Blue and Feta Cheese Slaw with Jerked & Grilled Drumsticks

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? - English Nursery Rhyme

With the help of Dairy Doo, of course!

While Steve and I were picking up a few bags of Dairy Doo at a local mom and pop distributor, I looked through their green house and picked out a few plants. I asked the owner if she had any broccoli or cauliflower plants. She shook her head sadly, but then her face lit up just a bit as she remembered she had one tray of cabbage plants left. She scurried off to find it.

Cabbage? 

I had never tried growing cabbage before and the four little plants in the tray she returned with looked as though they were near the end of their short seedling sprouting life. The kind elderly lady looked at me over her wire-rimmed glasses and stated in her polite little voice that I could have them for free. I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I nodded my head, smiled, and said enthusiastically, "Ok! Thanks!"

Once I got them home I set them off to the side as I planted my variety of seeds and seedlings and plants: bean seeds over here, pumpkin seedlings over there, tomato plants along the fence. After awhile, I brushed the dirt off my hands and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, swatted at a mosquito, and sighed. It was all good. Until I spotted them. My four cabbage sprouts.

Okay, I thought, I'll give this a try, and proceeded to plant them in with my herbs and onions and jalapenos. 

And my, they didn't let me down.

So now what?

I scanned my cookbooks for recipes and texted my Mother-In-Law for the yummy coleslaw recipe I remember her making waaay back when I was seventeen and dating her son. Well, I made her recipe and it was just as I remembered -- yummy! But I had LOTS of cabbage left so I decided to experiment with a few different things and tweaked them to my taste. The following is one of my favorites. It has some zip to it. I call it Blue and Feta Cheese Slaw. (Any recipe with the word cheese in it has to be worth a try in my book!)

So grab your cleaver and chop up some cabbage! Recipe follows...

Blue and Feta Cheese Slaw

8 cups shredded green cabbage (or you can split it up and do 4 cups green cabbage and 4 cups red cabbage.)
1 cup shredded carrots
3 large sweet yellow banana peppers, chopped (optional)

DRESSING:
1 cup mayonnaise
2 T. Dijon mustard
1 T. stone-ground mustard
1 T. cider vinegar
1 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. celery salt
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. coarsely ground pepper
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

In a large bowl, combine cabbage and carrots and peppers, (if using). In a smaller bowl, combine the mayo, mustards, vinegar, celery salt, salt and pepper.  Pour over cabbage mixture and toss to coat or stir if easier. Stir in cheese and parsley. Refrigerate overnight to let the flavors mix and allow the cabbage to absorb the dressing.

Recently my Mom and Jay came up for a summer cookout. Summer didn't cooperate though as we had to wear our hooded sweatshirts or light jackets. But we still enjoyed the afternoon. I served the above Blue and Feta Cheese Slaw with Jerked & Grilled Drumsticks.

Jerked & Grilled Drumsticks

2 medium onions, chopped

1 - 2 jalapenos, halved and seeded

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 T. sugar

1 T. ginger

1 T. ground allspice

1 cup orange juice

1 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

juice of 1 lime

About 4 lbs. large chicken drumsticks (about 16 give or take)

1. Process onions, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar, ginger and allspice in a food processor until smooth. Whisk juices, vinegar and soy sauce in a large measuring cup. Add juice mixture to food processor and blend. 

2. Place chicken in 2 large ziplock bags. Divide jerk mixture between bags and seal tightly. Turn several times to coat the drumsticks. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes or overnight.

3. Preheat gas grill to medium. Take drumsticks out of bags and pat dry with paper towels. Pour jerk mixture into a small pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 2 minutes. Oil grill grates and grill drumsticks, turning and basting often with the jerk mixture. Drumsticks are ready when meat thermometer reaches 170 degrees F and chicken is no longer pink at the bone, about 40 minutes.

We dipped the drumsticks into this Soy Dipping Sauce:

3 T. unseasoned rice vinegar

1 T. reduced sodium soy sauce

1 & 1/2 tsp. sugar

red pepper flakes

Mix all together and put into a small bowl.

One more thing that we've been enjoying up here in the U.P....

Easy peasy shake and pour pancakes made with wild U.P. blueberries we picked outselves.

Yum!

Finding the Perfect Boathouse for Two-Buck Duck

Recently we took Two-Buck Duck...

...to the Les Cheneaux Islands. There are 36 islands in all, and this being our first time to tour them by boat, we were only able to circle a few by water in Two-Buck Duck as it was a breezy day. But we put a pretty good dent in our adventure and hope to go out again soon and conquer more area.

We put in at the Cedarville Marina and cruised around in the area of the yellow circle.

It was a picture perfect (unlike my crooked toes) hot summer day with hardly a cloud in the sky...

...well, except two.

There were many other boats and people taking advantage of the grand U.P. summer day (you have to grab them when you can!).

Two-Buck Duck rubbin' elbows with the big boys.

The Les Cheneaux Islands have many interesting boathouses. Some may be newer, and some you can tell come with a lot of history. I didn't caption the following pictures, but keep your eyes open for the old wooden boats in some of the boathouses.

My sunburned Captain Steve who did an excellent job keeping the boat steady while I took pictures!