that!)

Enter, “The Great Bean Revolt.” 

Friends, we all know there are consequences for every choice we make in this life.  Unfortunately, due to my unwavering desire to figure these recipes out NOW, I have subjected my family for a week now to the natural digestive consequences of a regular diet of beans.

Even I have to admit that these consequences can be, well, revolting--to say the least.

While there haven’t exactly been any hunger strikes, it has been obvious that the regular appearance of beans at the Hamilton table has dampened the family’s desire for the varied and sundry members of the legume family.

A welcome change came earlier this week when we tried a new recipe recently given to me from our friend Juanita Muse.  Because we have a steady supply of coleslaw at the restaurant, I was waiting for an opportunity to try a new recipe at home. 

Juanita’s recipe calls for shredded cabbage, but since I had a couple of bags of coleslaw mix in the fridge that needed to be used, we made the substitution.  It made this old-fashioned side dish incredibly simple to put together.

So, take it from me friends, next time you’re stuck in a rut in the kitchen, be sure to give the family a needed break and try something new—like Juanita’s Coleslaw.  (Unless, of course, the family’s hungry for beans.  In that case, I’ve got a few recipes you could try.)

Image from MDH Kitchen

Juanita’s Coleslaw

1-1/2 lbs. shredded cabbage

     or 2 bags (14 oz. each) coleslaw mix

1 cup whipping cream

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon salt

1.  In a large bowl, combine whipping cream, sugar, vinegar and salt.  Add cabbage or coleslaw mix and mix until cabbage is evenly coated.

2.  Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.

Copyright © 2015 by Shasta Hamilton

Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in Enterprise, Kansas.  She and her husband own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled children.  You can reach The Buggy Stop by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com. 

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