I prefer to make my own recipes from scratch. Scratch cooking takes a little preparation. Let's be honest. Nothing is as easy as opening a bag and simply mixing! One reason I bother is that I like to cook but I also like having control over what is in my food. That includes control over freshness, using organic ingredients over conventional, eliminating preservatives and additives, and reducing salt. I don't mind cutting up my own veggies. I took a look at the ingredient list on the Costco bag and went to work to recreate the recipe with my own effort, ingredients and personal preferences. I really don't measure with this recipe. Just use desired ingredients in the amounts you like. You can use more of one ingredient and less of another. It's a pretty flexible recipe and even though your results might be a bit different than mine depending on what you use, I am sure it will still be good and best of all, personalized to your tastes..
To prepare this salad, I try to use organic ingredients when available. I also use the shredder attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. It provides a consistent shred of ingredients and it is much faster than shredding by hand. Using a food processor with a shredding blade is also an option.
Ingredients:
Brussels sprouts
green cabbage
red cabbage
kale
carrots or commercial broccoslaw mix
onions (opt)
pecans (optional)
raw pumpkin seeds
dried cranberries
poppy seed dressing (homemade or commercial)
I shred about a pound of Brussels sprouts that have the stem ends cut off. I then shred some green and red cabbage. (about half a small head of green and 1/4 a small head of red). I wash and slice kale into small pieces (discard tough stems or save them to use for flavoring in soup) I then shred peeled carrots or buy some commercially prepared broccoslaw (shredded broccoli stems and shredded carrots). I toss the shredded ingredients into a large salad bowl. You can also add some diced onions if desired (I leave them out). Throw in a handful of raw pumpkin seeds, a handful of dried cranberries and chopped pecans if desired. (I omitted pecans) Mix all ingredients in the large bowl to distribute ingredients. Lastly, mix in any poppy seed salad dressing in preferred amounts and mix to coat ingredients evenly. My family likes Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing, available from our local Whole Foods Market. Let the salad sit, covered and refrigerated for awhile so flavors blend then serve. Note: I have not done this, but I am sure you can add other items into this salad if you like. Ideas include small pieces of cauliflower or broccoli.
Hint: The salad will develop some liquid as it sits, because the dressing will draw some moisture from the shredded ingredients. Some people like a "drier" salad and others like "a little salad with their dressing". I suggest you use a lesser amount of dressing at first until you know what the salad is like at serving time. If you add too much dressing at first, your salad accumulate liquid at the bottom, and will be very "wet" (which you may or may not prefer).
I have yet to find anyone that does not like this salad, and that includes some die hard Brussels Sprouts haters!